'Die in a Gunfight' movie review: Dead on arrival

`Die in a Gunfight

Film: Die in a Gunfight
Cast: Diego Boneta, Alexandra Daddario, Justin Chatwin
Director: Collin Schiffli
Rating: 1/5
Runtime: 90 min

This rather dried-up attempt to channel Shakespearean tragedy ‘Romeo and Juliet' into an edgy modern love story fails to curry favor.

In New York City, a young guy falls for the daughter of his father's nemesis. Director Collin Schiffli's film, from a script by Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari tries way too hard to be an edgy take with a bloodier ending.

The setting is modern. Two warring families with competing news empires and a family vendetta in their closet. It's a several generations old family vendetta that has stayed alive to this day. Diego Boneta and Alexandra Daddario play the love-struck Ben and Mary, both progeny of richie rich parents who are enemies of each other. So obviously the parents are not going to allow any fraternizing between the two. Ben and Mary are rebellious but Boneta and Daddario play them as deadly dull. Billy Crudup's tone deaf, ‘stoned' sounding voice-over narration gives us the little details as the star crossed lovers reunite and get caught up in the crossfire of the family feud and some business destroying hijinks.

The animated sequence that opens the narration is as deadening as the two central actors. The title tells you like it is. It's lazy and uninspired and makes the entire narrative imminently predictable. Every character in the film, is introduced in a Guy Ritchie style freeze frame. Attempts at flair come across as inept and ingratiating. The dialogues sound like drivel and the humor is non-existent. The cinematography may be the only colorful, visually amiable thing here.

There's a third angle to this tragic romance. An investigator who ends up becoming a stalker becomes the third wheel. The characters don't come across as interesting and it's really difficult for the audience to empathise with their plight.

Schiffli's self-aware tone becomes tedious. The action is distancing. His frenetic, incessant style fails to add weight or substance to the narration.

A slow-pace, terrible performances, uninteresting casting choices, inert scripting, mediocre tech specs makes this a futile, terribly unsatisfying experience. The mix of animation and live action doesn't work. The voice-over narration makes it even more non-involving. Imagine introducing your lead character as someone who ‘loves to fight and lose?'

This is a cringe-worthy attempt to channel Romeo and Juliet and it is best forgotten!