You ever notice how Mercury retrograde loves to mess with our plans, yet Lionsgate decides to drop something slick on June 17th—right when the cosmos urge us to rethink our moves? Yep, they’re releasing Christopher McQuarrie’s directorial debut, The Way of the Gun, on 4K Ultra HD, and let me tell you, it’s a wild ride. This action thriller, starring Ryan Phillippe and Benicio del Toro, dives into a botched kidnapping of a surrogate mom that spirals into chaos faster than a Gemini’s attention span. It’s the film that put McQuarrie on the map—long before he shaped the Mission: Impossible franchise—showing us that sometimes, the most tangled stories tell the clearest truths about control and chaos. Curious about how many bullets and betrayals this 4K upgrade packs? You might want to clear some shelf space (and your schedule). LEARN MORE
Lionsgate Home Entertainment has announced that it will release The Way of the Gun on 4K Ultra HD on June 17th. The action thriller starring Ryan Phillippe and Benicio del Toro was the feature directorial debut of Christopher McQuarrie, who has become the most prolific director of the Mission: Impossible franchise.
The Way of the Gun “depicts the fates of petty criminals Parker (Ryan Phillippe) and Longbaugh (Benicio Del Toro). They believe they’ve hit the jackpot when they kidnap a surrogate mother, Robin (Juliette Lewis), on the brink of delivering a wealthy couple’s child. A simple plan, a $15 million payoff…what could go wrong? Everything, it turns out. Robin is carrying the son of a ruthless gangster (Scott Wilson), who dispatches his hit men ― and grizzled righthand man (James Caan) ― to take out Parker and Longbaugh once and for all.“
You can check out the 4K Ultra HD Steelbook cover via Lionsgate Limited below.
Special features and technical specs include:
McQuarrie spoke with JoBlo a few years ago when the film was included in our Best Movie You Never Saw series. When asked how The Way of the Gun prepared him for helming the Mission: Impossible movies, McQuarrie said, “The Way of the Gun was the first step in a long and ongoing journey toward my ultimate goal, which is simply one of understanding how to be understood – how to make the audience look where I want, hear what I want, feel what I want. The film taught me that the audience doesn’t work for me. I work for them.”
He continued, “The greatest irony is that I never set out to be an action director. I had dreams of making historical dramas like Valkyrie (I still do). Tom Cruise saw The Way of the Gun and recognized instantly my grasp of clarity and geography. Despite its many flaws, despite being an overtly intellectual film that leans heavily on its dialogue, he recognized the visual storyteller buried deep within. The Way of Gun didn’t just prepare me. It got me the gig. And just as I had done for Ryan, Tom did for me: He gave me a better opportunity than anyone else would ever dare and let me run.“
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning will hit theaters on May 23rd. The first reactions have been largely positive, with plenty of praise for the impressive stuntwork, but most felt that the movie was a little too long.
Will you be adding The Way of the Gun to your 4K collection?