Strong and Moving!

Perfect cast and a good story

Just so...so bad

Good concept, poorly executed.

Three stars only because of the performance by Slaine as Nick's friend. This movie is comically bad. Every time you see the lead character he is either lighting a cigarette (he lights no fewer than 5 cigarettes in the opening scenes alone), or tossing a long, freshly lit cigarette out a car window. It almost seems as if somebody in production decided Nick looks good with a full Marlboro 120, but not with one that is half smoked. If it didn't mean sitting through this mud again, I'd love to go back and see exactly how many times a cigarette is lit by either Nick one of the other one dimensional wannabe gangster characters. At any given time somebody is flipping open an old school zippo and doing a Fonzarello routine lighting his smoke. The only saving grace in this film is the performance by Slaine as Nick's best friend. This guy is extremely watchable in this role (and lights up the screen instead of a smoke).

I was surprised this film was rated below 5. I can understand why the average viewer might not find this movie satisfying, because the ending is unexpectedly sad and very unlike most Hollywood mobster films in which the protagonist either survives or sacrifices himself to save another sympathetic character who escapes with a secure future. Neither outcome happens here, which is completely consistent with the realistic vibe it maintains throughout. The acting performances are all excellent and believable. Even the typecast Harvey Keitiel makes you forget all the other mobster characters he's played. In this film, he's Sal, not Harvey. The scenes with newcomer Slaine are especially engaging as his character increasingly asserts his street cred to the wavering Nick. In a way, this is almost an "art film" version of a mob story. They manage to convey character conflicts and brutal violence without glorifying the action (and with zero police presence or shootouts or cars blowing up!) In short, a refreshing albeit depressing deviation from the usual crime movie, but solid and worth a view.

Ben Barnes, Harvey Keitel, Toby Jones is what had me but I say always go by the ratings/reviews. All actors delivered performances, but in what direction exactly was this movie heading into? Filmmakers tried to sugarcoat the film with intense performances but there was absolutely no background to support it hence it falls flat on the subject matter. There is the Godfather series, The Sopranos TV series which makes 'By the Gun' a by-product of poor film making and disappoints you in the subject matter. Now the most weird thing was, To depict the life of a 'kid' who just got 'made', apparently he dies in the end, which was some kind of twist to make your head spin, and the guy who shoots him, also dies by the hand of the brother of the 'made guy' who had NO role in the movie, no character background, nothing, nada.Leaves you feeling helpless. It tries to send out a message of friendship but not really, eventually turns out to be a subject of a tragic romance straight from the mafia world. The script shows that the Kid wants to do the right thing but then he doesn't. Why is it so confusing?!Toby Jones was such a waste here. I hate it when actors like him fall victim to characters with no background, no density. You would realize that all he does in this movie is make a couple of phone calls and supervises a warehouse. He is a 'made guy'.Not worth your time. Watch the Sopranos again instead.

As written by Emilio Mauro and directed by James Mottern BY THE GUN is another Boston Mafia flick, but this one is a bit more sensitive to character development and conflicts of the gang world than most. Perhaps most of that is due to Ben Barnes very exceptional portrayal of the lead character, but kudos must be passed around to a supporting cast that is less concerned with star turns then depicting the miasma of Mafioso life, perhaps the most dysfunctional concept of 'family' ever created.Nick Tortano (Ben Barnes) is a smooth-talking, ladies man, ambitious criminal from the streets of Boston. After years spent working for and idolizing the Italian gangsters he finally proves himself to the boss Salvatore Vitaglia (Harvey Keitel) and becomes a made man. However, once inside, Nick conflicts with a moneymaker for the Mafia and begins to drive a wedge between him and Boss. In the sidebars, Nick's 'driver' is the fat but fearless George Mullins (Slaine) who makes Nick's initial difficult kill for him, Nick's real father (Paul Ben- Victor) and younger brother Vito (an impressive turn for Kenny Wormald), a love affair with Ali Matazano (Leighton Meester), and various conflicts with Salvatore's enemies. There are some fine minor character roles by Toby Jones, Ron Komora, Tully Banta-Cain, William Bloomfield, Richie Coaster and others, but basically this is Ben Barnes film –a confused young man who makes some wrong choices but does so in a manner that keeps our compassion.Not a great film, nor does it pretend to be, but for a small Indie look at the autopsy of the Boston Mafia it fares well.