Guns Up – Film Review

Edward Drake’s Guns Up aims to be a gritty, fast-paced action comedy with heart, but despite an intriguing cast and a promising premise, the film ultimately falls flat. Clocking in at just ninety-two minutes, the film struggles to juggle tone, character development, and narrative cohesion. What should be a breakneck thriller laced with dark humor instead turns into a sluggish, confused mess, weighed down by inconsistent performances and a script that never quite figures out what kind of story it wants to tell.

Kevin James stars as Ray Hayes, a former cop-turned-mob henchman whose double life unravels after a job goes wrong, forcing him to scramble to protect his wife Alice (Christina Ricci) and their children during one harrowing night. It’s a role that represents a departure from James’ typical slapstick comfort zone, but rather than transforming into a compelling dramatic actor, he seems caught between personas—too grim for laughs, yet too cartoonish to sell the serious stakes of the story.

James tries admirably to lean into the darker elements of Ray’s psyche, especially in the film’s first act, where flashbacks establish his disillusionment with the police force and his seduction by organized crime. Unfortunately, neither the script nor the direction supports this transition effectively. Ray feels like a character created for two different films stitched together: one a gritty crime drama, the other a fish-out-of-water comedy about a bumbling family man out of his depth.

Christina Ricci – one of my all-time favorite actresses – brings more to the film than it deserves. As Alice, she plays the tough-yet-compassionate wife with conviction, balancing concern for her children with frustration over Ray’s lies. In a better film, Alice might have had agency or a meaningful impact on the plot. Here, she’s mostly relegated to reacting to things, making Ricci’s intensity feel out of place in a movie that never lets her character do much. When she finally gets to be a bit of a badass in the third act, it’s too little, too late.

Luis Guzmán, usually reliable in these kinds of side roles, is stuck in a cliché-riddled performance as Ignatius Locke, one of the most mysterious characters in the film. Even Melissa Leo, a powerhouse performer, is underutilized. Leo injects a bit of gravitas into her scenes, but it’s not enough to salvage the bloated second act where exposition takes precedence over momentum.

The setup—Ray’s final job goes wrong and he has one night to escape the city with his family—is tailor-made for a taut, time-sensitive thriller. But Guns Up never generates real urgency. The pacing is erratic: a slow-burning first act gives way to a chaotic midsection with awkward comedic beats, only to descend into generic shootouts and predictable double-crosses.

The film is most alive when it leans into its absurdity, but moments like these are fleeting, surrounded by long stretches of exposition, limp banter, and bizarre tonal shifts that leave the viewer unsure whether to laugh, care, or check out entirely.

Drake, known for Cosmic Sin and American Siege, again shows a lack of finesse in weaving action with coherent storytelling. The film’s editing doesn’t help either—abrupt transitions, choppy fight scenes, and odd musical cues that aim for “cool” but often land on “clumsy.”

For an action comedy, Guns Up is strangely devoid of either standout action or memorable humor. The fight choreography is serviceable but uninspired, full of shaky cam and overused slow-motion. Gun battles are loud but lack weight, and the CGI blood and explosions feel like budgeted afterthoughts.

The comedy, meanwhile, is scattershot. Kevin James can be funny when working with solid material (Paul Blart notwithstanding), but here, the jokes feel like filler. Ricci occasionally scores with a dry one-liner or deadpan reaction, but the overall comedic tone is muddled. The film seems unsure whether to embrace the absurdity of its premise or play things seriously. In trying to do both, it achieves neither.

There are flashes of potential buried beneath the mediocrity. Some of the cinematography during the nighttime city chase scenes is visually striking, with neon-drenched streets providing a moody atmosphere. Unfortunately, though, this isn’t enough to save the movie.

The idea of a working-class man caught between loyalty to his family and a corrupt underworld is rich with thematic possibility. A tighter script, more consistent direction, and a firmer genre identity might have made Guns Up a solid entry in the action-comedy canon. But the final product feels like a first draft in search of a vision.

Guns Up is a clunky genre mishmash that never finds its footing. With Kevin James miscast in a role that demands more than the film allows, and a supporting cast that goes largely underused, the film wastes a premise that could have been fun, thrilling, or at the very least, competently entertaining. Its tonal confusion, half-baked action, and weak humor ultimately doom it to forgettability.