Good thing his uncle, known only as Mr. B. (Robert Forster), has a job for him and it pays a cool million, more than enough for him to square up with Sonny and start fresh. It seems there's an ancient box that has fallen into the greedy hands of another crime boss called "The Mensch" (Michael Lerner) and Neil's job is to retrieve it. To do this, Neil is going to need some help. He spots a highly attractive thief palming mens' wallets on the street and, of course, Neil follows the pretty skirt, only to impress her with his own thievery skills. But this gal, Madison (Vanessa Marcil), is trouble with a capital T and she gets Neil nabbed by the cops. Did I mention Neil's dad is one Police Chief Bannen (Michael Ironside)? So Neil is looking at his third strike unless he helps his dad and turns State's evidence on his uncle. The old "rock and a hard place" adage never applied more fully than here.
Neil enlists Madison's help, for a hefty price naturally, and the pair set out to nab the box. But they have quite a task ahead of them because three deadly and gorgeous assassins are on The Mensch's payroll and they have Neil in their crosshairs. There's still the matter of the money he owes Sonny and his goons are chasing after Neil as well. Even with his team of geeks, headed up by Zeke (Gabriel Tigerman), giving him data and instruction through high-tech sunglasses and all manner of gadgets, it won't be easy.
But things are never as they seem and before it all plays out, Neil won't know up from down. His ride is an exciting one filled with beautiful ladies, blazing guns and lots of action and we, the viewer, get to benefit from his adventures.
The Bannen Way reminds me of a Tony Scott film. Slick, sexy, stylized, action-packed and with a very staccato, machine-gun fire style of directing. Throughout the film, you'll see the Bannen Rules for Living interjected into scenes much like you may have seen in Zombieland. It's a fun way to get Neil's way of life across. They also use a directing trick where they'll tell parts of the story, but then rewind to earlier to better explain it. It was a very A.D.D. way of handling things, but it gave The Bannen Way a raw sense of urgency, especially considering all of the things converging in Neil's life at the same time.
As for special features, there are 6 featurettes on everything from the actors, the babes, the assassins and what went into bringing Neil Bannen to life. They only compose about 20 minutes of content altogether, but they are fun and worth watching. There were a few better-known actors like Robert Forster, Michael Lerner and Michael Ironside starring in this film, but the bulk were unknowns in this movie, although all of the acting is top-notch. The entire cast gelled together beautifully and put on a stellar and believable performance.
I thoroughly enjoyed The Bannen Way and I was really glad I had the opportunity to see it. If you like slick action films, check out The Bannen Way. It's a fun popcorn flick and worth watching a second time.
