Bang Bang (she shot me down)

What makes men do evil things?

This seems to be the question posed by Bang Bang Alley, a movie from first time director/producer (?) Ely Buendia of the legendary rock band Eraserheads. It is composed of four separate stories tied together with a theme somewhat patterned on this question.

In the first story, Jimmy Santos is a troubled soul haunted by sins committed long past, and he takes justice in his own hands. Was he really right to do what he did in the first place? What if he was just delusional? I don't know either, but I'm hooked.

In the second story, dirty politics rears its ugly head as a journalist (Bela Padilla) tries to escape the hands of a corrupt politician played by Joel Torre by enrolling in the witness protection program. The second story is really good, and at turns is quite surprising. Joel Torre is as always an interesting and enigmatic figure. Bela Padilla has her own sense of righteousness and fights for it until the very end of the film. In this segment, people are no better than animals striving for survival in a dog eat dog world. (The four stories seem to be interconnected for some reason.)

In the third story, Gabe Mercado is a taxi driver with a dark secret. This is the best of the major segments as it tackles guilt and the capacity of man to do bad things, maybe by choice or maybe by circumstance. In a way it ties everything together. Mercado has a fantastic performance as this guy who in all honesty is a decent person turned sour by the world he lives in.

The last part of the film is arguably the most popular story and is the segment we see in trailers. Megan Young is a runaway from the law who took justice into her own hands. Faced with a life of solitude, she faces a new trial as people threaten her new way of life. It's my least favorite of all four segments, as it really ties weakly to the rest of the film and the premise is not as solid as the previous three. Megan Young could be used more effectively but she feels underutilized here. In some scenes I wished that someone would teach the lady how to use a gun as that is dangerous, (although that may actually be the point).

Overall Bang Bang Alley shines with classy production and three great stories. While the last segment isn't as good as the previous three, it does not manage to bring the whole thing down and remains an interesting experience.