Guns Up (2025) Movie Review: A tired, familiar rehash that has no idea how to subvert its trope-ridden progression

Movies like ‘John Wick’ are now a dime a dozen. Even the franchise’s own universe has run out of steam, with the latest outing – the Ana de Armas star vehicle “Ballerina” serving up deflated hot garbage. With that in mind, Edward Drake, known for half a dozen late-career direct-to-video releases featuring Bruce Willis, offers another tired rehash of familiar tropes with “Guns Up,” a film so blatantly obvious that even the actual mob would like to revolt against it. 

It follows Ray Hayes (a seriously miscast Kevin James), an ex-cop who now works as a debt collector for mob boss Michael (Melissa Leo). He had to take up this shady gig because 5 years ago (the film blatantly cuts to a flashback), Ray did not have enough money to make life easy for his wife Alice (Christina Ricci), and two dotting (if entirely irritating) children, Siobhan (Keana Marie) and Henry (Leo Easton Kelly). Add to that, he and his wife have had a dream of opening their own diner someday, so it gave him enough push to take up the job until he has enough to leave the life behind. 

It did help his case that Michael, along with her right-hand man Ignatius (Luis Guzman), believed in an ethical code of conduct that would eventually allow Ray to leave his life for good based on his decision to put his family first. However, Lonny Castigan (Timothy V. Murphy), another local mob leader, takes over Michael’s carefully established business after offing her. This puts Ray in the crosshairs of a situation where he is unable to do as he supposes, igniting a series of events that bring his family under direct heat. 

And we all know what happens when the family is involved, right? Guns blaze up, blood starts splattering, and things go south. Only this time, all of this plays out in an Edward Drake film that has no rhyme or reason to its progression. The film has so many conflicting tones and narrative shifts that it makes a pretty straightforward story feel unnecessarily complicated. The action, much like the trope-ridden narrative, also feels incredibly forced, and all the self-aware humor does little to no service to the already dead proceedings.

While the production value and wafer-thin character development are miles better than other Edward Drake directorials, “Guns Up” does very little to subvert the action sensibilities it is trying to take a swing at. Christina Ricci is innocent, but even her turn cannot make this tonally inconsistent mess feel more than some sort of parody served with a straight face.  

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Guns Up (2025) Movie Links: IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Letterboxd
Guns Up (2025) Movie Cast: Kevin James, Christina Ricci, Luis Guzmán, Joey Diaz, Melissa Leo, Timothy V. Murphy

Where to watch Guns Up