There are many under-appreciated gems and "The Doomsday Gun" is one of them. Based on a true story, the Doomsday Gun is about Gerald Bull, a Canadian engineer who tries to build the largest gun in the world (capable of shooting mortar shells 1000 miles away) and then sell it to Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein who was at the time at war with Iran. The U.S. and British governments soon find out that Bull is up to no good, but they decide not to stop him because they mistakenly believe that the gun cannot be built.
But the film is really about Gerald Bull. Gerald Bull (played brilliantly by Frank Langella) is portrayed as arrogant, mercurial and a genius. He can be impossible and inspiring. He never allows his people to sleep until he discovers the answer to a problem. Above all, he is a dreamer who sees his gun as a work of art. There is a fascinating paradox in this movie between genius and the devastating implications of it. When Albert Einstein's developed his ideas about atoms, he had no idea that those ideas would result in the creation of an atomic bomb that, when dropped, would cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. Gerald Bull, unlike Einstein, should have known his gun could have killed thousands and yet he approaches the whole matter with a naive innocence or maybe he simply does not care, because -- as he explains to his wife -- the world is messed up already. As the film progresses, Bull becomes so obsessed with building the gun that he loses sight of everything else, including the distinct possibility that he is putting his own life in greater danger with every passing day. There is a lot to dislike in Gerald Bull, but Frank Langella's portrayal of him is so effective that we end up sympathizing with the man all the same. Part of us even wants him to succeed, because we understand how important that dream is to him.
Other good performances in the film come from Michael Kitchen as Christopher Cowley, who assisted Bull in designing the gun before backing out because he believed the project was putting his own life in greater danger; Tony Goldwyn (Donald Duval) and Kevin Spacey (Jim Price) as American spies; Alan Arkin (Colonel Yossi)and Clive Owen (Dov) as Israel spies; Roger Hammond in a wonderful, but brief, performance as the gun dealer Mackler; and Aharon Ipale (Marouf) and Zia Mohyeddin (Hashim) as the Iraqis who commissioned Bull to build the gun. You can also see Natasha Richardson in a brief performance as Mackler's mistress. Directed by Robert Young with a brilliant musical score by Richard Harvey.
But the film is really about Gerald Bull. Gerald Bull (played brilliantly by Frank Langella) is portrayed as arrogant, mercurial and a genius. He can be impossible and inspiring. He never allows his people to sleep until he discovers the answer to a problem. Above all, he is a dreamer who sees his gun as a work of art. There is a fascinating paradox in this movie between genius and the devastating implications of it. When Albert Einstein's developed his ideas about atoms, he had no idea that those ideas would result in the creation of an atomic bomb that, when dropped, would cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. Gerald Bull, unlike Einstein, should have known his gun could have killed thousands and yet he approaches the whole matter with a naive innocence or maybe he simply does not care, because -- as he explains to his wife -- the world is messed up already. As the film progresses, Bull becomes so obsessed with building the gun that he loses sight of everything else, including the distinct possibility that he is putting his own life in greater danger with every passing day. There is a lot to dislike in Gerald Bull, but Frank Langella's portrayal of him is so effective that we end up sympathizing with the man all the same. Part of us even wants him to succeed, because we understand how important that dream is to him.
Other good performances in the film come from Michael Kitchen as Christopher Cowley, who assisted Bull in designing the gun before backing out because he believed the project was putting his own life in greater danger; Tony Goldwyn (Donald Duval) and Kevin Spacey (Jim Price) as American spies; Alan Arkin (Colonel Yossi)and Clive Owen (Dov) as Israel spies; Roger Hammond in a wonderful, but brief, performance as the gun dealer Mackler; and Aharon Ipale (Marouf) and Zia Mohyeddin (Hashim) as the Iraqis who commissioned Bull to build the gun. You can also see Natasha Richardson in a brief performance as Mackler's mistress. Directed by Robert Young with a brilliant musical score by Richard Harvey.