One gun that dazzles the mind as an action gun for the big boys is the Gatling machine gun. In 1862, Richard Jordan Gatling invented a multi-barreled, rotating gun operated by a hand crank that could fire up to 200 rounds a minute. Used only a few times during the Civil War, the Gatling gun would later become the first widely successful machine gun.
Later without equal in the era of hand-operated machine guns, the Gatling gun could fire 3,000 rounds per minute if externally powered. It and all other hand-operated machine guns were made obsolete by the development of recoil and gas operated guns that followed the invention of smokeless gunpowder.
Nowadays, the M134 GAU-17 “Vulcan” cannon is a six-barreled, air cooled, medium machine gun used primarily as a fire suppression weapon in aircraft for the U.S. military. The so-called “Gatling” design relies on electric motors to power the barrels resulting in a firing rate as much as 6,000 rounds per minute.
It got my attention, as in the 2022 film, Day Shift (Dupla Jornada), Jamie Foxx is a professional vampire slayer. I’m not a fan of vampire movies, but desperate to see an action-packed high adrenalin one made me risk watching. Snoop Dogg played a short role to help Jamie out with the union, and that might have been the end of his guest appearance. Nearer the end Snoop Dogg reappeared to save the day with a high-powered Gatling style machine gun that blasted the baddies away.
A comic action movie with entirely too much violence and too few laughs. Jamie Foxx, Snoop Dogg bring spark to generic, but lively, horror-comedy romp. August 14, 2022 | Rating: 2.5/4 | Full Review… Day Shift is a B-list premise executed with A-list flair, as the cast and director elevate a thin story.
Take care!
Prof. Carl Boniface
Vocabulary builder:
Dazzle (v) = amaze, astonish, astound, impress, overwhelm, stun
Crank (v) = turn, reel, activate, move, (n) oddball, nonconformist, eccentric, unusual person
Recoil (v) = suddenly spring or flinch back in fear, horror, or disgust. "He recoiled in horror." As a noun it is the action of recoiling. "His body jerked with the recoil of the rifle." (Syn) shrink back, draw back, jump back.
Slayer (n) = killer, butcher, murderer, executioner, exterminator, assassin
Blasted (adj) = attacked, vilified, castigated
Baddies (n) = villains, crooks, rogues, bad character
Romp (n) = frolic, thriller, a spell of rough, energetic play. "Kids have a romp in the snow." (ant) bore. As a verb (especially of a child or animal) play roughly and energetically. "The noisy pack of children romped around the garden."
Premise (n) = idea, foundation, basis, proposition, hypothesis, thesis