 |  |
Review #523 of 365
Movie Review of Shoot 'Em Up (2007) [R] 80 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $14.25
Where Viewed: United Artists Denver Pavilions Stadium 15, Denver, CO
When 1st Seen: 8 September 2007
Time: 10:00 pm
DVD Release Date: 1 January 2008 (click date to purchase or pre-order)
Film's Official Website • Film's Trailer
Soundtrack: Download now from 
- or - order the CD below
Directed by: Michael Davis (Monster Man)
Written by : Michael Davis (Monster Man)
Featured Cast (Where You Might Remember Him/Her From):
Clive Owen (Children of Men) • Paul Giamatti (The Nanny Diaries) • Monica Bellucci (The Brothers Grimm) • Stephen McHattie (300) • Greg Bryk ("ReGenesis") • Daniel Pilon ("Vampire High")
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word or less review of this film]
Click to read the spoiler points for Shoot 'Em Up
So, you're just sitting on a bus stop bench, minding your own business, munching on a carrot—you're favorite from of oral gratification ever since Hollywood suddenly grew a conscience and took away your cigarettes—when suddenly a pregnant woman comes running buy screaming her head off followed by a gunman seemingly hell bent on killing her. What's a guy with a scruffy beard, trench coat, and years of British special opps training supposed to do? Naturally, you stow the carrot and go after her. Moments later you find yourself embroiled in a full on destructive onslaught where the only way out is going to involve you killing off a dozen shooters and delivering the baby firing a quick round to sever the umbilical cord and put the crying newborn in the arms of his mother.
"…an absolute blast and one of the most fun films made exclusively for grown ups in recent memory. "
Unfortunately, what you might not know is that there's a heavy price tag on the heads of both the woman and the child and a super nasty, extremely expensive hit man and former government criminal profiler in charge of executing this hit named Mr. Hertz (Paul Giamatti). He'll stop at nothing to complete his mission, and now, you too are his mission. Another round of bad guys and a zillion bullets later, the mother is dead, and suddenly you are a Dad.
Alternate Poster
Click to Purchase
Thus is the opening sequence, yes sequence, for the man known only as Smith (Clive Owen) in the Michael Davis written and directed diabolically classy new action film satire, Shoot 'Em Up. With a ratt-a-tatt tit-for-tat smugness and a fever pitch velocity, Smith must figure out why Hertz wants the woman and baby and now him dead, fend off a never-ending supply of bad guys with guns, determine which side the government is on to know who to go to for help, and save baby's life. Why must he do so? Because he's "…a British nanny, and he's dangerous." Strikingly humorous and brilliantly satirical, the film political statements couldn't be hammered home more clearly. Taking on the gun industry and the politicians who protect them with the now infamous notion, "Guns don't kill people, people kill people," Michael Davis through his astonishing new action hero Smith, demonstrates that, indeed, guns do kill people, and a lot of them. The body count in this film orders on the absurd between Smith's sharp shooting skills with a gun and his ability to improvise with carrots, bad guys get whacked more often than flies at a summertime Wisconsin Brat fest. Shortly after escaping with the baby from the warehouse of their first encounter, Smith enlists the aid of a high class call girl, Dona Quintano (Monica Bellucci) whose clients share a deviant love of nursing in their old age, and whom he knows will therefore be a ready source of breast milk for the baby. She's ever so reluctant to help him at first, but a dark secret from her own past bonds her nearly as quickly as was he to this precious infant. Little does the trio realize, however, that they are in the middle of an economic and political war to preserve the financial interests and political future of two very bad men: Senator Rutledge (Daniel Pilon) and Mr. Hammerson (Stephen McHattie) of the Hammerson firearm manufacturing company. Linking together the pieces of the puzzle and eliminating the threats on their lives will take every ounce of Smith's skills and two tons of lead (the kind in bullets, not pencils). (for more plot details and spoilers click here)
Alternate Poster
Click to Purchase
To get the proper picture of Clive Owen's Smith, picture the fighting fury fists of Jackie Chan only with guns instead. In Asia, they use their fists and feet, in the USA, well, we use guns, and lots and lots and lots of them. This might be less honorable, but it's a far more efficient way to dispatch a whole lot of bad guys. Of course, the point is that if there weren't so many bad guys all with guns, there wouldn’t be a need for the good guys to have guns either. In the film, guns and guns sales are the real antagonists. Mr. Smith would be just fine minding his own business chomping carrots. The hyper-exaggeration of the gunplay demonstrates the lethality of not just the weapons but of those whose personas blend such that the two become one. Smith, who himself seems to have endured a life-changing tragedy due to misused guns, if we are to believe the story told by Hertz in a moment he was trying to rile Smith up, represents the soul force of anyone and everyone who's ever lost a loved one to guns. With slick style and whip-like reflexes he senses his enemies' every movements and reacts lightning quick to ensure his safety by lodging bullets just where they need to go. Unlike so many action heroes that are really into leaping, Smith is a slider. He tends to find a greased path and slide it killing anyone he can along the way. This clever signature move, his style, and his courageous heart all help make him one of the stand out action heroes of the decade. It's nearly impossible not to love this guy almost instantly. Who else, after leaving a baby on a playground carousel to be found by proper parents, moments later, from 30 feet away, shoot the bars to get it spinning and save the baby again from the clutches of the evil Mr. Hertz? And this was just one of the countless awesome feats of Smith.
Alternate Poster
Click to Purchase
Clive Owen is absolutely amazing. In some ways, forget James Bond. It took two actors and seven films before James Bond saw this much action. And, while James Bond was certainly the Mac Daddy of his day, it's difficult to recall a time when he 'buffly' eliminated an onslaught of machine gun-toting baddies without committing coitus interruptus. Smith is a new kind of 'secret agent'. He's not an agent, and he's much better at keeping secrets. He wields carrots, has a real rat for friend, and gets involved because he can not because he has to. With his rugged good looks, serious nature, classic British accent, and piercing eyes, Clive Owen endows Smith with a gonzo daredevil attitude that cannot be defeated. Meanwhile, Paul Giamatti is back in the villain role after what probably amounted to miscasting as 2006's Lady in the Water's good guy. He's far more comfortable and believable as the paunchy, homicidal maniac hit man. If he has a conscience, it lasts no longer than the time it takes him to reload a gun with a new shell cartridge. With near superhuman abilities, he can track just about anyone based on clips and clues that even Detective Robert Goren wouldn't notice, and if that doesn't work, he'll make stuff up. The thing that makes these two work so well off each other is their equally, king-sized death wish. The source of which, in both cases seems to be from their wives: Smith because he couldn't save his from death, and Hertz because his is making him wish he were dead rather than listen to her constant nagging via cell phone at all the most inopportune moments one more time. Monica Bellucci also gets an intriguing role. On the one hand she's a member of the union of the world's oldest profession and on the other she's a tender and loving mother figure, a tigress when it comes to protecting her young charge. She beautiful, but don't let that fool you into a false sense of security. She's also equally lethal in her own rights. While her role is not as expansive as the other two, she's no couch potato who sits in the back room watching things unfold. She also adds a moral center to the picture that was much needed.
Alternate Poster
Click to Purchase
Thus is the opening sequence, yes sequence, for the man known only as Smith (Clive Owen) in the Michael Davis written and directed diabolically classy new action film satire, Shoot 'Em Up. With a ratt-a-tatt tit-for-tat smugness and a fever pitch velocity, Smith must figure out why Hertz wants the woman and baby and now him dead, fend off a never-ending supply of bad guys with guns, determine which side the government is on to know who to go to for help, and save baby's life. Why must he do so? Because he's "…a British nanny, and he's dangerous." Strikingly humorous and brilliantly satirical, the film political statements couldn't be hammered home more clearly. Taking on the gun industry and the politicians who protect them with the now infamous notion, "Guns don't kill people, people kill people," Michael Davis through his astonishing new action hero Smith, demonstrates that, indeed, guns do kill people, and a lot of them. The body count in this film orders on the absurd between Smith's sharp shooting skills with a gun and his ability to improvise with carrots, bad guys get whacked more often than flies at a summertime Wisconsin Brat fest. Shortly after escaping with the baby from the warehouse of their first encounter, Smith enlists the aid of a high class call girl, Dona Quintano (Monica Bellucci) whose clients share a deviant love of nursing in their old age, and whom he knows will therefore be a ready source of breast milk for the baby. She's ever so reluctant to help him at first, but a dark secret from her own past bonds her nearly as quickly as was he to this precious infant. Little does the trio realize, however, that they are in the middle of an economic and political war to preserve the financial interests and political future of two very bad men: Senator Rutledge (Daniel Pilon) and Mr. Hammerson (Stephen McHattie) of the Hammerson firearm manufacturing company. Linking together the pieces of the puzzle and eliminating the threats on their lives will take every ounce of Smith's skills and two tons of lead (the kind in bullets, not pencils). (for more plot details and spoilers click here)
Alternate Poster
Click to Purchase
To get the proper picture of Clive Owen's Smith, picture the fighting fury fists of Jackie Chan only with guns instead. In Asia, they use their fists and feet, in the USA, well, we use guns, and lots and lots and lots of them. This might be less honorable, but it's a far more efficient way to dispatch a whole lot of bad guys. Of course, the point is that if there weren't so many bad guys all with guns, there wouldn’t be a need for the good guys to have guns either. In the film, guns and guns sales are the real antagonists. Mr. Smith would be just fine minding his own business chomping carrots. The hyper-exaggeration of the gunplay demonstrates the lethality of not just the weapons but of those whose personas blend such that the two become one. Smith, who himself seems to have endured a life-changing tragedy due to misused guns, if we are to believe the story told by Hertz in a moment he was trying to rile Smith up, represents the soul force of anyone and everyone who's ever lost a loved one to guns. With slick style and whip-like reflexes he senses his enemies' every movements and reacts lightning quick to ensure his safety by lodging bullets just where they need to go. Unlike so many action heroes that are really into leaping, Smith is a slider. He tends to find a greased path and slide it killing anyone he can along the way. This clever signature move, his style, and his courageous heart all help make him one of the stand out action heroes of the decade. It's nearly impossible not to love this guy almost instantly. Who else, after leaving a baby on a playground carousel to be found by proper parents, moments later, from 30 feet away, shoot the bars to get it spinning and save the baby again from the clutches of the evil Mr. Hertz? And this was just one of the countless awesome feats of Smith.
Alternate Poster
Click to Purchase
Clive Owen is absolutely amazing. In some ways, forget James Bond. It took two actors and seven films before James Bond saw this much action. And, while James Bond was certainly the Mac Daddy of his day, it's difficult to recall a time when he 'buffly' eliminated an onslaught of machine gun-toting baddies without committing coitus interruptus. Smith is a new kind of 'secret agent'. He's not an agent, and he's much better at keeping secrets. He wields carrots, has a real rat for friend, and gets involved because he can not because he has to. With his rugged good looks, serious nature, classic British accent, and piercing eyes, Clive Owen endows Smith with a gonzo daredevil attitude that cannot be defeated. Meanwhile, Paul Giamatti is back in the villain role after what probably amounted to miscasting as 2006's Lady in the Water's good guy. He's far more comfortable and believable as the paunchy, homicidal maniac hit man. If he has a conscience, it lasts no longer than the time it takes him to reload a gun with a new shell cartridge. With near superhuman abilities, he can track just about anyone based on clips and clues that even Detective Robert Goren wouldn't notice, and if that doesn't work, he'll make stuff up. The thing that makes these two work so well off each other is their equally, king-sized death wish. The source of which, in both cases seems to be from their wives: Smith because he couldn't save his from death, and Hertz because his is making him wish he were dead rather than listen to her constant nagging via cell phone at all the most inopportune moments one more time. Monica Bellucci also gets an intriguing role. On the one hand she's a member of the union of the world's oldest profession and on the other she's a tender and loving mother figure, a tigress when it comes to protecting her young charge. She beautiful, but don't let that fool you into a false sense of security. She's also equally lethal in her own rights. While her role is not as expansive as the other two, she's no couch potato who sits in the back room watching things unfold. She also adds a moral center to the picture that was much needed.
This film was an absolute blast and one of the most fun films made exclusively for grown ups in recent memory. It is way, way over the top. Way, way! It's about time that somebody made a film in the pure action genre that can be as satisfying and entertaining as the most richly written dramatic feature.
"This film is '24-carrot gold'."
Shoot 'Em Up is one of those films that when you see it, you just know that it's going to spawn most of the following in tribute to its greatness: sequels, knock offs, rip offs, send ups, and, of course, the obligatory "SNL" sketches with or without Paul Giamatti or Clive Owen hosting the show. Michael Davis, in his first really big picture, delivers big time in a raucous, extraordinary, over-the-top action picture that further raises the bar of expectations when it comes to adult-oriented action films. This film is '24-carrot gold'.
Back to Top | W.I.P. Scale™ | Most Recently Reviewed Films | Films of 2005 | Films of 2006 | Films of 2007
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
Other Projects Featuring Shoot 'Em Up (2007)
Cast Members
Clive Owen
• Paul Giamatti • Monica BellucciStephen McHattie
• Greg Bryk • Daniel PilonDirector
Michael Davis
Writer
Michael Davis
| CD Soundtrack | Poster | DVD |
This film was an absolute blast and one of the most fun films made exclusively for grown ups in recent memory. It is way, way over the top. Way, way! It's about time that somebody made a film in the pure action genre that can be as satisfying and entertaining as the most richly written dramatic feature. Shoot 'Em Up is one of those films that when you see it, you just know that it's going to spawn most of the following in tribute to its greatness: sequels, knock offs, rip offs, send ups, and, of course, the obligatory "SNL" sketches with or without Paul Giamatti or Clive Owen hosting the show. Michael Davis, in his first really big picture, delivers big time in a raucous, extraordinary, over-the-top action picture that further raises the bar of expectations when it comes to adult-oriented action films.
No comments:
Post a Comment