Shoot 'Em Up
Shoot 'Em Up ***
Directed by Michael Davis
Written by Michael Davis
Starring:
Clive Owen as Mr. Smith
Monica Bellucci as DQ
Paul Giamatti as Mr. Hertz
Around 85 Minutes(Not Yet Rated, but sure to be R-bloody violence, language, sex, nudity).
------------------------------------------------------
In an odd twist of fate-and if you want me to tell the story of how just post a comment and I'll be happy to-I got to see a special advanced screening of the new film "Shoot 'Em Up" which is no supposed to be released until September the 7th. I was grateful to get to see the screening for two reasons. One is because I wanted to see the movie and the other is because now its one less thing to see during the massive week after I come back from the Toronto Film Festival. "Shoot 'Em Up" is pure action from beginning to end. This is something that Jason Stanthom would do if he wasn't doing "War"-a film you will not see reviewed on this website-and I'm sure that he was asked. Instead we get the completely bad-ass Clive Owen simply running around killing and shooting people, having sex with his hooker with a heart of gold woman, and running away the evil Paul Giamatti character. There is a very very very loose plot, and this is not going to win a script or screenwriting or story award, but it is fun and has action sequences that are so over the top that you enjoy watching them. I can't even count how many times the audience would burst out into applause. It's that fun.
Owen plays Mr. Smith-that is the only name that we know him as. Mr. Smith is eating his carrot one day when he sees a pregnant woman getting beat up. He steps in, kills all the men after her, delivers the baby, but she is shot before he could get her to safety. He takes the baby when he realizes that it is still being hunted by these men, led by the evil family man Mr. Hertz. Eventually Mr. Smith gets in touch with his hooker girlfriend DQ and when she becomes in danger of these men, the three of them escape and are constantly being hunted by Hertz and his men.
And thats really all you need to know, and that is also all the plot that you are given. The film basically starts right into the action, without giving much background knowledge. But from the second Clive Owen's character kills a man with a carrot, I knew that I was about to see something a little different. The stunt scenes are a wonder to behold, and I was impressed by how many things you could do with a gun. The only time I felt it went overboard was a scene when Owen jumps out of a plane and shoots the people falling after him. The effects were horrid at that point and the whole scene just seemed unneeded. In other cases, the film also uses an amount of humor, mostly with Giamatti getting phone calls from his wife during violent scenes. Giamatti was very good here, and it was fun seeing him play a bad guy for a change. I'm used to the depressed and somber Giamatt, and here he is one of the most evil men on film-and he kills many a man without remorse. There are also plenty of corny one liners that got a bit annoying after a while, but I guess they worked in this violent world that these characters create.
When its story the film suffers as well, and the story involves a gun company and a politician with a disease. There is only one real plot heavy, and it takes place on the airplane that Owen jumps out of. This is during the halfway mark of the film and really does reveal everything. All questions are answered, and this is about an hour into the movie. I guess that is where the film ends up at its breaking up, although the finale is pretty neat to watch anyway, And I've also come to the conclusion that Monica Belluci is one of the beautiful women around, and she and Owen participate in a great sex/ gunfighting sequence that also ends up a corny one liner. It worked their, though. "Shoot 'Em Up" is good bloody fun, as you would expect from the title.
"Shoot 'Em Up" opened nationwide on September the 7th. There will be a reminder.
Directed by Michael Davis
Written by Michael Davis
Starring:
Clive Owen as Mr. Smith
Monica Bellucci as DQ
Paul Giamatti as Mr. Hertz
Around 85 Minutes(Not Yet Rated, but sure to be R-bloody violence, language, sex, nudity).
------------------------------------------------------
In an odd twist of fate-and if you want me to tell the story of how just post a comment and I'll be happy to-I got to see a special advanced screening of the new film "Shoot 'Em Up" which is no supposed to be released until September the 7th. I was grateful to get to see the screening for two reasons. One is because I wanted to see the movie and the other is because now its one less thing to see during the massive week after I come back from the Toronto Film Festival. "Shoot 'Em Up" is pure action from beginning to end. This is something that Jason Stanthom would do if he wasn't doing "War"-a film you will not see reviewed on this website-and I'm sure that he was asked. Instead we get the completely bad-ass Clive Owen simply running around killing and shooting people, having sex with his hooker with a heart of gold woman, and running away the evil Paul Giamatti character. There is a very very very loose plot, and this is not going to win a script or screenwriting or story award, but it is fun and has action sequences that are so over the top that you enjoy watching them. I can't even count how many times the audience would burst out into applause. It's that fun.
Owen plays Mr. Smith-that is the only name that we know him as. Mr. Smith is eating his carrot one day when he sees a pregnant woman getting beat up. He steps in, kills all the men after her, delivers the baby, but she is shot before he could get her to safety. He takes the baby when he realizes that it is still being hunted by these men, led by the evil family man Mr. Hertz. Eventually Mr. Smith gets in touch with his hooker girlfriend DQ and when she becomes in danger of these men, the three of them escape and are constantly being hunted by Hertz and his men.
And thats really all you need to know, and that is also all the plot that you are given. The film basically starts right into the action, without giving much background knowledge. But from the second Clive Owen's character kills a man with a carrot, I knew that I was about to see something a little different. The stunt scenes are a wonder to behold, and I was impressed by how many things you could do with a gun. The only time I felt it went overboard was a scene when Owen jumps out of a plane and shoots the people falling after him. The effects were horrid at that point and the whole scene just seemed unneeded. In other cases, the film also uses an amount of humor, mostly with Giamatti getting phone calls from his wife during violent scenes. Giamatti was very good here, and it was fun seeing him play a bad guy for a change. I'm used to the depressed and somber Giamatt, and here he is one of the most evil men on film-and he kills many a man without remorse. There are also plenty of corny one liners that got a bit annoying after a while, but I guess they worked in this violent world that these characters create.
When its story the film suffers as well, and the story involves a gun company and a politician with a disease. There is only one real plot heavy, and it takes place on the airplane that Owen jumps out of. This is during the halfway mark of the film and really does reveal everything. All questions are answered, and this is about an hour into the movie. I guess that is where the film ends up at its breaking up, although the finale is pretty neat to watch anyway, And I've also come to the conclusion that Monica Belluci is one of the beautiful women around, and she and Owen participate in a great sex/ gunfighting sequence that also ends up a corny one liner. It worked their, though. "Shoot 'Em Up" is good bloody fun, as you would expect from the title.
"Shoot 'Em Up" opened nationwide on September the 7th. There will be a reminder.
posted by Eric at
4:03 AM
3 Comments:
There isn't one scene where Paul talks to his mother. And Mr. Smith jumping out of the plane was one of the most insane and exciting sequences in the movie.
You're right about the mother thing. I meant to type "wife" and I guess I missed that when I proofread. I fixed it for future reading.
The biggest problem I had with the plane bit were that the effects were horrible. It looked extremely CGI, and that's where it just went a bit over the top.
How did you see the movie, anyway?
i loved shoot 'em up! although i had to relive the painful experience of breaking ones fingers again :(
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