Shoot Em Up

Shoot Em Up is what I call a good bad movie. The story is flimsy, the dialog is cheesy, and the action sequences are so over the top that they are just down right ridiculous. All this aside(or perhaps because of it), I can't help but like this movie. Lets face it, this film wasn't made to be taken seriously, I mean after all its a throw back/parody of films like Rambo or Die Hard where one bad ass of a man takes on hordes of enemies singlehandedly with little more than a 9mm pistol and a well sharpened tongue (one-liners aplenty people).

Just to give a sample of how wonderfully over the top this movie is, the first person to die in the movie is killed with a carrot. That's right a carrot. There are two instances of direct carrocide in this film. In the first our hero,who is known only as Smith, somehow manages to shove a carrot right through the back of a man's skull within the first five minutes of the film. There are also several other instances of indirect carrocide where a carrot is used to hold down the triggers of guns (thats right he does this more than once).

The films plot is pretty much strait forward action movie plot, I'll try not to spoil anything for anyone that hasn't seen it yet as I describe this. It starts out with our typical wrong place at the wrong time type scenario. Mr. Smith (played by Clive Owen) is for unknown reasons relaxing on a bench in a seedy looking area eating a carrot when a pregnant woman runs past him who is being pursued by a man with a gun. Mr. Smith saves the woman, and then after a shoot out while delivering the womans baby, he tires to help them escape. The mother is killed in the process, so now Mr. Smith is stuck with this baby who a man named Hertz (Paul Giamatti) is trying to kill (thats right they are trying to kill the baby). The rest of the movie is spent following Smith and his lactating prostitute/love intrerest/damsel in distress named Donna Quintano (Monica Bellucci) as they attempt to figure out why on earth anyone would want to kill this baby. All the while avoiding/duking it out with Hertz and his seemingly endless supply of henchmen. To find out the rest, go watch the movie.

Casting for Shoot 'Em Up is pretty spot on. Clive Owen's "Smith" is pretty much the same as the character he played in Sin City, a wise cracking cliche bad-ass who is both bitter and jaded, yet has a heart of gold. This role was pretty perfect for Owen, and I haven't really seen him play as anything but this type of character.

The Character that stole the show for me, however, was Hertz. Paul Giamatti makes a surprisingly good villain, he's twisted, intelligent, and a complete prick, and the constant phone calls from his wife about his son's birthday was a very nice touch and led to some of the funnier moments in the film.

Donna, Monica Bellucci's role, was really quite... blah. But, in action movies like this one female leads are generally there to be hot, not deep. So, I guess that doesn't really matter. The one nice character touch they did throw in for her was that she would swear in Italian when mad.

A note on the action. The action scenes are great, they are what you would expect from a film of this nature: bloody, long, and many. Also as the movie goes along each scene tries to out do the last. Smith fights while delivering a baby, having sex and while jumping from an airplane to name a few.

All in all, I'll say this it's not the best movie you'll ever see, and it's no masterpiece, but if you take it for what it is (a "shoot 'em up" action movie) you will enjoy it. But, if you are looking for a deeper level action type movie where thinking might actually be required, go rent Reservoir Dogs because Shoot 'Em Up will just disappoint you.