MOVIE REVIEW: Shoot'Em Up

09/07/07

“What was that?” “No way!” You’ll be saying these phrases a few times during this movie, but in a good way. Fans of Kill Bill, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Grindhouse, and Sin City, this is a must see! Move over Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez and make room for Michael Davis. He can play with the big boys. Oh man, this movie is crazy and loads of fun. I had a smirk on my face the majority of the time. It is really quite simple you see, as simple as the title itself. This is a bang, bang, Shoot ‘em Up in your face action movie that doesn’t hold back. Add some sick humor, some decent performances, something of a plot to give the action at least a hint of purpose, and dark sadistic undertones and you’ve got a very entertaining film, however, it is not for everybody. It is NOT an artsy film, an Oscar contender, a dramatic masterpiece, nor is it a thought provoking or enlightening story. It is a non-stop action movie that was made just for the fun of it and that is what makes it so good. Not that there’s anything wrong with artsy, Oscar nominated, dramatic, thought provoking films, but sometimes you just want to go to the movies to have fun, real fun. Sure, sometimes you will want to go to an art museum, but sometimes you want to go play video games in an arcade. You’ll get your money’s worth with this game.

Mr. Smith (Clive Owen) is minding his own business at a bus stop when an “about-to-pop” pregnant woman comes running by him. She is being chased by a man with a gun. Smith reluctantly comes to the rescue and inevitably gets pulled into this whole predicament with the mother and especially the baby, who by the way is delivered by Smith in the middle of a shootout. Yeah, it’s that crazy. The primary baby hunter is Hertz (Paul Giamatti) along with his crew of guns for hire. Not knowing why they want to kill the mother and child, he instinctively protects them. Needing some help with the baby, he goes to Donna (Monica Bellucci), a prostitute who has serviced him before . . . and the chase ensues.

Paul Giamatti as a hit man??? Well, sure, his performance is not the best hit man ever, but he does pull it off. He can do just about anything really. Heck, he’s going to be playing Santa Claus this December. Now Monica playing a prostitute is slightly more believable. Her talents lie in the sexiness of her voice, her accent, and her looks. So soothing. From time to time she would let loose her piercing Italian tongue which added a little more flavor to her character. What a sharp, sharp woman. Clive is the one that made the most sense and it showed. He basically took his character from Sin City (Dwight) and pumped it up a few levels. Actually, he makes Dwight look like a wimp next to Smith. Smith has a thing for eating carrots and wait till you see what he can do with them.

As with most movies of this genre, the plot is overshadowed by the action, but in this case it just doesn’t matter. This movie is more about the action than the story even though the action gets absurd and unrealistic at times. The action is the core of the movie and everything else is wrapped around it. The dialogue is cheap at times, witty at times, and mostly brief and to the point as it should be. Even the soundtrack oozes action. You will see things that you have never seen in a movie or could even have imagined you would ever see in a movie. It is a bizarre, bloody, good guy vs. bad guy, defending the helpless, no time for chit chat, hard core action movie. Writer/Director Michael Davis (Monster Man, Girl Fever, 100 Girls) has undoubtedly accomplished what he set out to do. Thanks Michael for showing us that Quentin and Robert aren’t the only crazy directors that can do this. I’ll close by quoting Mr. Hertz referring to Smith: “My God. Do we really suck or is this guy really that good?” Go see the movie to find out for yourself.