Shoot 'Em Up


3/4

Starring: Clive Owen, Paul Giamatti, Monica Bellucci

Rated R for Pervasive Strong Bloody Violence, Sexuality and Language

With “Shoot ‘Em Up,” writer/director Michael Davis gives new meaning to the term “over-the-top.”  Bullets fly more or less constantly, bad guys die by the truckload, and for the most part, the lone hero escapes from every firefight without so much as a scratch.

In the beginning, there was nothing…haha.  No, I’m not that pretentious, and neither is this film.  It’s really a $39 million dollar novelty item; an R-rated Looney Tunes cartoon with more carnage than all of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s movies put together.

When the film starts, a man whom we later know as Mr. Smith (Owen) is sitting on a park bench minding his own business when he sees a woman in labor running down the sidewalk.  Chasing after her is a nasty guy with a gun.  Now Smith, being the Good Samaritan that he is, offs the bad guy, but it turns out that he’s not the only one who’s after this poor woman.  A bunch of guys, led by a nasty little man named Mr. Hertz (Giamatti), barge in and start shooting up the place.  The woman gives birth but dies soon after, and now Smith is left with the kid.  So he, a lactating hooker named Donna Quintano (Bellucci) and the baby are off to solve the mystery of what kind of a sadist wants this newborn infant dead as a doornail.

Smith, as played by Clive Owen, is like James Bond on steroids, and the walking definition of a badass.  The things this guy does while firing a gun must be seen to be believed.  Owen pulls off a number of great one-liners in a suitably deadpan manner, but admittedly, this isn’t a role that requires much range.  Paul Giamatti is clearly enjoying himself as the over-the-top villain; you can see the veins starting to pulse in his forehead five minutes into the movie, and his anger only escalates.  It should be noted that not only is Giamatti equally skilled at shooting off one-liners, but he has the best line in the film (it’s about, of all things, gun control).  The only one who doesn’t work is Monica Bellucci.  The husky-voiced French femme fatale is a good actress, but she’s miscast (even though she’s once again playing a hooker, although Donna Quintano is a lot less kinky than Sylvia from “Brotherhood of the Wolf”).

Michael Davis clearly has an affection for the action genre.  Not only does he create a legitimate adrenaline cocktail, but he lampoons it at every turn.  This is like John Woo on hyperdrive.  He also inserts some very clever comedy in the film (the scene with the factory sign is especially clever).  Sure, the story doesn’t always make a lot of sense, but that’s not what why we watched this movie.  It’s for action, action, and more action.  Davis knows this, and he delivers.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Desert Flower

2/4 Starring: Liya Kebede, Sally Hawkins, Timothy Spall, Juliet Stevenson Rated R for Some Violent Content, A Scene of Sexuality and Language The problem with "Desert Flower" is not that Waris Dirie's story isn't suited for the cinematic treatment or that the actress playing her isn't acceptable.  The problem is that director Sherry Hormann doesn't do a good job of telling it.  This is a poorly focused film that can't decide what it wants to be about or what it wants to say. As is the case with many a true story, the life of Waris Dirie is too amazing to be made up by a Hollywood screenwriter.  This woman fled an arranged marriage as a child, spent years as a servant to a Somali diplomat in England, survived on the streets, and was discovered by a fashion photographer while working as a janitor.  Then she became a supermodel and UN Ambassador in the fight against female genital mutilation. Waris experienced a lot in her life.  Telling it all in a...
Read more

The Road

3.5/4 Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Charlize Theron Rated R for Some Violence, Disturbing Images and Language "The Road" has to be the most downbeat, depressing and cynical movie I've ever seen.  That's not meant as a criticism, but a fact.  This is a tough movie to get through, but not a chore.  Those who venture in will find their time well spent, albeit not in a necessarily pleasant way.  Then again, if a movie is based off a novel by Cormac McCarthy, "pleasant" isn't a word one would hope to be used to describe it. The film takes place after the world has ended.  How it happened is not explained because it doesn't matter.  But any hope of the Earth recovering from what happened has long since gone.  A man (Mortensen) and his son (Smit-McPhee) are travelling together, trying to "get to the coast."  There are few people left, although considering what many are doing with the goal of survival, that's a good thing...
Read more

My Left Foot

 2/4 Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Brenda Fricker, Ray McAnally, Fiona Shaw, Alison Whelan Rated R (probably for Language and Brief Violence) "My Left Foot" feels like one of those movies designed to win Oscars and nothing else.  In fact, it did win two Oscars for the immortal Daniel Day-Lewis and Brenda Fricker, but apart from their strong work, there's not much else to remember about this movie.  It's well-acted, but all in all it's pretty dull. Christy Brown (Day-Lewis) is getting recognized for his work in order to raise money for the disabled.  Despite being a talented artist and writer, Christy is not the ideal candidate for the job.  He's an alcoholic jerk who makes no secret of his lust for women nor is he above using his disability to manipulate people into doing what he wants.  Interspersed with his attempts to seduce a woman tasked with looking after him while he awaits his entrance are vignettes from his childhood.  Most notably how his mothe...
Read more