Shoot 'Em Up is a gritty, fast paced action thriller starring Clive Owen as Mr. Smith; a mysterious loner who teams up with an unlikely ally (Monica Bellucci) in order to protect a newborn baby from a determined hitman (Paul Giamatti) who hunts them throughout the bowels of the city. Read more
| Starring | Clive Owen, Monica Bellucci, Paul Giamatti, Greg Bryk |
|---|---|
| Director | Michael Davis, Michael Davis |
| Run time | 84 mins |
| Genres | Action/Adventure, Drama, Thriller |
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Michael Davis audacious John Woo-style actioner opens with Clive Owen sitting on a bench munching a carrot as a... read more on Time Out
Maybe I was just in the wrong mood when I watched this, but 'Shoot 'em up' has got my nod for the worst film of 2007. I probably wouldn't be so harsh if I had watched it on tv in the wee hours and it had starred 'actors' like Steven Siegal or Jean Claude Van etcccccc.... but the very fact that it features quality, top of their game thesps like Clive Owen and Paul Giamatti makes it a crying shame of a film. You could imagine it being a good fun action packed one-liner'thon but it is directed so badly with seemingly so little talent that it comes across as a massive missed opportunity. Every time a character muttered a witty retort (generally after an elaborately thought up but badly executed stunt), the line would just hang there as forced and embarrassing. I believe that the exact same script directed by someone like John Woo or Edgar Wright would have been able to make the action flow a lot better without making it look like kids playing guns in the playground. Please avoid. Monica Bellucci is still easy on the eye though...
Absolutely hilarious,and the fact that every character appeared at first to play it straight just added to the humour,though I'm guessing a few of the macho boys (and whatever the equivalent term is for girlies) out there just won't 'get it' as the jokes,both visual & 'in' jokes referenced from other films go whistling way overhead like ricochets from a .45 Magnum.
It had my son & myself grinning like cheshire cats from start to finish,as we're already fans of both Paul Giamatti & Clive Owen,plus I'm pretty keen on Monica Bellucci....beauty with brains,an obviously wicked sense of humour,plus being brunette with a wonderful accent just rounds everything off very nicely indeed.
Don't expect to find the meaning of life,the universe,and everything else here,but it's well worth a couple of chilled hours with a few like minded mates and the odd beer thrown in for good measure IMHO.
The shoot-out. As both Shoot Em Up and 3:10 to Yuma demonstrate this week, this is one of those dramatic situations that's essentially cinematic. Writers, painters and playwrights might convey something of the tension and excitement, but none of them can compete with the full-blown experience of the expertly staged movie gunfight. That said, it was a novelist who started it all. Owen Wister's "The Virginian" was published in 1902, and set the template for what became the standard climax of the Read more