2008 Woodie Awards
Shoot 'Em Up walks fine line
Joseph Froemming
Issue date: 9/17/07 Section: Intermission
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Movie Review
If constant action, guns, beautiful women, heavy metal music and absolutely no plot in a film is one's cup of tea, "Shoot 'Em Up" is the perfect action flick. If one hates all those aspects in movies, strangely enough, "Shoot 'Em Up" is also a great choice.
First off, this is a complete satire of typically bad action movies done in a way that is not a slapstick comedy. "Shoot 'Em Up" walks the fine line between falling into either a really awful cliché or a really good dig at the genre.
Clive Owen plays "Mr. Smith," the typical loner hero with a mysterious background, a bag full of catchy one liners for nearly every occasion and is constantly eating carrots.
Mr. Smith finds himself in the incredible position of rescuing a baby from a gang of thugs with incredibly poor shooting aim. He is able not only to escape any scenario unscathed, but also leaves piles of dead bad guys behind him.
Mr. Smith never misses his targets, which makes up for the villains' poor shooting abilities.
He not only rescues the child, but also a friendly neighborhood prostitute who soon finds herself caring for the child like it were her own.
Mr. Smith soon figures out the baby he rescued is part of an intricate government conspiracy involving high-ranking officials and fire arms manufacturers.
Paul Giamatti plays the chubby, nerdish villain Hertz, who is constantly chasing Mr. Smith, the prostitute and the baby like Captain Ahab chasing Moby Dick.
If this film was not a complete mockery of every action movie ever made, it would be a box office hit.
The film is shot like a serious action movie, with big spectacles of explosions and gunplay at all times.
The dialogue is cleverly written badly on purpose, playing on catch phrases that made Bruce Willis a star and the "Terminator" the governor of California. Clive Owen throws these lines out so seriously it leaves one in stitches.
The action scenes are accompanied by heavy metal and hard rock music. The first action sequence has Nirvana's "Breed" blaring from the speakers and other groups like Motorhead and Motley Crue amp up the momentum.
The humor of "Shoot 'Em Up" is not blatant. One could easily think this film is serious if they did not pick up on the subtle insults toward the action genre.
The film is much more enjoyable once the audience is in on the joke. It will entertain those who love blind violence and poor plot lines and those who despise the predictable cookie cutter outlines of such films.
If constant action, guns, beautiful women, heavy metal music and absolutely no plot in a film is one's cup of tea, "Shoot 'Em Up" is the perfect action flick. If one hates all those aspects in movies, strangely enough, "Shoot 'Em Up" is also a great choice.
First off, this is a complete satire of typically bad action movies done in a way that is not a slapstick comedy. "Shoot 'Em Up" walks the fine line between falling into either a really awful cliché or a really good dig at the genre.
Clive Owen plays "Mr. Smith," the typical loner hero with a mysterious background, a bag full of catchy one liners for nearly every occasion and is constantly eating carrots.
Mr. Smith finds himself in the incredible position of rescuing a baby from a gang of thugs with incredibly poor shooting aim. He is able not only to escape any scenario unscathed, but also leaves piles of dead bad guys behind him.
Mr. Smith never misses his targets, which makes up for the villains' poor shooting abilities.
He not only rescues the child, but also a friendly neighborhood prostitute who soon finds herself caring for the child like it were her own.
Mr. Smith soon figures out the baby he rescued is part of an intricate government conspiracy involving high-ranking officials and fire arms manufacturers.
Paul Giamatti plays the chubby, nerdish villain Hertz, who is constantly chasing Mr. Smith, the prostitute and the baby like Captain Ahab chasing Moby Dick.
If this film was not a complete mockery of every action movie ever made, it would be a box office hit.
The film is shot like a serious action movie, with big spectacles of explosions and gunplay at all times.
The dialogue is cleverly written badly on purpose, playing on catch phrases that made Bruce Willis a star and the "Terminator" the governor of California. Clive Owen throws these lines out so seriously it leaves one in stitches.
The action scenes are accompanied by heavy metal and hard rock music. The first action sequence has Nirvana's "Breed" blaring from the speakers and other groups like Motorhead and Motley Crue amp up the momentum.
The humor of "Shoot 'Em Up" is not blatant. One could easily think this film is serious if they did not pick up on the subtle insults toward the action genre.
The film is much more enjoyable once the audience is in on the joke. It will entertain those who love blind violence and poor plot lines and those who despise the predictable cookie cutter outlines of such films.