Shoot 'Em Up Movie Review by Nived
Shoot 'Em Up Movie Review by Nived
What’s in a name? In the case of Shoot’em Up—everything. It promises outrageous action and delivers it in spades from its absurd opening to its grinningly silly ending. To take it seriously in any way possible is not the point, in fact, quite the opposite. Shoot’em Up is a full-blown cartoon: filled with silly violence that’s as goofy and relentless as the intentionally (this is the key word) cheesy and corny one-liners and puns that are fired out as often as the freshly fired rounds. It’s a complete farce on brainless action movies, and in its title it absolutely relishes that fact. There is a plot thinly layered into the mayhem, and there are characters; also thinly developed, but both are only developed without it ever obstructing or slowing down the chaos.
Clive Owen stars as Mr. Smith, a man who gets himself in the crosshairs of thug and all-round slimy “bad guy”, Hertz, played with a sniveling grin by Paul Giamatti, and clearly loving every second of it. Smith—eating carrots and all—is literally the Bugs Bunny to Hertz’ Elmer Fudd when he helps deliver a baby (during the first of many shootouts) from a nameless woman Hertz wants to wipe out, he finds himself on the run and in constant wave of danger as he is assaulted by Hertz’ henchmen, who, you guessed it, can’t seem to shoot the side of a barn. Smith will do just about anything to protect the baby, but what is Hertz’ interest in killing the new born? That’s just the beginning, but this tale gets wackier, weirder and more ludicrous with every firefight.
What’s impressive about Shoot’em Up is how well the idea holds up during its brief, but perfectly suitable length of 86 minutes. It’s short, straight to business and lots of fun. Just don’t take ANY of it remotely serious, it wasn’t meant to be. Owen, back to saving babies after Children of Men, is great in the lead: someone with his instant charisma and silent charm is perfect for the lead, and the same can be said about Giamatti as the deliciously perverse villain, and the always sexy Monica Bellucci as DQ, the hooker (with an interesting fetish) with a heart of gold. The cast is solid in their respectfully limited parts, but they are perfect for them. The fun of Shoot’em Up is in the non-sense that it rolls around in shamelessly, and for the most part, I was laughing my ass off at how it was able to sustain it's momentum by creating new, wild situations Smith is placed in and forced to shoot his way out of; the climax of which has to be a gunfight during a skydiving freefall. It isn’t deep or complex—it’s simply not that kind of movie, but what the title promises, it more than delivers, and does so with plenty of inventive nuttiness. So, grab a beer and turn up the surround sound, because this one is strictly for the eyes and ears.
What’s in a name? In the case of Shoot’em Up—everything. It promises outrageous action and delivers it in spades from its absurd opening to its grinningly silly ending. To take it seriously in any way possible is not the point, in fact, quite the opposite. Shoot’em Up is a full-blown cartoon: filled with silly violence that’s as goofy and relentless as the intentionally (this is the key word) cheesy and corny one-liners and puns that are fired out as often as the freshly fired rounds. It’s a complete farce on brainless action movies, and in its title it absolutely relishes that fact. There is a plot thinly layered into the mayhem, and there are characters; also thinly developed, but both are only developed without it ever obstructing or slowing down the chaos.
Clive Owen stars as Mr. Smith, a man who gets himself in the crosshairs of thug and all-round slimy “bad guy”, Hertz, played with a sniveling grin by Paul Giamatti, and clearly loving every second of it. Smith—eating carrots and all—is literally the Bugs Bunny to Hertz’ Elmer Fudd when he helps deliver a baby (during the first of many shootouts) from a nameless woman Hertz wants to wipe out, he finds himself on the run and in constant wave of danger as he is assaulted by Hertz’ henchmen, who, you guessed it, can’t seem to shoot the side of a barn. Smith will do just about anything to protect the baby, but what is Hertz’ interest in killing the new born? That’s just the beginning, but this tale gets wackier, weirder and more ludicrous with every firefight.
What’s impressive about Shoot’em Up is how well the idea holds up during its brief, but perfectly suitable length of 86 minutes. It’s short, straight to business and lots of fun. Just don’t take ANY of it remotely serious, it wasn’t meant to be. Owen, back to saving babies after Children of Men, is great in the lead: someone with his instant charisma and silent charm is perfect for the lead, and the same can be said about Giamatti as the deliciously perverse villain, and the always sexy Monica Bellucci as DQ, the hooker (with an interesting fetish) with a heart of gold. The cast is solid in their respectfully limited parts, but they are perfect for them. The fun of Shoot’em Up is in the non-sense that it rolls around in shamelessly, and for the most part, I was laughing my ass off at how it was able to sustain it's momentum by creating new, wild situations Smith is placed in and forced to shoot his way out of; the climax of which has to be a gunfight during a skydiving freefall. It isn’t deep or complex—it’s simply not that kind of movie, but what the title promises, it more than delivers, and does so with plenty of inventive nuttiness. So, grab a beer and turn up the surround sound, because this one is strictly for the eyes and ears.
posted by Popcornmonsters.com | 11:00 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home