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Harvey Karten's Reviews

Review: Shoot 'em Up

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#1 of 1 Posted 9/1/07 7:28 PM

From Harveycritic Posts 1637 Last Jan-30
To All [Msg # 22612.1 ]

SHOOT 'EM UP

Reviewed for CompuServe by Harvey S. Karten
New Line Cinema
Grade: B+
Directed by:    Michael Davis
Written By: Michael Davis
Cast:   Clive Owen, Monica Bellucci, Paul Giamatti, Greg Bryk, Stephen McHattie, Ramona Pringle, Jane
McLean
Screened at: Dolby88, NYC, 8/7/07
Opens: September 7, 2007

One of the great Hollywood mysteries of the past few years is why Clive Owen did not become James
Bond. Due respects to Daniel Craig, Owen is ruggedly handsome, intelligent, witty, and can toss off
groan-inducing one-liners drily. He appears to be performing his own stunts and he can shoot and kill
more people in a single movie than any previous Bond. And yet, Michael Davis, who wrote and directs
"Shoot ‘em Up," shows Clive Owen paradoxically as the anti-Bond as well. Unlike suave Sean Connery
and the rest of ‘em, Owen plays a fellow who's homeless, depressed, in the dumps, and as the picture
opens, seeming to be nonchalant when he witnesses an assassination plot in action.   "Shoot ‘em Up," a
parody of films that are violent and prurient, plays homage to sex and mayhem as well, referencing the
great works of John Woo (especially a scene with Chow Yun-fat in the 1992 movie Lat sau san taaam,
or "Hard Boiled"), the spaghetti westerns of Sergio Leone (particularly "The Man with No Name" trilogy),
but unlike the latter, "Shoot ‘em Up" is hardly a low-budget minimalist production. If you accept the
concept that nothing is to be taken seriously but can enjoy the most outrageous, envelope-pushing gun-
fighting ever, you'll dig "Shoot ‘em Up." What's more, writer-director Davis has evoked terrific work from
Paul Giamatti, playing against his nebbishy type as one of the most evil villains you've ever seen.

The criminal action, which becomes revealed ever-so-slowly and involves sperm donations and bone
marrow offerings coupled with the politics of the Second Amendment, is as preposterous as everything
else about the movie. The story involves the planned murder of a woman who is in her final hour of
pregnancy with the aim of seizing her baby and using it not for kidnap ransom–that would be far too
ordinary–but for a purpose that appears wholly original.

The picture opens on Mr. Smith (Clive Owen), sitting forlornly on a park bench in the worst section of
town (probably Toronto film studio because that great Canadian city has nothing that looks this bad).
Smith, who is eating a carrot and will use that vegetable to kill two people, interrupts the assassination,
using a gun ultimately to shoot off the umbilical cord. Smith becomes an unlikely foster father, but not
for long. He seeks out his favorite hooker, DQ (Monica Bellucci) whose breast becomes nourishing to
someone who is some fifteen years early for her usual services. The two fall into a strange plan to utilize
babies, a plan that will require Smith to kill eighty-five hoodlums, using an array of pieces not excluding a
50-caliber monster and some sub-machine guns. In one scene designed perhaps to top the car-
crashing-into-chopper scene in "Live Free or Die Hard," Smith crashes through the back window of a
vehicle he steals right through the front of the gangster's auto, taking out a half dozen people as he flies
through the air. In some cases, he has to fire while holding onto a baby, an infant who stops crying only
when he hears the rat-tat-tat of gunfire or the sounds for a heavy metal concert. (This oddity is
explained.)

Paul Giamatti, so laid-back as oenophile Miles in his signature film "Sideways" and good-guy officious as
Inspector Uhl in "The Illusionist" makes for one of the most odious bad guys in memory, while Monica
Bellucci does fine as Madonna and whore, though her interaction with Owen lacks sizzle.

Among the groan-inducing riddles you'll cherish: How is a porcupine like a luxury car?

Not Yet Rated.   93 minutes     2007 by Harvey Karten Member: NY Film Critics

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Harvey Karten's Reviews

Review: Shoot 'em Up

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