Never before has a film been summed up so accurately by its title. This is the most generic, derivative action movie you could ever hope to watch, a film for which the word ‘action’ is not just the genre, but both the plot and the theme.
Clive Owen plays Smith – a seemingly ordinary man who thrusts himself into a whole heap of trouble when he delivers a baby while seeing off numerous gun-toting goons (as ever, not so much crack shots as crap shots). Who says men can’t multi-task? The woman doesn’t make it, leaving Smith literally holding the baby. It’s not long before he realises that it’s the baby who’s the target which kick-starts 90 minutes of blood-soaked entertainment.
If you’re a fan of action, then you might find this good fun. It’s shot through with daft touches (double hard Smith uses such diverse items as a carrot and an electric hand drier as weapons like some kind of cartoon Jason Bourne) and has its tongue virtually bursting out of its cheek.
But it’s all about the guns. Taking the guns out of this film would be like asking the Chemical Brothers to do an acoustic set. While many set pieces amaze and amuse, they eventually feel over-egged, tiresome and just plain silly. The cast, thankfully, are up to the task. Paul Giamatti is terrific as the particularly nasty bad guy Hertz (you might want to turn away when he touches up the corpse of the baby’s mother) and Monica Belluci is just your typical busty lactating hooker in distress. Clive Owen does his usual boring Clive Owen thing – here showing just how badly he wanted the Bond gig – but his sardonic delivery is just right.
Despite all the fast, dumb fun it’s also vacuous and puerile. Michael Davis, directing his own script, doesn’t quite succeed in making ‘John Woo’s wet dream’ (his own intentions) and the script tries to be ironic in its homage to classic action conventions (witness the rebirth of the pay off line) but it’s just one big cliché after another. There is even a half-assed attempt at a decent plot but it’s not worth paying attention to.
Shoot ‘Em Up may want to blow you away, but it’s little more than forgettable fun. You might as well watch Die Hard. In fact, watch Die Hard instead, even if you’ve seen it before.
Shoot ‘Em Up was reviewed by John Gaskin and is availiable to buy on DVD from 21st January 2008.
Thanks for your review. It confirms what I’d thought about the film from seeing the trailers. I, too, would sooner watch any of the Die Hard films than any ol’ shoot ‘em up flick. Cheers!
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Cheers