Shoot 'Em UpRemember those days at the video rental store, when whole sections were devoted to action movies...you'd pass by VHS box after box, with the big time movie hero in profile holding a gun, a big explosion behind him. You knew what you were getting with the flick: lots of violence, gunfights, one-liners, buxom ladies, and crass language; in short, the stuff mom didn't want you to watching. Shoot 'Em Up is a satire of those action films, which hinged on wild gunfights before meaningful plot. But rather than just deliver on rapid-fire, over-the-top shoot outs, it also has a message: "eat your vegetables"; maybe not the most poignant of messages, but hey, carrots are good for your eyesight.
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Shoot 'Em Up is staged as though it were brought forth from the mind of a hyperactive adolescent with a fixation on action movies. The film is crammed full of "cool" moments, and doesn't have time to waste on any extensive exposition out the door, or even any comedown by the time the credits are ready to roll. Practically every shoot out is set to heavy metal and hard rock; rather than merely sampling individual tracks, the scenes almost always play the entire piece of music, like a weird ballistic ballet. Props factor heavily into the numerous choreographed scenes, with the hero--who goes by "Mr. Smith" (Clive Owen)--utilizing anything from a self-made oil slick to slide around shooting to rigging a dozen different guns, fired by a complicated setup like a puppet master. Mr. Smith's mission is a self-imposed one, born out of his heroic nature, after he sees a pregnant woman being pursued--to be killed--by an assassin. Although Smith cannot save the woman, he is handy enough to aid her in child birth--the baby is literally born during a firefight--and his conscience demands that he care for the baby, albeit with a good deal of apprehension. His paternal instincts are a far cry from his penchant for marksmanship, so he tries to solicit the assistance of a former lover, Donna "D.Q." Quintano (Monica Bellucci), a prostitute who services men with a lactation fetish. (Notice any suggestive similarity in her initials?) Smith is pursued from start to finish by his cunning harrier, Karl Hertz (Paul Giamatti), a former "forensic behavior consultant" for the FBI, now working in the employ of the powers that are trying to cover up the existence of the baby, whom Smith names "Oliver". Smith and Hertz play a game of cat and mouse for the majority of the movie, their gunfights periodically punctuated by exchanges of comically outlandish dialogue as their paths cross. Smith frequently makes use of a prop he always seems well-supplied in: carrots, doubling as a snack and lethal implement when he needs it. His signature chomping of the vegetable is a prelude to scenes of ultra-violence, not to mention a means to provoke Hertz. In this way, the two men's exchanges have uncanny similarities to those of Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam; at least one exchange between them brings this comparison to the surface immediately.
Because Shoot 'Em Up is a movie where the plot is decidedly riding shotgun, it would be boring to focus on it at any more length; rather, the story is one about and revolving around guns, and makes up the whys and wherefores. Everything in Shoot 'Em Up is so gun-centric, that it seems to exist in a kind of caricature of a world--an action movie world--where frenetic shoot outs and intense car chases and crashes are the status quo. It creates a sense that, for all the absurd violence, it is somehow not shocking because there is no real indication that it is grounded in reality, making even extremely hammy performances not only acceptable, but the right choice. I suspect that when Shoot 'Em Up debuted in 2007, it served as a welcome deviation from more serious, dramatic performances by the key players in the film, and offered up a chance to spread their wings and indulge in a kind of silliness not often granted to actors whose performances could be regarded as traditionally controlled. After all, this was a time when Monica Bellucci was made into an international sensation after films like The Passion of the Christ, and Paul Giamatti became a critical darling for his performance in Sideways. For an interesting turn, I noticed that Clive Owen favors stealing BMWs in Shoot 'Em Up--perhaps a clever nod to a series of short films which brought him international attention, sponsored by BMW called The Hire, all of which featured him driving BMWs. A lot of the fun of Shoot 'Em Up revolves around scene after scene of an escalation of ridiculous action. It would be enough for most films to build up to a single, epic battle with automatic submachine guns or other pistol antics involving some set piece, but this film makes this the feature; it's like when you have pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, and you know that the only way to really eat it is to cover it entirely in whipped cream, to the point where that is the real dessert--the sweet dairy topping.
Recommended for: Fans of a black comedy which simultaneously pokes fun at and embraces a kind of testosterone-ridden, bombastic action flick. I've always thought that if one were to have a party to show this movie, it should feature milk and carrots as snacks...a healthy alternative to popcorn. Thoughts?
Because Shoot 'Em Up is a movie where the plot is decidedly riding shotgun, it would be boring to focus on it at any more length; rather, the story is one about and revolving around guns, and makes up the whys and wherefores. Everything in Shoot 'Em Up is so gun-centric, that it seems to exist in a kind of caricature of a world--an action movie world--where frenetic shoot outs and intense car chases and crashes are the status quo. It creates a sense that, for all the absurd violence, it is somehow not shocking because there is no real indication that it is grounded in reality, making even extremely hammy performances not only acceptable, but the right choice. I suspect that when Shoot 'Em Up debuted in 2007, it served as a welcome deviation from more serious, dramatic performances by the key players in the film, and offered up a chance to spread their wings and indulge in a kind of silliness not often granted to actors whose performances could be regarded as traditionally controlled. After all, this was a time when Monica Bellucci was made into an international sensation after films like The Passion of the Christ, and Paul Giamatti became a critical darling for his performance in Sideways. For an interesting turn, I noticed that Clive Owen favors stealing BMWs in Shoot 'Em Up--perhaps a clever nod to a series of short films which brought him international attention, sponsored by BMW called The Hire, all of which featured him driving BMWs. A lot of the fun of Shoot 'Em Up revolves around scene after scene of an escalation of ridiculous action. It would be enough for most films to build up to a single, epic battle with automatic submachine guns or other pistol antics involving some set piece, but this film makes this the feature; it's like when you have pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, and you know that the only way to really eat it is to cover it entirely in whipped cream, to the point where that is the real dessert--the sweet dairy topping.
Recommended for: Fans of a black comedy which simultaneously pokes fun at and embraces a kind of testosterone-ridden, bombastic action flick. I've always thought that if one were to have a party to show this movie, it should feature milk and carrots as snacks...a healthy alternative to popcorn. Thoughts?