Film

What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases

Shoot 'Em Up (2007)

Director: Michael Davis

Time Out rating

Average user rating

13 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

Michael Davis’ audacious John Woo-style actioner opens with Clive Owen sitting on a bench munching a carrot as a pregnant woman stumbles by, clutching her stomach. Seconds later, a car comes crashing out of nowhere and this angry geezer gets out and threatens to kill the woman. So Owen strolls over and shoves his carrot through the guy’s mouth, and then, get this, delivers the woman’s child by shooting the umbilical cord. Then all hell breaks loose with as many as a dozen gunmen appearing from nowhere. Owen kills them all. In the first two minutes.

What follows is a relentless barrage of improbable shootouts so plentiful it’s like watching someone play ‘Halo’ on Xbox. It transpires that mind-reading hitman Mr Hertz (Paul Giamatti) and his platoon of thugs have been hired to kill the child because of a bone-marrow racket being perpetrated by an unknown authority figure. This is seedy, morally defunct, low-IQ cinema for airheads: it’s toe-curlingly violent and mostly plain nasty, but quite fun in a debauched kind of way. It deserves a couple of stars, but only for Giamatti, who stands out as an effective badman.

Author: Derek Adams

Time Out London Issue 1934: September 12-18 2007

Bookmark

User reviews of this film

Technoguy said...

Posted on Mar 22 2008 20:49 A cross between Sin City (but without it's artistry) and Pale Horse(The Man With No Name).Instead of spitting to a flute,he eats carrots to Heavy Metal.Even Eastern Promises drew the line at babies!Clive Owen didn't get James Bond so he's making up for lost time.It is a post-modern pastiche,hence Giamatti's bad guy and Belucci's horny,thick-lipped prostitute earth mother.No,it was not good.There was no subtlety,nuance or feeling.Cartoon violence,each scene getting more ludicrous than the next.It even ripped off The Bourne Identity: the scene the scene where he drops down the stairwell shooting all and sundry.In the culture we're in now to glamorize gun violence in any way is dumbing down to less than zero.
Clive Owen made The Children of Men.I thought he was an actor.Wrong move.

Report as inappropriate
Jack the Bear said...

Posted on Feb 18 2008 22:05 Ludicrous and sleazy. Cheesy one-liners, an absurd carrot motif, and a relentless succession of mainly unimaginative action sequences - although the scene in which a naked Clive Owen kills a series of villains while simultaneously bringing Monica Bellucci to ecstasy has a certain verve. But mostly it is like the fantasy of an indulged teenager who fancies himself as a bit of an auteur. It may be a pastiche, although I doubt that it has that intelligence, but if so it is a very inferior example.

Report as inappropriate
john said...

Posted on Oct 14 2007 20:05 Many reviewers have failed to mention that this film is
a pastiche, ie that it is sending up the violent movie genre . .. No doubt the British reviewers cannot face
the fact that the Americans are not only capable of
`pastiche` but do it much more entertainly than than
up-themselves European counterparts. A very entertaining 90 minutes with some great one-liners, which dissects the cinematic techniques of the violent
crime action movies without being pretentious or over-arty. . .By all means take your girlfriend . .. she'll love it . . . the only complaint I have about the film is the
carrot motif .. . which, even , for this film, was a little over the top.

Report as inappropriate
mantisy said...

Posted on Sep 27 2007 09:32 About as believable as a violent video game, and just as much fun. I couldn't stop grinning. If you want entertainment see this movie. But don't take your girlfiend.

Report as inappropriate
Nicky said...

Posted on Sep 25 2007 18:24 Brilliant film. Funny from start to finish. How anybody could watch this without a smile on their face i'll never know. Great actions sequences. Suspend belief and you'll enjoy.

Report as inappropriate
Twinkerz2 said...

Posted on Sep 22 2007 12:20 I'm in agreement with Ethanrunt, and I think most reviewers -- professional or otherwise -- appear to have missed the point that it is a brilliant satire on the action genre. I found it hysterically funny, and I enjoyed both Paul Giamatti and Clive Owen playing off each other. It appeared they were having great fun with it. The violence, whilst almost non-stop, was highly stylised and not remotely intended to seem 'realistic'. What came to mind for me was a "Kill Bill" with guns.

Report as inappropriate
holden mcneal said...

Posted on Sep 19 2007 18:44 perfect example of "does what it says on the tin" wall to wall action ,money shot after money shot great action film. go see it

Report as inappropriate
jose said...

Posted on Sep 19 2007 17:57 one of the dumbest but at the same time entertaining movie of all time

Report as inappropriate
jamie said...

Posted on Sep 19 2007 16:05 i can just say this totaly awsome movie hot lead and guns amazing to watch

Report as inappropriate
timmy said...

Posted on Sep 19 2007 13:25 the worst film i have ever seen it was so chessy and unrelistic

Report as inappropriate
Ben said...

Posted on Sep 18 2007 17:22 Great film. Action from start to finish - most boring bit- first 2 seconds. Top banana

Report as inappropriate
John said...

Posted on Sep 17 2007 16:25 Worst film i've ever seen, do not for one second recommend this movie.

Report as inappropriate
EthanRunt said...

Posted on Sep 14 2007 17:23 After the 2 year wait since hearing about it, this film delivered and then some. Giamatti is always brilliant, and even though he is evil, it's so funny to see him at work, Owen deadpanly quips with guns and words throughout, half the film is a trailer, and it's a perfect satire of action films in general, pitch black perfection at it's very best, and will be a cult classic for years to come too.

Report as inappropriate