If one could take every action film cliche and jam them all together into one hour and twenty minutes of film, then that's about as close as explaining what "Shoot Em Up" is like. Granted, there are many people out there that do not understand that this film is MEANT TO BE BAD and taken with a nice firm tongue in cheek. For those of you who do not understand why this film is amazing then you never will. Don't bother. For those of you that do understand what it is to have a movie that is brilliantly (and in this instance - awesomely) bad, this is a must see/must own/must crave type of film.
The premise is simple. Random and societal outcast man (whom has ridiculous amounts of gun and combat training) gets caught in a political and gang related conspiracy, which involves him saving a lone child with the help of his ex-prostitute lady friend from high amounts of bullets, explosive settings, and betrayals. Sounds like a pretty solid and unfounded action story line to me. Don't worry about it making too much sense as its mainly there to weave together lots of gun fighting. Needless to say that even though the story is practically irrelevant to the film, its a nice treat to the person that saw all those awesomely bad 80s action films...ala me.
As if a ridiculous story wasn't enough, the action is the true bread and butter of this film (if you thought it was going to be otherwise then slap yourself twice and reread the title of the film). Whether its some outrageous gun toting action (with lots of random lackies going down just like any good action movie), the random sex/gunfight sequence, and one of the most entertaining car chases I've seen - with a high flying ending! - this film is full to the brim with action. Ironically, for being a film that's borderline spoof, the action is some of the best I've seen in a long time in American film. Honestly!
Then there is the brilliant casting. Clive Owen owns as Mr. Smith and delivers the action and amazing one liners with so much seriousness that its hilarious. Not to mention having his arch nemesis cast as the ever changing Paul Giamatti. When they exchange words the writing is brilliantly awful and one is going to love every minute of it. From now on in my reviews I wanted to have a quote to begin it from the film, but this film has some many memorable and great lines that it was hard for me to pick just one!
If you couldn't tell, I can't praise this film enough. It worked on every level for me and it pulled off one of the greatest action films in the history of film while doing it with a solid lack of taste and class. This is a must have!
Written By Matt Reifschneider
Shoot Em' Up rocks! Non-stop action, with fun performances all around. "Eat Your Vegetables."
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