Shoot ‘Em Up

• Written and Directed by Michael Davis
• September 7, 2007

A drifter and former black-ops soldier rescues a newborn from being killed by an assassin and then enlists the help of a prostitute to keep the baby safe as he fights a deepening conspiracy.

Shoot ‘Em Up is very much a guy movie. It is thin on logic but long on action. It’s silly yet highly stylized. It’s not a complete action comedy but leans heavily in that direction. The fighting is excellently choreographed and some of it even defies logic. We have a guy killed with a carrot and a shootout during sex! It even has one running gag with how useful the carrot that Smith continually munches on is. Yet there is a level of intelligence mixed in with the stupidity.

The movie wastes no time getting into the action. Our hero smith (Clive Owen) is sitting at a bus stop bench eating a carrot of all things and from there finds himself balls deep in conflict. It has been acknowledged by director Michael Davis since that not only those carrots but the interactions between hero and villain were a Bugs Bunny homage. Owen is a talented actor who does much more intelligent stuff than he does something like, well, this. Given that it’s quite a treat to watch him here. He’s the right level of asshole and caring tough guy.

Paul Giamatti is excellent at playing jerks and creepy assholes. They’re unlikable people but still individuals you want to watch do whatever they do. Under the right conditions such as here his characters can be rather threatening even when paired against somebody that’s obviously physically superior like Clive Owen. Considering the limited run time, Davis and friends manage to engage in some great economy of storytelling. In one moment we learn just how disturbed Giamatti’s Hertz is. He cops a feel of a dead woman’s boob. That’s messed up!

The animosity and hatred between the two characters just builds and builds. The more that Smith messes with Hertz the more Hertz pursues him. The more that Hertz pursues Smith, the more Smith hates him. One feeds the other. It builds to a climax that can only end one way.

Into this is swept Donna Quintano (Monica Bellucci) a prostitute that specializes in men with a breastmilk fetish. The baby that Smith is protecting obviously needs fed and she’s the only person he can think of. This movie gets bonkers and weird real fast.

James Bond did it at least once before this but a highlight for me is the skydiving fight Smith gets involved in. Putting them in to any film in a way that makes minimal sense is tough, but we get one in here and it works perfectly with this crazy film.

We are teased for about half the movie on why the baby’s death is so important and then we get the answer in one big dump. Normally that might be a negative but it actually makes things a little more serious. We get over one hump and move on to a new stage.

The reason why the baby is important to kill and the reason for everything going on is interesting. Maybe not entirely unique, but certainly interesting. The various parts come together in one form or another. By the climax we even get some confirmation of Smith’s past. 

One interesting thing they do is they don’t use main characters’ names until after the character names are revealed to other characters in some fashion. Donna never utters ‘Smith’ until after Hertz learns the name. Intelligence in a dumb movie? Give me more of that! Shoot ‘Em Up is a little silly but fun and enjoyable and adrenaline pumping. You don’t get significant details about the characters, but you get enough to get you from the beginning to the end. You know what you need to know for the purposes of the story.

Shoot ‘Em Up is just great fun. It’s balls to the wall action with intelligence and a sense of fun. If you like good action (and who doesn’t?) then this is something you need to watch.