Just watched Shoot 'Em Up. One of the best movies I've seen this year. Frankly it's cathartic. There's no need for brains here as there is hardly any logic to this film, but with a title like this, were you really expecting a 23-like mindfuck?
Story goes like this, Clive Owen plays a carrot munching vagabond who, once upon a time, was affliated with the black ops. He spots a pregnant woman about to be murdered and swoops in to save her. The baby is born but the mother dies. He gets help from Monica Bellucci as he faces off against Paul Giamatti and his thugs as he tries to figure out the story behind the baby.
The start of the movie is the New Line Cinema logo having it's reel shot out. It generated a few laughs and set the tone for the rest of the movie. The movie lacked depth, but the action scenes more than made up for it. Some fairly nonsensical scenarios were created such as Clive Owen playing midwife as he shot out several bad guys. But all in good fun as the gun fights were mostly spectacular and at times hilarious. You could tell that most events were stitched in just so the story can move to the next gun fight.
The action started and ended the movie. Some of the more entertaining deaths were all carrot-induced (eat your vegetables). You cannot stop making references to that Warner Brother's rabbit with the Brooklyn/Bronx accent. Giamatti even called Owen a "wascawwy wabbit". When Clive Owen finally utters the one line the entire audience was waiting for (What's up, Doc?), the crowd lost it.
Despite the misgivings of the script, the acting was top-notch. Clive Owen was hilarious playing the angry anti-hero with the one-liners. His character hates everything, even running a BMW off the street for not signaling a turn. He was just like Angel with a mean streak. Even had the leather duster to complete it. The James Bond theme song played during one of the shoot-outs fit well.
Paul Giamatti took the cake. His character was the most intriguing. He was a ruthless man, up to the point of even torturing Bellucci. So much was played on his intelligence, of being a former FBI man. His rivalry with Owen's character made it enjoyable. One scene where a neon sign (Faulk's Truck And Tool) was reduced to read Fuk U after a huge gun fight (oh wow another one), in a fit of rage, Giamatti shot out the last L to make it read Fuk U Too. Under all of this, is a hen-pecked man who constantly has to answer calls from his wife, even in the middle of a gun fight. He even died well (Nope I'm not gonna spoil it).
Monica Bellucci's Donna Quinatano (DQ, you'll see why that's funny), was a redundant character. She just played the role of the eye candy who was supposed to hold baby as Owen was out shooting thugs. Although she was part of some of the more disturbing scenes such as her introduction into this movie where she was nursing a client (grown man in diaper, nuff said) or having sex while in a shoot out. But she pulled off what little there was for her to do, and was HOT!!!
This movie was cathartic. It's a gun fight with a plot. No brains necessary. One of the more fun movies I've seen.
My Rating: 8.0
Story goes like this, Clive Owen plays a carrot munching vagabond who, once upon a time, was affliated with the black ops. He spots a pregnant woman about to be murdered and swoops in to save her. The baby is born but the mother dies. He gets help from Monica Bellucci as he faces off against Paul Giamatti and his thugs as he tries to figure out the story behind the baby.
The start of the movie is the New Line Cinema logo having it's reel shot out. It generated a few laughs and set the tone for the rest of the movie. The movie lacked depth, but the action scenes more than made up for it. Some fairly nonsensical scenarios were created such as Clive Owen playing midwife as he shot out several bad guys. But all in good fun as the gun fights were mostly spectacular and at times hilarious. You could tell that most events were stitched in just so the story can move to the next gun fight.
The action started and ended the movie. Some of the more entertaining deaths were all carrot-induced (eat your vegetables). You cannot stop making references to that Warner Brother's rabbit with the Brooklyn/Bronx accent. Giamatti even called Owen a "wascawwy wabbit". When Clive Owen finally utters the one line the entire audience was waiting for (What's up, Doc?), the crowd lost it.
Despite the misgivings of the script, the acting was top-notch. Clive Owen was hilarious playing the angry anti-hero with the one-liners. His character hates everything, even running a BMW off the street for not signaling a turn. He was just like Angel with a mean streak. Even had the leather duster to complete it. The James Bond theme song played during one of the shoot-outs fit well.
Paul Giamatti took the cake. His character was the most intriguing. He was a ruthless man, up to the point of even torturing Bellucci. So much was played on his intelligence, of being a former FBI man. His rivalry with Owen's character made it enjoyable. One scene where a neon sign (Faulk's Truck And Tool) was reduced to read Fuk U after a huge gun fight (oh wow another one), in a fit of rage, Giamatti shot out the last L to make it read Fuk U Too. Under all of this, is a hen-pecked man who constantly has to answer calls from his wife, even in the middle of a gun fight. He even died well (Nope I'm not gonna spoil it).
Monica Bellucci's Donna Quinatano (DQ, you'll see why that's funny), was a redundant character. She just played the role of the eye candy who was supposed to hold baby as Owen was out shooting thugs. Although she was part of some of the more disturbing scenes such as her introduction into this movie where she was nursing a client (grown man in diaper, nuff said) or having sex while in a shoot out. But she pulled off what little there was for her to do, and was HOT!!!
This movie was cathartic. It's a gun fight with a plot. No brains necessary. One of the more fun movies I've seen.
My Rating: 8.0
No comments:
Post a Comment