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| Released: |
2007 |
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| Genre: |
ACTION
BLACK COMEDY
CRIME
THRILLER
COMEDY
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| Origin: |
US |
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| Colour: |
C |
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| Length: |
100 |
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A guilty pleasure from writer-director Michael Davis, a movie so fast and frenetic that it makes Sin City look like Atonement.
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Reviewed by Chris Tookey
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This is on one level the kind of picture that should be thoroughly deplored. It’s a feature-length fetishisation of firearms, delighting in murder and mayhem. And it’s cheerfully hypocritical, with a script that pretends to be in favour of gun control while doing everything it can to persuade us that firearms are sexy, empowering and the coolest of fashion accessories.
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So why is it a guilty pleasure? Basically, because it takes itself so unseriously that it’s obviously intended to be a critique of its own demented genre.
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From the opening shot, where Clive Owen (pictured) is shown in grizzled close-up like Clint Eastwood’s Man With No Name but then spoils his image by chomping on a carrot and transforming himself into Bugs Bunny, it’s funny.
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Owen is so extravagantly macho that he makes machismo ridiculous. He doesn’t just deliver a baby, he shoots away its umbilical cord; when left literally holding the baby and pursued by bad guys, he snarls “I’m a British nanny, and I’m dangerous”.
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Bad guy Paul Giamatti keeps having to take calls from his wife during scenes of carnage, in which he assures her that he will be home soon.
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Best of all, Owen’s character is from the homicidal wing of Grumpy Old Men. Mildly anti-social behaviour, such as sipping too noisily from a mug or changing lanes without signalling are instantly punishable by death. In other words, this is harmless escapism – albeit with a grotesquely high body count.
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Long after humourless critics and audiences who don’t appreciate irony have pronounced it dead on arrival, Shoot ‘Em Dead will be reincarnated as a gloriously silly cult movie.
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This is so gruesome and joyously tasteless that it’s not for everyone, but if you have a dark sense of humour, see it. The inspired action sequences are brilliantly staged and imaginatively shot; and at 86 minutes it doesn’t outstay its welcome. If you enjoyed Kiss Kiss Bang Bang or Lucky Number Slevin, this one’s for you.
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, Hertz - Paul Giamatti
