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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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PRO Reviews
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| A deliriously over-the-top exercise in pulp filmmaking that's a tongue-in-cheek homage to the cinema of John Woo... A former storyboard artist, Davis orchestrates the film's nearly wall-to-wall action sequences with breakneck precision and exhilarating verve—the more outrageous the mayhem, the better. Although Davis pays tribute to Woo and Sergio Leone, among other directors, Shoot 'Em Up often feels like a kinky, corpse-strewn riff on a classic Warner Bros. cartoon, peppered with sly jabs at American gun culture and "family values." And while Davis is somewhat less adept at handling the film's "quieter moments," i.e., Smith and DQ gradually bonding over baby Oliver, such lulls are rare in Shoot 'Em Up, which has the good sense not to overstay its welcome, punching out with a running time of 93 minutes... A rollicking hoot from start to finish, Shoot 'Em Up is the most satisfying, ultra-stylized action flick since Sin City. |
| (Tim Knight, Reel.com) |
| The most audacious, implausible, cheerfully offensive, hyperactive action picture I've seen since, oh, Sin City, which in comparison was a chamber drama. That I liked Shoot 'em Up is a consequence of a critical quirk I sometimes notice: I may disapprove of a movie for going too far, and yet have a sneaky regard for a movie that goes much, much farther than merely too far. This one goes so far, if you even want to get that far, you have to start half-way there, which means you have to be a connoisseur of the hard-boiled action genre and its serio-comic subdivision (or sub-basement). |
| (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times) |
| Apart from choreographing some of the most inventive action scenes ever to grace the silver screen, Davis has infused his first big-budget feature with boundless enthusiasm and, better yet, a brain to match... an hour and a half of almost non-stop action, with witty one-liners flying almost as fast as the bullets. Owen’s trademark deadpan perfectly suits the dour Smith, who is a grittier version of James Bond (yes, even grittier than Daniel Craig's). Beneath his steely exterior lies an unquestioning sense of duty, minus the cliches that might trip up a lesser film. Paul Giamatti is a real scene-stealer as the head hitman, relishing his chance to take this role and run with it, a complete 360 from his excellent award winning performance in Sideways... Shoot ‘Em Up is a thoroughly inventive and joyful piece of cinema, one of those films that is destined to become a cult classic. And with it, Davis announces his arrival with a bang. |
| (Rick Mele, The Cinema Source) |
| This wet dream for action junkies leaves out logic and motivation - you know, all the boring stuff. It’s eighty-two minutes of hardcore pow. Clive Owen, relieved of saving the world a la Children of Men, is having a ball as Mr. Smith, a loner who’d kill you as fast with a carrot as with a gun. His mission, other than spewing one-liners and hitting on a hooker (megababe Monica Bellucci), is to save a baby from the clutches of gun-crazy Hertz (Paul Giamatti). The shooting starts when the baby is born - a bullet cuts the umbilical cord - and doesn’t stop. Writer-director Michael Davis seems to have washed down the collected works of John Woo and Sergio Leone with all the caffeine left at Starbucks. The dazzling and daffy result isn’t really a movie at all, it’s a live-action cartoon that feeds on its own momentum. The stunts, including a skydiving gunfight without benefit of parachutes, are stratospherically over-the-top. You’ll be exhilarated - also exhausted. Davis injects an element of plot about a presidential candidate who survives on bone marrow harvested from infants. But it’s hard to care. Owen and Giamatti, whose unlikely hit man pauses hilariously to phone his wife, are slumming and loving it. See Shoot ‘Em Up for the affectionate sendup it is, and you won’t be able to wipe the grin off your face. |
| (Peter Travers, Rolling Stone) |
| With a thunderous pace and an outrageous level of violence and mayhem, this film blasts its way onto the screen, as the title suggests, dragging its reluctant hero into a series of increasingly ludicrous set pieces. So why is it so much fun?... There's nothing even vaguely serious going on here, and the only emotional resonance is provided by the makeshift father-mother-child trio, fighting for their right to survive in a politically and commercially corrupt society. But don't take that as an implication of subtext. This is after all a film that revels in over-the-top gunfights during childbirth, sex and while freefalling from a plane. Like last year's Crank, the film only exists to get your heart pumping. And to provide the solid laughter of disbelief. |
| (Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall) |
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, Hertz - Paul Giamatti
