‘Shoot ‘Em Up’ a Raucous, Viscerally Stimulating Experience

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CHICAGO – For a raucously good time, “Shoot ‘Em Up” is a visceral experience you won’t soon forget. Under the guise of a hardcore action gun flick, this film surprisingly has baby undertones.

While it’s easy to curse Hollywood after watching this film with grumbling words like “ridiculous,” “oh, come on!” and “utterly unrealistic,” remember: director Michael Davis clearly wasn’t trying to be realistic.

Clive Owen in “Shoot ‘Em Up”.
Photo courtesy of IMDb
Should you script a story and shoot a picture that’s designed to be entertaining and entertaining alone, you can’t go halfway. Instead of flirting a realistic line, Davis makes the wise decision to throw all sensibility out the door and go guns blazing.

Paul Giamatti in “Shoot ‘Em Up”.
Photo courtesy of IMDb
“Shoot ‘Em Up,” which opens on Friday, is pure entertainment and nothing else.

Knowing that, you’re willing to accept the ridiculousness of obviously staged scenes like when oil splatters just perfectly over the ground so Clive Owen can play deadly Slip-N-Slide while gunning down a bazillion men.

The biometric gun is quite cool, too. Owen, who also doubles as Bugs Bunny, is attracted to carrots like cats are to catnip.

Director Michael Davis (right), Monica Bellucci and Clive Owen in “Shoot ‘Em Up”.
Photo courtesy of IMDb
While I won’t spoil what he does with this funny vegetable, suffice it to say there’s no way such death by carrot could be done. That’s quite fine in my book, too, as these truly original stunts get props for newness.

While Owen’s anti-law character has been seen many times before (i.e. “The Punisher”), within this new storyline he nails its bad-boy, no-holds-barred nature nonetheless.

Paul Giamatti in “Shoot ‘Em Up”.
Photo courtesy of IMDb
Paul Giamatti, who is anything but typecast and clearly excels at playing off character, is beautifully grungy and grumbly.

I can’t say the same for Monica Bellucci, though, who was the worst casting decision in this film. She speaks English like nails on a chalkboard.

While a sexy, ethnic accent might be needed in some roles, it didn’t sensibly add to her prostitute demeanor and instead served as a complete distraction in her attempt to deliver relatively simple lines.

By ADAM FENDELMAN Editor-in-Chief HollywoodChicago.com adam@hollywoodchicago.com

© 2007 Adam Fendelman, HollywoodChicago.com

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