Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here.

I’ll have my own review for this one up sometime in the next day or so, along with my review of THE NINES, but for now, check out J-Skell’s reaction to the film that’s already hotly dividing audiences:

Hey Drew,

Caught a screening for SHOOT EM UP last night. I was totally surprised just how much i like it cause I heard a lot of hype and kind of wasn't feeling it. Consider me proved wrong. Here's my review and hope you're taking it easy man. Thanks!

SHOOT EM UP

This movie is bananas.

It's wicked violent, it's bad ass, it's kind of funny, it's out of control, it's not another snatch/lock stock rip-off, and it's a hard R, so basically it's everything that's been missing from action movies lately. I tip my hat to writer/director Michael Davis for putting together something that works far better than it really should. Going into it I was expecting something a bit more along the lines of Stephen Chow's KUNG FU HUSTLE, with more of an emphasis on the cartoony aspect (Note: I really liked Kung Fu Hustle). Fault the trailers or whatever on that misconception because it's surprisingly got some balls. We really get more of a straight forward action flick, that just happens to be very aware of it's loonier tendencies.

SHOOT EM UP lives and dies on the success of Davis's even tone. You can tell he's playing fast and loose with this film, but in comparison to something like the complete clusterfuck of chaos that is TRANSFORMERS, he sets a very clear feel for the entire duration. It's admirable to see Davis launch full-throttle into value-eschewing (yet not amoral) territory and revel in his subject matter of gun porn, shotgun wounds, and fetishism while some how never making it feel too smarmy. I recommend seeing this one with a good crowd who will be up for this kind of thing, cause there are several stand up and cheering moments.
Obviously, a big part of SHOOT EM UP's success is due to Clive Owen. He plays it straight and the man is the consummate professional who has probably garnered more goodwill from me with one persona than any other actor I can think of. He does the guant male lead better than anyone today and with a more human sensibility (ssssssorry Christian Bale). In regards to Paul Giamatti, I was probably expecting too much but he's hardly a weak link or anything. Surprisingly, Monica Bellucci does more than play Monica Bellucci's breasts. While heavily featured, I bet many will overlook how her emotional seriousness lends the film a necessary weight.

Usually I don't mention director Q+A's in reviews cause it's something that you can't get in the movie so why bother? But the director directly accounted for my biggest complaint in the film. That complaint being that SHOOT EM UP features there are so many bad one liners that just aren't funny (it especially hurts Giamatti). I was really wondering why it couldn't have been done any better. Turns out, the director originally had very few of them in the picture, but it really messed up the tone. He said it came across much too serious, so he kept them in to maintain that crucial sense of levity. He said you could literally see the audience respond to it, no matter how stupid. So I give it a pass cause he was sacrificing for the sake of something I really loved about the film. Kudos I guess.

Also, there's a killer title card in this one. I love when that kind of thing is done well.

Enjoy!
J-Skell