DETAILS:
Released - 14 September 2007
Released - 14 September 2007
Certificate - 18
Running Time - 82mins
Director/Screenwriter - Michael Davis
Cinematography - Peter Pau
SYNOPSIS:
Mr. Smith (Clive Owen) is a social recluse with a hidden talent for gun wielding. After a bizarre shoot-out involving a pregnant woman running from a group of hit-men he ends up caring for a newly born baby. Subsequently trying to shed light on matters he somehow finds himself amidst a huge government conspiracy. In order to unearth this evil scheme and care for his baby he must team up with gorgeous hooker (Monica Bellucci). On the run they do battle against murderous villain (Paul Giamatti) in endless shoot-outs in a number of various awkward circumstances involving a parachute jump, a car chase and a sex scene. This is a classic example of the shoot 'em up sub-genre tale of good versus evil.
REVIEW:
Pitched to studio executives as the ultimate action flick, screenwriter and director Michael Davis set out to create ‘John Woo’s wet dream’ and to a certain degree he is successful. Davis’ ambitions are certainly admirable in trying to create a non-stop rollercoaster ride of a film, but this where he fails. In order to cram as much OTT gun fighting scenes as possible into a modest 100 minutes Shoot em’ up sacrifices a gripping plot and engaging performances for, well, a shoot em’ up. Straight away as the film’s title fills the screen viewers are sucked into a world of gunplay. As Clive Owen slips and slides about a warehouse, Davis’ fast editing and wide variety of camera angles is textbook action cinema. But before long these endless scenes of Owen shooting faceless goons in a number of different locations soon becomes tiresome. Obviously the film was never aiming for realism but as Owen kills men with carrots, events become a too little over the top. The structure of this film is basically a shoot-out scene followed by a break to vaguely explain the plot proceeded by yet another action scene. Viewers are in unison groaning as yet another action scene builds up to the sound of pulsing rock music. The film feels like one long trailer, essentially a disjointed string of action sequences accompanied by loud music without any meaning. The performances are little to be desired as Paul Giamatti’s whispering villain belongs in a Disney film, Monica Bellucci is merely cast as eye-candy and Clive Owen has nothing to do but shoot at people and deliver vulgar dialogue. John Woo’s Wet-dream? More like John Woo’s nightmare!
4 comments:
This film was supposed to be over the top, in honesty it is what makes the film so damn enjoyable. He helps a woman give birth while firing his HOT pistol at henchmen. Later on the film, he has sex with the same woman whilst engaging in a gun fight with intruders. That's called 'AWESOME!'. He kills people in so many epic ways it's like watching a Pro FPS gamer at his best in a game that has next-gen graphics. Looking back, if the plot became too complex I feel we would have missed a lot of the really well thought out action scenes. Plot was never sacrificed, it was kept simple to allow the writers to just go nuts with ace idea's. Did anyone really care about the plot in Die Hard or Lethal Weapon? No.
First of all, thankyou for taking the time to write a worthwhile point.
I am a fan of action films, especially OTT ones, when they are done properly. Davis' talents for action filmmaking are certainly unquestionable.
However, his script gravely lets him down. The plot didn't need to be 'complex' the film just could have done with one in general. People remember Die Hard and Lethal Weapon not solely for their action scenes but also for the on-screen charisma and chemistry of Bruce Willis, Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. Their charm and witty dialogue is what keeps audiences watching. Lethal Weapon's script effectively made Shane Black the richest screen writer in Hollywood's history. And Die Hard 4.0 proved that simply massive action scenes cannot carry a film. Clive Owen has no charm in Shoot 'Em UP, he simply utters unfunny and vulgar dialgoue that a five year old could have written.
As for the next-gen graphics, they are simply laughable. The parachute scene and the scene where Owen shoots bullets from the fire place look too fake, it is a backwards step in filmmaking. It was infact like watching a First Person Shooter video game, but people buy games to play them, not to watch them. Perhaps Davis' talents would be more appretiated there?
It is not impossible to create a continuos action film in this day and age. Paul Greengrass' hand held camera work and realistic settings combined with the acting talents of Matt Damon proved this last year. Perhaps Davis should take a leaf from his book. It he wishes to make films in future.
You just said Clive Owen has no charisma..... wow...
Obviously Clive Owen is charismatic and charming, Mr. Smith is not.
The king of charisma himself is unable to do this script any justice. These 'witty' one-liners are essentially unfunny no matter who delivers them.
Davis' primary interest is on the tiresome action secens rather than the potential acting talents of his cast. If they had any sense they would have turned down these roles!
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