Shoot 'em Up: A Review

Listen here first

The above video is about a lover, that when found... the singer's questions are all answered. Too few times is this feeling felt with a movie, and I know I'm trardy to the party, but Shoot 'em Up is that kind of movie. Where has this movie been in my life?

From the start of the movie it is hard to believe this is not video game related, it obviously takes influence from video game physics, but the plot is original.... very original. When one thinks of classic movie weapons things like a .44 Magnum, a Lightsabre, chainsaws, and machetes come to mind... but now a Carrot should be added to the list of truly classic Movie armaments. Also, I haven't seen many movies where a lone gunman isn't lone, but toting the baby of a dead stranger.

The dialogue is so delightfully cheesy from "What's up Doc?" to "Nothing like a good hand job" this movie plays out like a group of fourteen year olds wrote it, but in it's cheese ball dialogue and Giamatti and Owen's deadpan performances the dialogue works, just as well as the action.

Speaking of the action each scene with guns plays out like a dance. bullets and gun fire create a beautiful opera that sets the score for the characters in the foreground. Who slide, jump, bob, and weave like a crazed mixture of The Matrix and Sin City. The camera work is also superb, showing the gritty contrast of Smith's home and lifestyle with Hammer and Rutledge. The angles and soundtrack also recall gun movies from the days of black and white to the current era. Be they set in NYC or the old West.

I haven't seen Giamatti in a lot. He was great in Sideways, and some other roles I've seen, but his serious way of playing a psychopath makes me lament that he's too old to play Bullseye, who his character here is essentially a middleaged version of. Honestly, I think he steals this movie, he's cold to the point of mental disorder, but in his own demented way, he's... funny and likeable.

Owen, also good for a few of the same reasons. His deadpan delivery of cheesy line's like the aforementioned "Nothing like a good hand job" make it seem like he thinks this dialogue is worthy of Tarantino, but it also suggests he's in on the joke. Which brings me to the next point, Owen is on a short list of actors being considered (from hearsay) to be Butcher in The Boys which, even after seeing this movie I just can't see him in that role, but that's not the topic at hand. SEU is. Owen is goo, maybe even great in this part, but like I said this is Giamatti's flick.

Monica Bellucci is good as the "lady of the evening." She is believable as a slut, as mean as that sounds, but also as the nurturing mother figure. She doesn't have a lot of lines, but her chemistry with Owen is like a modern version of Swan and Mercy from "The Warriors" two people who are far from perfect, but they are still trying to be better people.

To make a long story short (too late) this is a fantastic action movie, with laughs, blasts, and some sexy ladies... three things that make movie's great.

Dr. Brooklyn says: LIKE this movie (9/10)