Post by rra on Nov 17, 2007 2:10:23 GMT -5
(NOTE: I reviewed this movie months back, but sadly it seems to have been lost in the archives. I've re-written portions of it.)
SHOOT' EM UP (2007) - ****1/2
We open with Clive Owen on a bus stop, eating his carrot, minding his own business. A pregnant woman runs by, followed by gun-wielding thug. He's the hero and he's got a job to do, but he's peeved because he'll miss his ride. He says "smurf" and chases after them.
What follows is a gunfight that is so over the top, so full of bullets and flying blood, it would have settled as the finale of most action movies.
But this is simply the beginning of Michael Davis' SHOOT' EM UP, a film so packed with intensity and action, it doesn't just push the envelope. It shreds it this side of an Enron memo, and sets it on fire. Then for the hell of it, SHOOT wipes its ass with that burned paper. This is the best John Woo movie that Woo never shot, and you know what?
Its actually a cool as hell movie.
Many hack directors from Fuqua to Michael Bay have tried and failed to create their own HARD BOILED. They use pathetic slow-motion walking and idiotic explosions, writer/director Davis is the one who actually gets it.
His action narrative is so slick, that lean, and no scenes or shots feel unnecessary. Much similar to THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM from earlier this year, there is enough story to back up the hyperbole without getting in the way of the action scenes.
Yet every scene, including those between the violence and that of the lustful MILF Monica Bellucci, actually count. Like the beginning, the ending is as sterile, clean, and perfect in its conclusion as the gun that Owen wipes down repeatedly throughout the picture.
But the men who make us buy this goddamn insanity are the leads in the charismatic Owen and the intelligent Paul Giamatti, the baddie. They work so well because they are Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd, and play it up for all its worth.
SHOOT' EM UP is practically Loony Toons meets SIN CITY. Davis and his cast are just so excellent, one could be fooled into thinking the whole endeavor was effortless.
One of my biggest complaints against Michael Bay is that while his movies are absolutely cartoonish, he shoots them in a very serious tone. SHOOT' EM UP has the same moments of sillyness, but I forgive it because it knows what it is. Its not in denial like say BAD BOYS 2 or THE ISLAND.
I mean, take a key moment in the climax when Owen has bullets in his broken fingers, and is next to a fireplace. Its so awesomely stupid this side of THE STORY OF RICKY, that is why SHOOT'EM UP is one of the best action movies of this decade.
SHOOT' EM UP (2007) - ****1/2
We open with Clive Owen on a bus stop, eating his carrot, minding his own business. A pregnant woman runs by, followed by gun-wielding thug. He's the hero and he's got a job to do, but he's peeved because he'll miss his ride. He says "smurf" and chases after them.
What follows is a gunfight that is so over the top, so full of bullets and flying blood, it would have settled as the finale of most action movies.
But this is simply the beginning of Michael Davis' SHOOT' EM UP, a film so packed with intensity and action, it doesn't just push the envelope. It shreds it this side of an Enron memo, and sets it on fire. Then for the hell of it, SHOOT wipes its ass with that burned paper. This is the best John Woo movie that Woo never shot, and you know what?
Its actually a cool as hell movie.
Many hack directors from Fuqua to Michael Bay have tried and failed to create their own HARD BOILED. They use pathetic slow-motion walking and idiotic explosions, writer/director Davis is the one who actually gets it.
His action narrative is so slick, that lean, and no scenes or shots feel unnecessary. Much similar to THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM from earlier this year, there is enough story to back up the hyperbole without getting in the way of the action scenes.
Yet every scene, including those between the violence and that of the lustful MILF Monica Bellucci, actually count. Like the beginning, the ending is as sterile, clean, and perfect in its conclusion as the gun that Owen wipes down repeatedly throughout the picture.
But the men who make us buy this goddamn insanity are the leads in the charismatic Owen and the intelligent Paul Giamatti, the baddie. They work so well because they are Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd, and play it up for all its worth.
SHOOT' EM UP is practically Loony Toons meets SIN CITY. Davis and his cast are just so excellent, one could be fooled into thinking the whole endeavor was effortless.
One of my biggest complaints against Michael Bay is that while his movies are absolutely cartoonish, he shoots them in a very serious tone. SHOOT' EM UP has the same moments of sillyness, but I forgive it because it knows what it is. Its not in denial like say BAD BOYS 2 or THE ISLAND.
I mean, take a key moment in the climax when Owen has bullets in his broken fingers, and is next to a fireplace. Its so awesomely stupid this side of THE STORY OF RICKY, that is why SHOOT'EM UP is one of the best action movies of this decade.
