Joined: Sun Dec 05, 2004 5:47 am Posts: 27904 Location: Philadelphia Gender: Male
Ebert gave this one 3.5 stars (out of 4). Judging by his review and the reviews of some posters here, it looks like a fun movie that shouldn't be taken seriously if you want to enjoy it. If not for 3:10 to Yuma, I'd be all over this one this weekend.
_________________ It's always the fallen ones who think they're always gonna save me.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 3:02 pm Posts: 10690 Location: Lost in Twilight's Blue
Well it looks like this one won't find it's audience, which is too bad, because this movie is fucking awesome. Anyone taking it seriously should have their eyes gouged out with a carrot. The action starts less than two minutes into it and basically never lets up. It's extremely over the top and fun, with as much violence and destruction as you'd expect. And it was nice to see Monica Belluci's cans without witnessing a violent rape this time.
Go see it people, it's so much fun.
_________________ Scared to say what is your passion, So slag it all, Bitter's in fashion, Fear of failure's all you've started, The jury is in, verdict: Retarded
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 3:02 pm Posts: 10690 Location: Lost in Twilight's Blue
Some spoilers, but this review sums up the movie, and what is so wrong and yet so right about it, quite well.
Quote:
The action movie is unarguably the most crackerjack genre of entertainment in movies, and without a doubt my personal favorite. What made the majority of the genre so worthwhile and entertaining in the 1980’s and 1990’s was not the merit those films held. Rather, it was the lack of restraint and sanctity that made the movies so entertaining. However, down the line the effect of these films—once ultra-violent, slam-bang thrillers with decidedly adult language and situations that the entertainment of the action numbed for underage viewers—became too tired for moviegoers, and as a result this genre mysteriously became more and more reserved. The nearest the genre has come to true spectacle again was Quentin Tarantino’s two-film Kill Bill saga, but as thrilling as the action was the writing, acting, and drama was smarter than what an action movie should be.
Going into 2007, Hollywood has become too focused in securing a profit than to make an honest-to-God decent movie: the last Die Hard movie was withered down to a PG-13 rating when the first three movies—which, from my experience, are not widely appreciated by a younger crowd—were packed to the brims with decidedly R-rated violence, bloodletting, and profanity. In addition, the only real action movies that currently get unleashed into multiplexes are not technically that: The Departed is too dramatic and ingeniously written to be on the same level as Joel Silver’s filmography, Transformers and Spider-Man are more novelties than straight thrills, and what attempts are made at the genre usually end up with a PG-13 rating. And it got me thinking: I miss this genre. I miss Die Hard. I miss Lethal Weapon. I want more efforts from James Cameron and John Woo. I want someone to make something as socially aware and equally thrilling as Paul Verhoeven crafted RoboCop and Starship Troopers. I want a seedy, uncomfortable action movie that has more in common with Sam Peckinpah than the Saw movies.
Fortunately, all of this has changed for the better, even if it is only for this moment. Michael Davis, a relatively unknown filmmaker who never contributed anything to the genre, has exploded onto the scene with Shoot ‘Em Up, a mindless, no-strings-attached action movie that gains playful creativity where originality is se-verely lacking. For one, the movie is the best straight-up action movie since John Woo’s Face/Off, and the first film in far too long that entirely generates its merit from entertainment and makes no attempt in trying to be honestly good. The film’s plot is absurd—a carrot-chomping bum (Clive Owen) sees a pregnant woman getting chased into a warehouse by a band of sadistic hitmen. One in particular, ready to kill the woman who is going through painful labor, is greeted by the bum, named solely Mr. Smith, and promptly receives a carrot jammed through his mouth and out the back of his head. It’s the sort of novelty death you’d expect from a kitschy Arnold Schwar-zenegger movie from the mid-80’s, namely Commando or something similar, a fact validated by Smith’s horribly corny one-liner that would make California’s governor proud: “Eat your vegetables.”
Soon after, the bullets start flying, the woman dies, and Smith finds himself on the run with the baby from Hertz (Paul Giamatti), a nebbish criminal who is never without hordes of henchmen. Davis further validates the ingenuity by having Smith convince a lactating prostitute (Monica Bellucci) to take care of the baby while on the run. Shoot ‘Em Up calms down after its initial promise in the opening, but not long after the film deviates the action into a ballet of gunplay where the music is hard rock and heavy metal, where shootouts happen during sex and in mid-air as well as in typical settings, and where political incorrectness reigns supreme, whether it be the worst infant care this side of Britney Spears or the myriad one-liners that populate the film. It’s a Bugs Bunny cartoon brought to life, except if Elmer Fudd or Yosemite Sam had an endless entourage of henchmen and squibs exploded all over the screen.[/font]
Surprisingly enough the acting shines as well. Clive Owen has already proven himself as a great actor with Sin City and Children of Men, but in a non-prestige picture he takes on a tough-guy persona that has long vanished since the glory days of Eastwood, Bronson, and Lee Marvin that is virtually unseen today. And while Bellucci’s performance is mainly to look beautiful, the real standout besides Owen is Giamatti, who is equally an excellent actor: the ruffled artist in American Splendor, the wine-loving midlife crisis victim of Sideways, the kindly friend and confidante in Cinderella Man. All of those have much more critical respect than those films received, but his role as Hertz is pitch-perfect, his nerdy looks and sadistic presence bringing forth a heavy that channels Kurtwood Smith’s memorable role as Clarence Boddicker, the smug, vicious underworld boss who added a dimension of fear and disturbance to the otherwise B-movie plot of RoboCop.
If Michael Davis can listen to me, keep this up, because not only is the action genre in need of a new hero, but the way he plays with clichés renders the run of the mill into some kind of genius is something that is hard to find among the industry. It’s just another example of a genre that gets regurgitated so many times that something needs to be changed. In the case of action movies, the 80’s rode high on the conservative Reagan era, and the 90’s made things more about money. If anything, the effect Shoot ‘Em Up could have on the genre is something monumental, one that could be the beginning of a wave of films that have culled together new experiences from respect for the old, good ones. It’s only fitting Motley Crue’s “Kickstart My Heart” plays in the film because that’s what this movie—and should—do.
_________________ Scared to say what is your passion, So slag it all, Bitter's in fashion, Fear of failure's all you've started, The jury is in, verdict: Retarded
Joined: Mon Jan 23, 2006 2:33 am Posts: 1831 Location: plymouth rock bitch
dirtyfrank0705 wrote:
rockfan wrote:
well i saw this today and yes i liked it.....way over the top, bloody, fun, short, tons of guns, and clive owen is sweet in it,.....
I thought you were going to see 3:10 to Yuma.
haha,,..i was but then pot took over and when i was in line to buy my tix,...shoot em up just seemed more of a stoner movie,..........i basically let weed do my descision making
Joined: Sun Dec 05, 2004 5:47 am Posts: 27904 Location: Philadelphia Gender: Male
rockfan wrote:
dirtyfrank0705 wrote:
rockfan wrote:
well i saw this today and yes i liked it.....way over the top, bloody, fun, short, tons of guns, and clive owen is sweet in it,.....
I thought you were going to see 3:10 to Yuma.
haha,,..i was but then pot took over and when i was in line to buy my tix,...shoot em up just seemed more of a stoner movie,..........i basically let weed do my descision making
Are you a pothead, Focker?
_________________ It's always the fallen ones who think they're always gonna save me.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 9:50 am Posts: 1838 Location: Perth, Australia Gender: Male
This is my kind of action movie. I loved it.
I was in hysterics when he said "fuck you you fucking fucker". Now that's a bad ass one liner.
_________________ a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively there's no such thing as death life is only a dream and we are the imagination of ourselves
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 9:50 am Posts: 1838 Location: Perth, Australia Gender: Male
matt00dak wrote:
CantKeepFukinUp wrote:
I was in hysterics when he said "fuck you you fucking fucker". Now that's a bad ass one liner.
Who says that line? I haven't had a chance to see it again since it was released on dvd.
Clive Owen's character Mr. Smith. He says it right after he shoots the neon sign.
_________________ a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively there's no such thing as death life is only a dream and we are the imagination of ourselves
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 3:02 pm Posts: 10690 Location: Lost in Twilight's Blue
bondcfh007 wrote:
entertaining, but retarded
You say it like it's a bad thing.
_________________ Scared to say what is your passion, So slag it all, Bitter's in fashion, Fear of failure's all you've started, The jury is in, verdict: Retarded
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 3:02 pm Posts: 10690 Location: Lost in Twilight's Blue
bondcfh007 wrote:
Mercury wrote:
bondcfh007 wrote:
entertaining, but retarded
You say it like it's a bad thing.
i kinda wished it were more retarded
It ended with Kickstart My Heart, does it get more retarded?
I had a few friends who I thought would love this and didn't like it at all, I was kinda surprised.
_________________ Scared to say what is your passion, So slag it all, Bitter's in fashion, Fear of failure's all you've started, The jury is in, verdict: Retarded
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