Shoot 'Em Up (2007)

Fans of ridiculous, horribly corny, and overloaded over-the-top action should be quite satisfied with the film aptly titled Shoot 'Em Up. No this is not another video game transfer but a film which boasts an obscene amount of over-top-action sequences, horrible acting (from some previously decent actors), and a story so ridiculous that it could only be apart of a film so "brilliantly" named, Shoot 'Em Up.

As if the films' plot actually warrants the time and effort of summarization, I'll be brief. Frankly if your going to be able to sit through this film for 86 minutes first except the fact that there is really is no plausible storyline, and the acting is so atrocious a majority of the time you'll wish there was no "story" so the actors would shut their mouths. The main plot of the film surrounds a man named Smith (Clive Owen), who stumbles upon and pregnant woman being attack by a gang of thugs lead by a man named Hertz (Paul Giamatti). Smith manages to deliver baby before the mother is killed, but is now stuck with a kid whom Hertz and his gang seem to be anxious to retrieve. Now Smith is a prime target for interfering in their plans, and he must stay alive long enough to find out why.

Shoot 'Em Up for all intents and purposes is pure sugar, there is absolutely no substance to the film, and like all sugar if you consume too much you'll soon feel a bit sick to your stomach. Fans of the film call Shoot 'Em Up "the best parts of every action film combined into one". Sure over-the-top action, and corny one liners are entertaining in a film that's combined with an above average story and decent acting. But when you remove all the aspects of a good action film which assist in balancing out the corn, what you are left with is a film so ridiculous and stupid that it doesn't take long to realize you need something more. If you're a connoisseur of corn, then this film should surely satisfy your taste for terrible, but fans of good old action films should look elsewhere because Shoot 'Em Up quickly becomes so bad it's almost unbearable to watch.

This is definitely an almost low in the career of Paul Giamatti whose character spends most of the film answering phone calls from his wife while he's about to put a bullet through someones head, that's supposed to be the comic relief I believe. As for Clive Owen, I have never seen him in anything really great and this definitely is not a role that warrants any praise. And as for the lovely Monica Bellucci she portrays her usual slut role (literally) but really refrains from revealing much, so if it's a peep show your after go look at one of her many racy foreign films. Overall, I like cornball films as much as the next guy but I find the films that actually attempt to take themselves seriously to be a lot more amusing and entertaining than the films that are intentionally being as stupid as they possibly can, and Shoot 'Em Up succeeds in being stupid.

3/10