Shoot 'Em Up (2007) Review:

Sometimes lightning only strikes once, but when it does, it is quite a thing to see. The same thing goes for films,...sometimes films are made and they blow away audiences. Yet the creator behind the project doesn’t go any further than that to make more entertainment. Take William Wesley, the director of Scarecrows (1988) as an example. The film went through a lot to be made and while it didn't have the greatest critical reception at the time, it has garnered quite the following. Yet with that, Wesley hasn't made another movie since 2001. The same could be said for this movie, which didn't do that well at the box office. However, it's another feature with a devoted following for how it was executed.

Mr. Smith & the baby

Directed and written by Michael Davis as the last film he's headed since, this literal "shoot 'em up" film is just that, but it's not brain dead. The plot is about an unknown man who goes by the name of Mr. Smith (Clive Owen) who gets entangled in what seems to be a regular hit job. As time carries on though, he begins to find out there's more to it than just that, since the main target is a baby. With the help of a hooker named Donna Quintano (Monica Bellucci), both race to find the truth and escape the smart but callous Hertz (Paul Giamatti). Meanwhile another man is also after the baby, a lone man (Greg Bryk) who quite honestly could be mistaken for Jason Clarke. For the majority of this cat and mouse chase, things are very much on the move.

The story itself is something to admire because of the plot behind it all slowly unravels revealing what's actually going on. It's a clever way of writing because it requires little exposition dumps. It's more just, as it goes, more information comes to light. This keeps the audience's attention and makes the execution smoother. What also helps are just how intriguing the characters are, no matter how few of them receive character depth. Clive Owen as the unknown Mr. Smith is one skilled marksman and expresses his dissatisfaction for a lot of things, while crunching on carrots. Paul Giamatti as Hertz is one sick villain who has the intellect but quite the womanizer, along with being a poor father and husband.

Monica Bellucci as Donna Quintano may not be the classiest heroine audiences may see, but she does have the right intentions. Bellucci was also in The Matrix Reloaded (2003), The Matrix Revolutions (2003) and The Passion of the Christ (2004). There's also appearances from Daniel Pilon, Julian Richings and Stephen McHattie who was in 300 (2006) and Watchmen (2009). The action is also well done. Considering Michael Davis wanted the movie to be gun centric, that's pretty much what the action involves and it's done in several creative ways. The only issue that arises with these sequences are the effects and plausibility. The validity of some scenes are just not that realistic. If done in real life, the likelihood of it being done would be once because they're such fatal stunts.

"I'm Paul Giamatti,...and I love being crazy"

Majority of the time, the blood shots look real, but every now and then there are scenes that look badly rendered for the year 2007. Most noticeable is a skydiving scene. However, the cinematography was crafted competently. With Peter Pau behind the camera, the shots are very fluid. Pau also worked on several John Woo / Chow Yun-Fat projects and even Bride of Chucky (1998). Sadly, he also has Jean-Claude Van Damme's bummer film Double Team (1997) on his resume too. Music was a delightful listening experience thanks to composer Paul Haslinger. While the score is usually a mix of guitars, synth beats and strings, the music lends itself well to the style and tone of the film. Haslinger feels like he took inspiration from Clint Mansell's score to Smokin' Aces, another stylized hit job film.

Aside from the possibility of the action happening in real life and sometimes the effects looking dated in small areas, the rest of this shooter film is an entertaining one. The story is an interesting watch, the cinematography and music jive together, with a cool Clive Owen performance leading the way.

Points Earnd --> 7:10