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Shoot 'Em Up
Starring: Clive Owen, Monica Bellucci, Paul Giamatti, Greg Bryk, Jane
McLean
Directed by: Michael Davis
Produced
by:
Don Murphy, Susan Montford, Rick Benattar
Written
by: Michael Davis
Distributor: New Line Cinema |
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Shoot ‘Em Up represents a real critical dilemma for me:
it is a movie that is as outrageously entertaining as it is
degradingly offensive. There is no possible way one could watch
Shoot ‘Em Up and not have a good time, but at what cost?
The experience will make most viewers want to take a shower as
soon as it’s over; “dirty,” “slimy,” and “mean-spirited” are all
adjectives that come to mind when attempting to describe it. As
I watched a scene in which vigilante protagonist Smith (Clive
Owen) ridiculously shows an infant he has rescued the different
parts of a hand-gun, something about the experience (albeit
engaging) just didn’t feel morally-acceptable to me. Not to
mention, the movie also features such questionable elements as a
lactating prostitute, a sex scene during a gun-battle, and a
certain segment set on a playground in which Smith has to shoot
toward the aforementioned baby in order to save it from
being killed by the antagonist. Shoot ‘Em Up kind
of feels like watching a Quentin Tarantino film with none of the
artistic merit to make the amorality present seem cinematically
justifiable. Don’t get me wrong: this is a slickly-paced and
hyper-stylized motion picture – but nobody’s going to be
confusing it for a great work of pop-art anytime soon, nor
should they. The picture is so sleek and sensuous that it
engages the viewer immensely, but said engagement hardly proves
fulfilling. And don’t even get me started on Shoot ‘Em Up’s
conclusion, which proceeds to hit the audience over the head
with pro-gun-control messages, as if it doesn’t realize
that its glamorized characters use guns to kill well over
one-hundred individuals throughout its duration.
-Danny Baldwin,
Bucket Reviews
Review Published
on: 9.9.2007
Screened on:
9.8.2007 at the Edwards San Marcos
18 in San Marcos, CA.
Shoot 'Em Up is rated R and runs 93
minutes.
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