July 31, 2007

• that movie screening I saw at Comic-Con...

  
  Shoot 'Em Up  (2007)  B

  
  I was able to attend the world premiere of "Shoot 'Em Up," and wow was I
  surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I went in thinking that it was just going to be another average gun exploitation dumb film, and it did turn out to be another gun exploitation dumb film except that it was hardly average. When you see this film, leave your brain at the door and just enjoy the ride, because it's really something like 10% plot and 90% action. The plot is really just there to setup the next action sequence, and it's no different than a lot of martial arts movies where it's kinda the same thing.

  The biggest draw and the main fun you'll have with this film is how inventive the gun play is. There's a lot of "I can't believe he just did that" to "no way, did you just see what he did" to "you've got to be kidding me" moments here. There's actual real choreography to the gun action and it is incredible.  Michael Davis, the director/writer of this film, clearly set out the goal to make the coolest gun action in films, and it's hard to argue that after watching this film. Clive Owen plays one of the most bad ass characters he's ever done, and he's almost like an unbeatable guy here. Which comes to the only problem I have with this film, "the A-Team syndrome," where the bad guys just can't seem to hit the good guy. Oddly enough, there was some one sentence explanation to why that is, but it still is a huge leap of faith on screen. Paul Giamatti plays the main antagonist to our protagonist, and he too is a pretty bad ass guy, and is also pretty funny here giving us some comedic relief.

  If you like gun action, this is the movie for you. Shoot 'em Up completely lives up to it's title, and it's absolutely one of the most fun I've had in the movies this year.

  • 8:21 pm
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