Shoot 'Em Up

by Brian Zitzelman

Mixing up The Transporter, Children of Men, Falling Down and Home Alone is no doubt a silly idea. The new Michael Davis film Shoot ‘Em Up agrees and throws these movies into a large rusty pot, adds on a little Nirvana and Motorhead and lets the silliness run all over the place for roughly 90 minutes – some of the most ludicrously fun, and yes silly, minutes on screen this year.

Shoot ‘Em Up is, if anything, a film you will know if you like within the first three minutes. Clive Owen’s Smith sits at a bus stop chomping on a carrot as a pregnant woman runs by screaming. Seconds later, a car comes crashing through the streets, a man jumps out and chases the woman with boisterous threats and a gun pulled. Smith groans and unhappily intervenes; following the strangers. Tempers flair, the bullets start blazing, the previously discussed carrot goes to good use and the bodies begin their pile up. Davis, who directs and writes the film, is so over the top that questions of satire and spoof come to mind, yet feel incorrect. Shoot ‘Em Up rolls as a picture meant for midnight crowds, ready for one-liners about sex, violence and vegetables. A wink is had by Davis but one whose intent suggests, “We know this is unbelievable but who cares because a mid-air gunfight’s coming up in a few minutes.”

The absurdity of it all clicks, helped in no small part by the duo dueling on screen. Clive Owen, an actor whose best work tends to carry an air of cynicism, from Croupier to the aforementioned Children of Men. As Smith, Owen lets loose a barrage of jabs at society, one which has let him down. He enjoys what little things he can and lives in squalor, unhappy but comfortable enough. Owen moves with a breezy confidence, embracing the action hero archetype but not resting on it. Same goes for Paul Giamatti, whose turn as a mob boss is bizarrely one of the highlights of a rich career. So often seen as merely a scraggly sad loser, Giamatti brandishing threats barbed with sinister arrogance is the last place many would ever imagine him to end up. Thankfully, the character actor found his way there. As Giamatti and Owen’s character throw every last trick at each other, Davis juices up the adrenaline.

The heightened world of Shoot ‘Em Up can easily be tossed off as the dream world of machismo gone wild. The good guy wields his weapons with precision and pleases the ladies with equal success, occasionally at the same time. Yet, despite the ridiculousness of each minute, the movie remains inviting, with no notions of making some grander point or grasps for melodrama. Davis’s work stands comfortably as pop entertainment, not for everyone but certainly for some. A cult classic may be born right here.