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Posted By: Verbal Kint at 8:28pm, November 4, 2009
@scurgar
I'm a huge John Woo fan and i completely HATE this shitty movie.
Not funny, not fun, I don't give a damn if it's a parody or not and i never took it seriously. This movie is just plain awfull to me.
Weird movie to be on this site but since it is on here ill provide my 2 cents. Awesome action packed movie. It is sooo over the top that Ownes stabs and kills someone with a carror, pure genius.
Don't know why it's on this site, but Shoot 'Em Up is a freaking prime example of ACTION comedy. I don't think people realized that it was more of a parody of the over the top action movies that have been coming out lately and, as a result, the movie fell by the wayside. Seriously, see this movie just so you can say, "that was awesome!" "that was badass!" and "that doesn't even make sense, but it was still fucking awesome!" I mean, Clive Owen even kicks ass while he's having sex and eating carrots. Don't take this movie seriously, moron. Just shut up and enjoy.
Pure, cheesy, action fun... which was the whole point of the movie.
If you like your action flicks with as little plot as possible, then this one is for you. The story (or lack of) takes a backseat to the action which is fantastic.
Highly recommended if you love John Woo and over-the-top shoot em' ups (lol).
There seems to be a new, long line of so-called "balls-to-the-wall" action movies lately: Shoot 'Em Up, Crank, Smokin' Aces, Doomsday, etc. Their common goal: put action back into the action genre, when it has become nothing more than a synonym for family drama with a few explosions. Their common flaw: as hard as they try, they all become cheap seen-it-a-thousand-times action that doesn't even thrill the average desensitized action fan any more than if he were choking on food. Shoot 'Em Up tried hard, very hard, to break this flaw among its sub-genre but it fails just as bad as the others.
Before you call me a fine-cinema-whore who viewed this movie the entirely wrong way, let me get something straight. The only thing I expected from this movie was some cool gunfights in cool locations, that never stopped from open to close of its short runtime. That's it. That's what the box says. If it were to have simply done that, I can guarantee my score would have been immensely higher, but that isn't what Shoot 'Em Up did.
Instead, it started out with some cool gunfights . . . then dissolved into the same exact typical problems as all the other "balls-to-the-wall" action movies: a plot. Now, once again, before you call me a cheap-thrill-junkie who is too stupid to realize every movie has to have a plot, let me get a second thing straight. Didn't the movie advertise itself as being a mindless shooter and nothing more? If so, why did they have to go and ruin it all with a shallow one-dimensional plot that just took away from the action for half the runtime? I would have honestly preferred if it had no plot than the one-dimensional half-baked excuse they thew at us explaining why everyone was shooting. Who really cares? If they were going to waste our times on a plot, then why not at least make it an original one instead of just using the same conventional formula as every other action movie?
Hopefully you can see the contradictions this movie has. A) it claims to be a pointless action movie with shooting and nothing more. B) then out of nowhere, the writers throw in a random conventional plot for no reason whatsoever, then halfway into the movie it slows down the pace just like the action movies the lead character considers "lame". Couldn't the writers just make up their minds?
To further clarify in case I just lost you, what I'm trying to say is this. If the movie were just a pointless shooter as it claimed it was, I would have been happy. Or, if the movie had an intelligent, original plotline that was thinly laced between the heavy action scenes, I would have been happy. But nope. The writers couldn't do either, they had to take a heavy action opening, then completely submerge it in a typical plot that ruined everything the movie was advertised to be. And that made me mad.
The directing and acting and everything that pointless subtext was all well-done. Some good, if not typical, dialogue. And as always, contrary to what the other reviews are stating, there is absolutely nothing in this movie that is violent or gory. Minis one or two scenes, it barely scrapes above PG-13 level, and that was disappointing, as well.
Why does it seem like the producers of action movies just don't get what their fans want? We're tired of things we've seen before, and we're tired of dramas with things blowing up. How hard is it to write a decent action script, and how hard is it to sustain action for drawn-out amounts of time?
4/10
Posted By: BK's Finest at 12:47am, November 18, 2008
Fucking awesome movie! but why is it on this site?
Posted By: gorehound62 at 8:00pm, November 17, 2008
coolest movie since sin city. cant think of the words to describe how much i love this movie. paul giamatti, the guy from big fat liar, makes for one of the most remarkable action movie villains ever to be put on film. clive owen, one of my favorite actors, looks to be having as much fun as i was watching the movie, making the movie. some of the stunts and gunfights in this movie, are some things that you have never seen anywhere, and probably wont for a while. it takes something to show a childbirth, and cutting the ambilical cord by blowing it off with a pistol. one of the best films in theaters in a while.
I don't beleive this movie is worthy of a perfect rating but it is definately NOT deserving of a Horrible one either. Granted it is not a horror movie but it is not a boring one either. The title of this movie is Shoot EM Up. What would you expect from a movie called "Everyone Dies"? I for one woud be unhappy if one person walked away breathing and likewise i would be very unhappy if people didn't get shot up in a movie titled "Shoot 'em up". What it lacks in plot it makes up for in creative action sequences. All the acting is ridiculously over the top but the movie is better off for it. I'd recommend seeing this and taking "Shoot 'em up" for what it's worth: A good Shooter.
The perfect score is to balance out the one skull rating. But to be honest, i find this to be a perfect shooter so i guess it is deserving of the score.
