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John Woo's Hard Boiled is a classic of action cinema, so it's certainly not the worst film to take your inspiration from. When director Michael Davis pitched Shoot 'Em Up as "John Woo's wet dream" he wasn't kidding: although Woo's trademark white doves are absent, Davis's film plays out like an 80-minute long version of Hard Boiled's already insane hospital shootout finale. In some ways, then, Shoot 'Em Up is an experiment - if all everyone sees action films for is the actual shooting, are plot and character development actually necessary? Shoot 'Em Up has very little of either, and occasionally does work on its own terms, but its kinetic, bombastic madness isn't quite as fun as the director has aimed for.
All the information the film provides about Clive Owen's protagonist - who simply goes by the name Smith - before the carnage starts is that he likes carrots. While we do get to know him a bit better through his subsequent actions, Smith remains distant and aloof for the duration. He has a one-liner for every situation, but whether down to lacklustre writing or poor delivery by Owen, not many of them actually generate the laughs intended and instead just seem to be trying too hard to be funny. Fortunately there is a good amount of humour in the action (that carrot gets a lot of use) which goes some way to compensate. From the very first kill it's clear that this is a film so far removed from reality that it's more like a horrendously violent cartoon - a fact that Davis is well aware of, with Looney Tunes ("What's up, doc?") and Disney (Smith has a pet mouse named Mickey) referenced several times. Occasionally the film reaches a point of bullet fatigue but the times when the envelope is pushed furthest, such as a mid-skydive shootout, offer welcome moments of freshness. Clearly, to gain most enjoyment from the film, disbelief needs to be suspended completely.
Eventually, though, the lack of characterisation and story begin to take their toll. With dialogue either perfunctory exposition or the aforementioned uninspired one-liners, only Paul Giamatti creates a character that entertains even while he isn't firing a gun. Monica Bellucci's hooker with a heart of gold mainly exists to provide more opportunities for extravagant gunplay and disappears for the final action set-piece. Ironically for a film so buried in empty shell casings, Davis actually puts across an anti-gun message. More mileage could have been taken from a political intrigue subplot but its existence in the film does add some much-needed sense of purpose to the pandemonium. With a title like Shoot 'Em Up, an experience resembling a videogame is to be expected, and if that's what is desired then it delivers in suitable quantities.
The summary
86 minutes fly by in a barrage of gunshots and explosions, but sensory overload does kick in. Shoot 'Em Up is incredibly lightweight and although that's pretty much the point it can't help but harm its longevity.
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