Is “Shoot ‘Em Up” a hollow piece of crap like some reviewers say? Probably yes. Is it like a movie straight out of a comic book or a computer first person shooting game? Probably yes too. But why does it have a mixed review rather than a bad review? The key word is “entertainment”. One scene got some of the audience – I included – clapping and cheering inside the theater. The last I saw that was the ending scene of “Death Proof” – and that scene got more girls cheering than guys.
Yesterday morning, Cynthia left the newspaper opened, pointing at the movie advertisements and in a semi-sleepy-semi-demur way, she said she wanted to watch a show. Got it. So what do you want to watch, I asked. “Shoot ‘Em Up” or “Underdog”, she replied. I called up the rest of the squad (just TK really) and had no answer. Usually TK answers the “call for movie” almost instantaneously. What happened to him? Turned out that I woke him up from a 24-shift and his reply was: Underdog, are you joking? “Shoot ‘Em Up” it was then.
Though the story is downright straightforward (very implausible) with minimal opportunity for character development, the movie does keep the audience in suspense as the story unfolds slowly – at least for the first three quarter of the movie when there are still lots of questions in the audience’s head. The shooting scenes though … my God … have more “bullets per frame” than most of the other movies I have watched. And some of the ways of how a gun is shot are so creative that left me in awe. The mood is mostly dark with dirt and sweat, rats and blood. However, the scenes can be so entertainment that got the audience laughing … at times in a morbid way.
Cynthia finds “Shoot ‘Em Up” entertaining. TK calls it “an entertaining piece of rubbish”. As for me, if Clive Owen was to replace his guns with swords, that would have been made into a typical Chinese ancient story with heroes in special power (you will see what I mean in one of the ending scenes). If you want some dark and brainless entertainment and laugh your brain off after a long hard week of work, perhaps “Shoot ‘Em Up” is an option.
8 replies on “Shoot ‘Em Up – A Dark, Brainless Piece of Entertainment”
Entertaining movie.. Although I’m not a big fan of Clive Owen or Monica Belucci for that matter. This movie certainly gives me a new perspective on CARROTS…. I will not look at carrots the same way anymore..
OMG … I forgot to mention Monica Bellucci. She is just so … sensual. Yep. Those carrots …
Doesn’t this film reminds one of those early John Woo’s film about brotherhood, with Chow grabbing the baby in one arm and holding the gun in another?
Hmmm … unfortunately I have no recollection on that image. A Cantonese movie?
Was a Mandarin movie. Chow Yun Fat with Di Long I think.
And btw holding a gun in each hand is too characteristic of John Woo’s gun fighting choreography, with one dashing through a scene of raining bullets and expended shells. It was really a trademark cutscene back in the 80s. I’m sure now gun fighting scenes can be better than that. But yeah, it is a entertaining, funny movie.
Ghim Seng – That’s true … and I personally think that John Woo is brilliant in this sort of genre.
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