Spring Break
Evil gets a dose of some ridiculous and then more
Mike Blessing
Issue date: 1/18/08 Section: Arts & Entertainment
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In Shoot 'Em Up, Clive Owen plays a killing machine known only as Smith. He is a mysterious trained weapon on a moral adventure to protect a baby from the chilling hand of death. It is a "wrong place at the wrong time" adventure starting with Smith sitting at a bus stop and faced with a decision to help a woman in danger or go on his way. He takes the dangerous road, and the bullets fly from then on.
Smith is a loner, who, before the events in this movie, keeps mostly to himself. He is the strong silent type, although he always has a quick witted remark to enrage his enemies. In every sequence it seems there is always something that bothers Smith. He is very opinionated and voices his pet peeves quite frequently. Men who wear ponytails and drivers who change lanes without signaling are among the things that piss Smith off. Amidst an array of gunfire and testosterone he mutters cliché one liners that have become a mainstay in the action genre. He kills anonymous henchmen like a child stomping on ants. There must have been around 500 deaths at the hands of Smith.
Clive Owen's dark, amusing, but always gritty performance is about as good as it could have been. The script handcuffed Owen, but this film really did not need any acting credibility anyway. He provided his star power to take a payday on an easy role.
The bald, grizzly Hertz is the lunatic hit man in charge of the extermination of the helpless child Smith is protecting. This unconventional bad guy, portrayed by Paul Giamatti, is on Smith's tail the entire showing. He tracks Smith to varying hiding places with a superior intelligence, which is vaguely hinted on during the film. No matter how many of Hertz's men are hurled at Smith, he always comes out on top.
After every implausible defeat, this psycho always keeps the mood light through his half witted jokes. His sense of humor is a drawback, and seems to be something thrown in to break up the intense gun matches. During the fights, Hertz often neglects to find cover, and makes a habit of laughing while Smith is shooting at him. His feeling of immortality protrudes through when he nonchalantly talks to his wife on the phone after a heated shootout.
The role of Hertz is not a challenging one. Short dialogue, and minimal emotion is shown in every seen. Giamatti comes across as a mediocre bad guy, which was mainly the fault of the script. The barbaric one-liners do not leave much room for any talent to seep through.
The DVD version of the movie does not add much to the experience. A bunch of deleted scenes that last for about 15 seconds, and director's commentary do not help any. The behind the scenes is interesting, but very drawn out.
The dialogue is lacking, the special effects are laughable, and the character development is virtually non-existent…but I loved it. For fans of mindless action movies that do not bother to slow up for the intricacies of well developed films, this movie is for you. Everyone else, stay far, far away.
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