Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1674 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-01-21
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 83 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Relax, switch your brain off, stick your tongue in cheek and settle down. If you can do all of these things, then Shoot Em Up is one of the most downright fun movies you're likely to have seen in some time. Just make sure you've adhered to the aforementioned checklist to the letter first.

Shamelessly over the top, and boasting a carnival of action sequences that each seemingly try to out do the other, the core of Shoot Em Up is Paul Giamatti (Sideways) and Clive Owen (The Inside Man) pitted against each other. In the middle is some nonsense over saving a newborn child, and Monica Belluci's call girl gets put into the mix too.

That said, all plot is thrown out of the window at every opportunity in favour of more action, upping the body count and - heck, why not? - a bit more action. And you know what? Shoot Em Up works, and it does so because everyone is in on it. This is no postmodern pretentious reworking: this is a fun, stylish action movie, and proud of it. It boasts a trimmed-to-the-wire running time, some outrageous sequences, a few bum notes but a whole lot of energy. And while it is, all considered, an excitable action movie and nothing more, Shoot Em Up is also uproarious entertainment, and the kind of film that Friday night was invented for. --Jon Foster

Synopsis
Paul Giamatti, Clive Owen, and Monica Belluci star in this fast-paced thriller about a pair of strangers united to save a newborn baby from the terrifying grip of an unrelenting criminal.

Customer Reviews

a review of the movie and the dvd
as you can see from all the other reviews this is one of those films that polarises opinion. and really it's a question of whether you get what it's trying to do or not.

It's the story of a mysterious man called mister smith, who happens to be incredibly adept at using guns. coming to the aid of a pregnant woman who is being hunted by hitmen he is left literally holding the baby, and goes on the run with the child to protect it from a hitman called mister hertz. There's a big conspiracy going on here that smith and his only ally, a streetwalker called DQ, do their best to unhearth whilst trying to keep the child safe.

it could be an ordinary action movie, but it's done in a very over the top style, with some outrageously over the top action sequences, filled with some clever slapstick moments. the cast all play it dead straight, and that works perfectly because coupled with the outrageous action it makes for a hugely entertaining film.it may be bloody and violent and fully worthy of an 18 certificate but it's very much got it's tongue in cheek with it, and if you're in the right mood that makes it great fun.

If you want a really good guilty pleasure of a movie, then this fits the bill perfectly.

this is a single disc dvd, with direct scene access and subtitles and a language track in english only. it offers three different sound ratios for you to choose from, and the extras are as follows:

a commentary from the writer/director. who is a good talker and full of interesting stuff to say.

nine deleted/alternate scenes. all short, and some different versions of ones that were in the film. none are essential but all are reasonably interesting.

three trailers, two from the cinema and one from tv. be wary of the first if you're epileptic as it contains lots of fast moving jump cuts.

fifteen minutes worth of animatics. the director actually animated a lot of the action scenes before he made the film, and these can be seen here, complete with an animated introduction he made to sell the project to the film studio. the animation is basic in the extreme but really quite fascinating to watch. they come with an optional commentary from the director, are broken down into several scenes, and some of them can also take you directly via a link into the finished versions of the scenes.

there's also ballet of bullets, a fifty three minute long making of documentary about the film. very good and comprehensive with contributions from cast and crew, it's divided into five sections and can be watched all at once or individually. possibly better to do the latter as it can be a bit much to take in at one go.

and there are four trailers for other films in a coming soon section: death sentence, mr woodcock, run fatboy run, and rendition. these trailers may interest. or not. but they're there and can be watched if you wish.

A great guilty pleasure of a movie, and a pretty good dvd package for it

Huge fun!
Great entertainment! Plenty of OTT gunfights, cheesy one liners, sadistic bad guys (a great turn from Paul Giamatti) and plenty of silly, enjoyable violence. Plus Clive Owen is very cool. Great stuff.

Entertainment
I've not seen it yet, but I have seen the trailers. However, I am just about to buy it.

Having looked at all the reviews, I seem to think that some of the reviewers are missing the point about all films - they are made to entertain. If you want deep-rooted, pschycological, thought-provoking plots, go and see something written by Harold Pinter, ir even William Shakespeare.

The point that some film directors want to make, is that they want the cinema goers to forget reality for a few hours and thoroughly enjoy the experience, by immersing themselves in the fictional lives of others.

I think that we all need a reality check at various points in our lives and I believe that films like these are the ones that do just that.