Shoot ’Em Up (2007): A man named Mr. Smith delivers a woman’s baby during a shootout, and is then called upon to protect the newborn from the army of gunmen.

This is a pure fun action movie that plays on the action genre of its conventions. The plot is simple, though there is a little bit of mystery about the motivations behind these characters.

But what’s important about this movie are the over the top action scenes. These scenes reminded me of early John Woo movies, where the hero shoots against an army of people blasting automatic at him, but always missing, while he never fails. Even the slow-mo style is reminiscent of Woo.

We also get people who keep going even after they’ve been shot multiple times, the classic face 2 face gun shot, and many other over the top absurd action shots.

There is also lots of "fun" action, especially with the hero’s favorite food: carrots. And the way that newborn is tossed around I don’t think he’s gonna grow up normal.

I think Clive Owen was perfect for this role, he is serious enough not to let this movie go into farce, which it isn’t at all. Monica Bellucci plays the beautiful woman of the story, and that’s all she needs to be. Paul Giamatti also gives a fun performance, though it’s something that feels very familiar, which is the point of the whole movie.

My favorite scene is when the US presidential candidate is taken prisoner by Smith. Smith then proceeds to tell us what he thinks he should do to get out of that difficult situation he’s in, at which point we all know what going to happen, because we’ve seen it so many times, instead BOOM!! I was surprised and understood perfectly why they did it. Too bad the following action scene while free-falling looked too fake.

I must say I had fun with this movie. It’s not deep or thoughtful, doesn’t have any message at all. It’s just fun action winking at the action genre.

Rating: 3 Stars