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.

Director:

Michael Davis

Writer:

Michael Davis

Stars:

Clive Owen, Monica Bellucci, Paul Giamatti

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Clive Owen	...	Smith
Paul Giamatti	...	Hertz
Monica Bellucci	...	Donna Quintano
Stephen McHattie	...	Hammerson
Greg Bryk	...	Lone Man
Daniel Pilon	...	Senator Rutledge
Sidney Mende-Gibson	...	Baby Oliver
Lucas Mende-Gibson	...	Baby Oliver
Kaylyn Yellowlees	...	Baby Oliver
Ramona Pringle	...	Baby's Mother
Julian Richings	...	Hertz's Driver
Tony Munch	...	Man Who Rides Shotgun
Scott McCord	...	Killer Shot in Behind
Wiley M. Pickett	...	1st Killer (as Wiley Pickett)
Stephen R. Hart	...	Club Bouncer

Storyline

Late at night, in an unnamed U.S. city, a solitary man sits at a bus stop. A pregnant woman runs by, pursued by a man with a gun. With reluctance, the man at the bus stop rescues her and assists with the baby's delivery, while additional pursuers fire at them, including the gang's particularly nasty leader, an intuitive man named Hertz. Our hero, known only as Smith, determines to save the child and find out why Hertz wants the baby dead. At a local bordello, he tries to employ a lactating hooker to watch the child, but things quickly escalate, and this makeshift family is soon on the run. Heavy metal music calms the baby. Why? A laboratory, gun factory, and presidential campaign all figure in Smith's quest for the child's safe deliverance.

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Plot Keywords:

gun | nudity | baby | night | shootout | 

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Taglines:

I'm a British nanny and I'm dangerous.

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for pervasive strong bloody violence, sexuality and some language

Details

Official Sites:

Metropolitan Films [France] New Line Cinema [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Italian

Release Date:

7 September 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

Feu à volonté

Filming Locations:

Toronto Film Studios, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$39,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$5,450,000, 9 September 2007

Gross USA:

$12,807,139

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$26,012,272

Company Credits

Production Co:

New Line Cinema, Angry Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

5 "babies" were used to for the infant in the film. 3 of them were real stunt babies, the other 2 were prosthetic devices. The latter sported guide markings on their face so that the CG artists could map a real baby's face onto the artificial one in the more frenetic action scenes.

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Goofs

Even if the bullets wedged between Smith's broken fingers had gone off that quickly when he put them next to the fire, which is highly unlikely, without a barrel to direct the energy they would have basically amounted to firecrackers.

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Quotes

[first lines]
1st Killer: You're dead, bitch!
[walks past Smith]
1st Killer: What the hell you looking at?

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Crazy Credits

The closing credits feature animations, followed by a trickle of blood that wends its way through the cast list and finally pools on the word 'Stunts.'

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Connections

Featured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Over the Top Action Movies (2018)

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Soundtracks

Breed
Written by Kurt Cobain
Performed by Nirvana
Courtesy of Geffen Records
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User Reviews

Gun Porn At Its Best

I wasn't really sure what to make of this movie before I went to the advanced screening. I heard from a friend of mine at the Chicago Tribune (she's female, and you'll see why that matters in a second) and she said, "It was so stupid! It was like, BANG BANG BANG, EXPLETIVE EXPLETIVE EXPLETIVE, BANG BANG BANG! Then gallons of blood and we move on." For some reason, the little boy in me that loved the scene in Predator where all of the soldiers shoot at open woods for a complete minute, got very excited. She wasn't kidding, either, that's just what this movie was. Don't worry about the plot, it's not really a concern. Don't worry about the script either, the lines are so over the top and shallow that you know a man wrote this script without allowing anyone to comment on it.

At the same time, this movie is just plain fun. You will find yourself laughing from the moment the movie starts to the ending (which you won't be glancing at your watch while waiting for). There are funny lines, funny situations, and stuff that is so impossible in the real world that you can't help but chuckle. Various moments during the film, I found myself applauding along with the audience, maybe not for the film, but for how writer/director Michael Davis got our hero out of another situation.

The directing, as opposed to the writing, was done very well, especially for a movie like this. If you take the directing too seriously, the script won't work, which is probably why Michael Davis did both. Clive Owen delivers another strong performance, adapting to the cheesy script and outrageous events like a participant in a prank or gag. Monica Bellucci plays the most serious role in the film, and still takes to mocking her life and situation in this movie like the rest of them. My favorite character would still have to be the sly Paul Giamatti, who is given some pretty crazy situations himself but they are coupled with the only lines of any intelligence (or longer than about four words).

By the end of this movie, I was having a lot of fun watching a plot unfold that I didn't really care about. That doesn't deter the film, though, because it's kind of like a stunt show, you're not really concerned with the story. I loved it and, apparently, so did most of the audience. It really reminded me of seeing, well, a live action movie that was more like a video game (we even have coordinated colors for the costumes of the "bad guys" in the various "levels"). I'd like to use this film as an example to my (former) favorite critic Roger Ebert as a perfect example of how video games can be construed in the same light as video games, because Roger, this is clearly a movie made by a large video game fan.