Every once in a while a movie comes along that is so crazily brilliant and brilliantly crazy that it needs to be hailed from the mountain tops for all of its ludicrous glory. That movie is “Shoot ‘Em Up,” a wild ride about a man named Smith, an orphaned baby he feels duty-bound to protect and hundreds upon hundreds of goons with guns out to blast Smith and the baby off the planet.

Clive Owen plays Smith, a reluctant hero (at least at first) who uses whatever crazy black-ops training he had in his past to upset the plans of the film’s nefarious villains. There is a plot, and a pretty good one, involving a presidential candidate who hails gun control reforms, bone marrow donors and a gun manufacturing firm that seems out to get anyone standing in their way, but all of that is secondary to Smith’s main objective - protect that baby.

Owen is terrific as Smith. He would have made a great James Bond, but he does grimy and hard-boiled even better. If the world needs a new action hero (and it does, Schwarzenegger is retired, Stallone is 60-something and Willis is getting up there too) it could do a lot worse than Owen who oozes charm and looks great firing two guns at once.

The other key component to “Shoot ‘Em Up” is the bad guy, Hertz, played deliciously by Paul Giamatti. Giamatti chews up the scenery like a piece of Chocolate Mint Hubba Bubba and blows the biggest bubble in the world. He and Owen look like they are having a great time in this incredibly over the top movie and that makes it even more fun for the viewer.

“Shoot ‘Em Up” is the definition of a movie for guys who like movies. It has tons of action, lots of gunfire, a killer car chase, great one-liners and a kicking soundtrack. It also has Monica Bellucci, a beautiful woman playing the love interest. In other movies her role would have been played by a young woman who look likes a teenager, but Bellucci gets to play the hooker with a heart of gold and she holds her own in scenes with Owen and Giamatti.

So, my hats off to you writer/director Michael Davis. I laughed like crazy, cackled at all of the madness and mayhem you brought to the screen and rocked out at your frenzied film.
If you want to see the best action film out there, go see this movie.

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