Movie Review: Shoot 'Em Up - Page 3

The film repeatedly makes reference to the US affection (or is it affectation?) for guns, suggesting that it's trying to be some kind of social commentary on a country gone mad. "How do you like your Second Amendment NOW?" demands Mr. Smith of an immobilized guard after using his MacGyver skills to rig up a contraption to shoot many, many, many people at once. For a rip roaring action flick, it's kind of a deflating question, like asking the person you've just convinced to eat that Ho-Ho how they're enjoying what the partially hydrogenated vegetable oil is doing to their arteries. The guard responds with what seems to me the only reasonable response to that sort of question, "F*ck you!" but I'm not convinced the filmmakers intended for the guard to be the sympathetic character in that scene.

Despite the odd pretension to be a thought piece on gun violence, thankfully in the end, Shoot 'Em Up is piffle. It's entertaining piffle for certain, but it indubitably works best when it is running its guns, not its mouth. Should you find yourself in need of killing a few hours some afternoon and would like something fast, loud, and instantly forgettable then Shoot 'Em Up is the movie for you.

Article Author: Kati Irons

I am a film and music librarian for a public library system. Like many of my kind, I suffer from RKS, or Random Knowledge Syndrome. These musings are the inevitable end result of that condition.

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