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Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that this over-the-top, gun-focused action movie brims with wild violence and its effects. Much of it is presented in a comic, cartoonishly excessive way, but characters are still left torn, bloodied, bruised, and broken. Violent acts are mostly shooting-related (one particularly extreme sequence features characters shooting at each other during a fall from an airplane), but there are explosions and car crashes too -- all with painful-looking results. Sexual content includes references to the heroine's work as a prostitute (she's introduced in brothel), plus shots of naked breasts and cleavage, and a prolonged sex act during a violent assault. Language is quite salty (primarily variations on "f--k") but probably not as plentiful as you'd expect -- mostly because so much of the screen time is spent shooting instead of talking.
Families can talk about the movie's cartoonish approach to violence. How does seeing the kind of extreme violence typical of Looney Toons shorts translated to live-action affect your opinion of both approaches? Is animated violence easier to stomach than its real-life counterpart? Why or why not? Why do we as filmgoers like to see things go bang and blow up? What are the consequences of violence in real life? What messages is the movie sending about guns and "gun control"?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Cynthia Fuchs
The action in SHOOT 'EM UP starts right away. Minding his own business, Mr. Smith (Clive Owen) is barely bothered when he first sees a screaming pregnant woman (Ramona Pringle) running from a gun-wielding assailant. But, being a hero, Smith is soon engaged in trying to save the woman, assisting with the birth while he shoots at a sudden array of heavily armed villains. When the woman is killed amid the mayhem, Smith is left guardian of her infant. And with that, the plot begins.
Outrageous and antic, Michael Davis' film simultaneously spoofs and pays homage to everything from Bugs Bunny to Indiana Jones and James Bond. Super-skilled (he was trained by the U.S. military in his secret past), intensely focused, and frequently chewing on a carrot (which he occasionally uses as deadly weapon), Smith is determined to save the baby, though he knows nothing about how to feed or clothe it (he uses newspapers for diapers and a dirty sock for little Oliver's head). He also enlists the only lactating woman he knows, a prostitute named Donna Quintano, or DQ (Monica Bellucci). More worldly wise than her valiant ex-client, DQ goes along for the ride, falling in love with Smith and little Oliver on the way.
Smith is so fast and furious during his always-triumphant encounters with bad guys that he's deemed a "wascally wabbit" by the malevolent Mr. Hertz (Paul Giamatti). The pair's antagonism escalates exponentially, accompanied by all manner of gunplay and wild stunts. As Hertz puts it, the back and forth turns into "tit for tat," with each shoot-out, car chase, and torture scene a means for one side or the other to get even.
Of course, no such balance is possible. Every violent act leads to more violence. While the acceleration is demented fun here, the broader context is dire -- as indicated by what turns out to be the villains' awkward motivation: their work for a cadaverous-looking gun manufacturer (Stephen McHattie) and a corrupt U.S. senator/presidential candidate (Daniel Pilon). Both are involved in an imminent decision concerning gun control, but really, they're just distractions from the film's main business, which is shooting and more shooting.
Which raises a question about how movies show, inspire, and challenge violence in the wider world. Smith, who expresses his feelings frequently (and concisely), insists that he "hates" liars and hypocrites even more than he "hates" bad drivers and stupid movie conventions. Shoot 'Em Up more or less leaves it to viewers to decide whether the movie is being hypocritical or extremely clever, as it both celebrates and contextualizes crazy violence.
For another movie in which Owen saves a baby, try Children of Men. For more over-the-top, stylized action, check out Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Lord of War, or the granddaddy of outrageous rescue-missions, The Terminator.
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Sexual ContentRepeated female nakedness, particularly breasts (on both live women and dead ones). Frequent references to and images of prostitutes (brothel doorways show various sexual acts, including a woman's naked bottom, a "school girl" performance, and a dominatrix whipping her client). A woman performs oral sex on a client in an alley (viewers see where her head is positioned). An elaborate, comic sex scene has the woman moaning ecstatically as she and partner are shot at and assaulted (no explicit body parts are seen, but nudity is clear, as is the activity). Various colorful phrases (e.g., "nothing like a good hand job," "phallic mumbo jumbo," "you should see me spell my name in the snow"). |
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ViolenceMany, many guns. They're shot, thrown, exploded, bought, brandished, compared, cleaned, heated to burn someone, and arranged into grand traps. Lots of loud gunfire, shooting in motion (sliding, falling, leaping, flipping), car crashes, bloody bodies dropping, blood spurting and oozing, and lasting wounds, scars, and bruises with bloody bandages. At one point, carrots are used as weapons (jammed into eye sockets/through skulls). A man is tortured by having his fingers broken (very visibly) and threatened with a scalpel to the eye. Fights include kicks, hits, punches, falls, head-butts. First scene shows a mother giving bloody birth, after which she's shot dead. The baby is frequently in danger (thrown, shot at, hidden, used as jokey prop, left in traffic); at other times, Smith teaches him the parts and uses of a handgun. |
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LanguageSome clever use of language ("F-U-K-U" in spelled out in shot-out neon signage), plus a range of spoken/yelled vulgarity, including "f--k," "s--t," ""ass" (also with "hole"), "damn," "hell," "bitch," "p---y," and "rat bastard." |
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Social BehaviorThe hero is stoic and virtuous -- and a killing machine; the villain is snarly and underhanded; a politician is hypocritical. |
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CommercialismCars (BMW), mentions of NBC and the Discovery Channel. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoHertz takes a combination of vodka and Tylenol; reference to morphine. |
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