Shoot 'Em Up

Well, it’s certainly well titled! It’s all about a chap called “Smith” (Clive Owen) who just happens to be sitting on a bench in the wrong place at the wrong time. Before he knows it he’s having to rescue a pregnant woman from some would-be assassins, and then before he knows that he’s delivering the baby. Now the question is - why would these thugs be remotely interested in a pregnant woman? Well it seems that “Donna” (Monica Bellucci) is unable or unwilling to enlighten him much, and as the two of them try to get the baby to safety, they discover that their pursuers are not going to give up lightly. No, there’s not exactly a lot of jeopardy here but what we see is actually quite good fun as the scene-stealing Paul Giamatti adopts a whole new style of performance as his “Hertz” rents out hitmen rather than saloon cars and turns out to be at the centre of some corruption at the highest levels of the American government that involves the Senate and some armament peddlers. Again, what’s the baby got to do with it? Well that’s what “Smith” has to try and find out and it’s going to be a dangerous process. There are plenty of pyrotechnics, car chases and shoot ‘em ups and the pace of the film never really lets up - but the plot is really weak and Owen has all the screen presence of some wet celery as the thread quickly descends into a series of predictably derivative frying pan/fire scenarios. I did rather enjoy the last five minutes, though, but it could have been so much better had auteur Michael Davis cast a lead with charisma.