It was cartoonish, but I couldn't identify with any of the characters and it just seemed really mean-spirited and sadistic, and this is from someone who likes Bad Boys 2 (which was a film accused of mean-spiritedness).

Would of seen this tonight but had other things going on. I've been ready to check this out ever since I saw the trailer. I'll be seeing this and 3:10 to Yuma tomorrow.

How was Monica Bellucci in this movie?

I think that's a very good comparison with Smokin' Aces, and since I thought that was great, this was even better.

I see your point about needing to be grounded in something, but Smoke 'Em Up went sooooooooo far past the line of expectations and ridiculousness that I lost all intellectual interest and was like a kid waiting for the next firefight. And admittedly, you never had to wait more than 45 seconds at most.

:up: That's exactly my reaction. Although I was thinking old school Tom & Jerry on crack or Itchy and Scratchy on meth. I was laughing my ass off and this fucking codger was sitting two seats down from all affronted at the baby imperiling and mean spiritedness (was that you The Bus :p). I thought he was going to alert Amnesty International. There are movies that are great to go into knowing nothing about what to expect, but this ain't one of 'em. I wish I hadn't picked my dream seat and had sat further back with the rowdy fan boys who were also having a blast. I felt myself obliged to stifle my laughter because I didn't want the codger to call the management on me (I was sneaking booze) and that annoyed me.

A funny (to me) aside:
I was wearing my glow in the dark Iron Man shirt and when I got up to leave (bathroom needed STAT) one of the rowdy fans said, "He's got an Iron Man shirt!" and his buddy was all, "Shut up, dude." in that tone like "Keep it down or the mafia will get us." It gave the :confused: at first and then the :lol:

If you liked Dead Alive or Crank definitely go see this movie on the big screen.

Multiple time I'm sure. :)

One of my many favorite jokes:

A wonderful actress, but this is not the film for her. She swallows too much of her dislogue because of her accent. The role needed someone who could spit out the rat-tat-tat stuff more fluidly.

Of course, it's a dogshit, obvious, unfunny film, but better casting always helps.

A better comparision is Crank, not Smokin' Aces. Crank and Shoot Em Up are almost the same movie. Aces had a plot and 150% less winking toward the audience.

Spot on :up: We definitely saw the same film, but enjoy different things at times.

Smokin' Aces didn't have plot, it describe plots of other, potentially better movies without actually having one of its own.

This film played so over-the-top that you had to at least appreciate the attempt to make a live-action R-rated cartoonish film with so much gunplay and black potty humor sprinkled throughout. Both Clive Owen and Paul Giamatti are up to the task of spitting their lines, with Clive getting more of the one-liners (some are flat-out groaners), and Paul just has a blast chewing up as much scenery in most of his scenes. Monica Belluci is sort of wasted in the role, but she does contribute to a nutty tryst/gunfight scene that just makes you smile just for the attempt at such a scene.

The action is fast and hard and uncompromising, while the plot is a bit on the ludicrous side while providing enough of a framework to put in many of the fun action sequences and raise the action genre to another level of hyper-surrealism.

Check your brain at the door, and prepare to have some good laughs at the expense of some deadly action with this film.

I give it 2.75 stars, or a grade of B-.

Just saw it. Had a couple of LOL moments for me but thats about it. Looked cool in places not a 100%. I probably wouldnt have seen it if my friend hadn't wanted to watch it.

Liked the action scenes, but the plot and other things bugged the shit out of me... Overall, I wouldn't be able to recommend it to someone, but the action scenes should play great on video. One weird thing was that I KNOW the girl who was the 'pregnant woman' in the movie and didn't know she was in the flick until I saw it...weird seeing someone I know get their corpse felt up by Paul Giamatti!

I thought in theory the sky diving shootout sounded like a good idea, but the way it was filmed and with the bad f/x it didn't fit in with the film (especially the colour pallet of that scene). And little touches like the shit on the newspaper, the baby bottles of milk etc. just kind of pissed me off.

I think she's above this film.

I usually like Bellucci but thought she wasn't great in this (although that's partly the material she was given) and the movie takes a real nose dive when her character comes into it, but again, that's a script issue. I really didn't like her in this one.

Crank was much better. this had only a few great scenes and the rest mediocre.

This had to be one of the worst movies I've ever seen. I usually love over the top action flicks and anything with Giamatti or Owen.

Horrid.

= J

I liked it a lot, and found it hilarious. It's satire, people - things like Owen's one-liners are not supposed to "work" in the traditional sense, they're supposed to be as groan-inducing as possible.

If it's working and being entertaining, I don't think people will be groaning, I think they'll be laughing with the movie.

"House of the Dead" is groan inducing.

I was groaning and wincing for the first 10 minutes or so... after that something in my brain snapped and I wound up enjoying the movie for what it was.

A film with no top. It was completely stupid and ridiculous, and for some inexplicable reason... it worked. And you have to almost admire the fact they just went balls out with it.

Saw this over the weekend.

I really enjoyed it. The action scenes were really fun and creative. The entire audience was laughing and cheering throughout the entire film.

EAT YOUR VEGETABLES.

This is the movie Bad Boys II should've been. Very black (and dry) humor, no conscious, overly mean-spirited, and just balls-to-the-fucking-wall action.

Easily one of the more entertaining b-movies of the past few years. :thumbsup:

I just got back from the theater. I had a similar experience to many of the earlier posters. I went in expecting Crank and I wasn't disappointed. The damned thing about this movie is that it is so consciously and deliberately bad, you really have to get into the spirit of the thing. I found myself smiling and laughing throughout, but constantly thinking to myself this is the dumbest thing I've seen in ages. In the end, though, I thought it worked -- this was crap in a bow sold by talented salesman. Owen and Giamatti dove into their roles whole hog and never gave the audience reason to think that anyone wasn't having fun. Except maybe Monica Bellucci, who really wasn't given anything to do except squeeze her breasts together.

Shoot 'Em Up is just tasty terrible-goodness. Most people, I think, would be more than happy to settle for a rental so they can get a little tipsy on the couch. I saw it in a small theather with like five people and that worked because me and this other guy kept entertaining each other because we were the only ones laughing. IMO the best way to see this movie is in a packed theater or with a case and a rowdy group of friends.

I was interested in seeing this, mainly because of the actors; the comparisons to Crank, though, have made me much more hesitant.

That movie sucked.

The Crank and Smokin' Aces comparisons were the first things I thought of when I left the theater. Both were movies I enjoyed the hell out of while I was watching them, but an hour afterward couldn't care less about. No real substance in any of these... they are basically just wall-to-wall eye candy and action.

I might have to say I'd rate Shoot 'em Up about on level with Crank, and higher than Aces which I thought tried to do a bit too much.

Second

But I saw Shoot 'Em Up, and liked it.

This movie was freakin' awesome. I have to say it was way, way better than Smokin' Aces. It was just like watching a video game.

Dark humor, great shootouts, both Giamatti and Owen looked like they were having a blast. It reminded me of John Woo's old action flicks.

Will be picking up the High Def release on day one.