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"SHOOT 'EM UP"
(2007) (Clive Owen, Paul Giamatti) (R)

Alcohol/
Drugs
Blood/Gore Disrespectful/
Bad Attitude
Frightening/
Tense Scenes
Guns/
Weapons
Minor Extreme Extreme Moderate Extreme
Imitative
Behavior
Jump
Scenes
Music
(Scary/Tense)
Music
(Inappropriate)
Profanity
Heavy Minor Heavy *None Extreme
Sex/
Nudity
Smoking Tense Family
Scenes
Topics To
Talk About
Violence
Extreme Minor Moderate Moderate Extreme


QUICK TAKE:
Action: A miscellaneous but highly skilled man tries to prevent an assassin and his goons from killing a newborn that's important enough to warrant their presence and efforts.
PLOT:
Mr. Smith (CLIVE OWEN) is a seemingly ordinary guy minding his own business who witnesses a distraught pregnant woman run by, followed by a goon who seems intent on killing her and her unborn child. Unwilling to let that happen, Smith steps in and thwarts that man and a number of other goons, showing a surprising amount of proficiency with guns.

While he's able to deliver "Baby Oliver," he can't save the woman who takes a bullet to the head. Realizing he can't keep the baby that now needs to be fed, Smith visits Donna Quintano (MONICA BELLUCI), a hooker whose specialty is fulfilling lactation fantasies for men.

She doesn't want anything to do with Smith or the baby, especially when lead hitman Hertz (PAUL GIAMATTI) arrives on the scene, desirous of finishing the job so that he can get home to his wife. Yet, Smith thwarts him as well, and then he and Donna go on the run with the infant, trying to figure out what's going on and why someone would want to kill the baby.

That leads to the discovery of a "baby farm," bone marrow transplants and Senator Rutledge (DANIEL PILON). Yet, with Hertz assembling and then dispatching an even large array of armed goons, it's up to Smith and his highly honed survival skills to avoid them and make sure no harm comes to himself, Donna or the young life they're now protecting.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?
Male teens mostly likely will, particularly if they're fans of hard-hitting action movies and/or anyone in the cast.
WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: R
For pervasive strong bloody violence, sexuality, and some language.
CAST AS ROLE MODELS:
Considering what occurs in the film (deadly violence, prostitution, profanity, etc.) it's doubtful many, if any, parents would consider the major characters as good role models.
CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO

HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE


Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit?
Then read OUR TAKE of this film.


(Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below).


OUR WORD TO PARENTS:
Here's a quick look at the content found in this R-rated action flick. Profanity consists of at least 12 "f" words, while other expletives and colorful phrases are uttered. Sexually related dialogue is present, as is a sexual encounter that's intertwined with deadly violence (played in an exaggerated fashion with movement, some nudity, and related sounds). Other sexually related behavior is present involving prostitutes and includes intercourse, oral sex and more (including fetishes), with some related nudity, while a man fondles a dead woman's bare breasts.

Violence consists of many instances of people wounding or killing others (mostly by guns, but occasionally with large carrots), often with very bloody/gory results. Other physical contact is present, and while all of that is graphic, it's done in such an exaggerated and stylistic fashion that it nearly becomes cartoon-like.

Even so, all of those scenes and various moments of peril could be unsettling or suspenseful to some viewers, and all of that action, stunts, and gunplay might be enticing for some kids to imitate. All sorts of bad attitudes are present, as is some brief drinking and smoking, while some tense family material is present.

Should you still be concerned about the film's appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home, you may want to look more closely at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content.

For those concerned with bright flashes of light on the screen, there are full strobe-type effects in a hallway from malfunctioning lights.

For those prone to visually induced motion sickness, handheld camerawork (some of it rather shaky) occurs at various points in the film.


ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE
  • Hertz downs some pain pills with booze.
  • Various people drink in a club.
  • BLOOD/GORE
  • Smith comes to a woman's rescue, jamming a large carrot through a man's mouth and out the back of his head, killing him, with bloody results.
  • Smith shoots many assassins who arrive on the scene, doing various stunts in the middle of that (sliding on the floor while firing, etc.), and some of that violence has bloody results (spraying out from gunshot wounds, etc.). He does all of that while delivering a pregnant woman's baby, and shoots the umbilical cord to separate the mother from her newborn (also with bloody results on her, her clothing, and their surroundings, including a trail on the floor). Smith then hits the woman on the head with a gun to quiet her (knocking her out, followed by him carrying her), but a shot hits the woman in the head, killing her (with bloody results -- a hole and some down her face).
  • A woman has blood on the front of her clothing when Hertz shoots her.
  • We see Hertz's goons burying some bodies.
  • Smith and Hertz get into a gun standoff, with the former then using a severed hand to fire a fingerprint-enabled handgun at Hertz.
  • Various people who are shot have varying degrees of bloody wounds in another gun battle. During that, Smith lands hard on a dead body, with blood spurting out from its mouth upon impact.
  • Hertz pushes a dirty, makeshift diaper into the face of one of his goons.
  • We see various dead and bloody men and women on the floor of a lab (which is also bloody).
  • Smith jams a large carrot into a man's eye, with bloody results.
  • Smith ends up shooting and killing many goons as they interrupt him and Donna having sex (the sex continues during the shooting, some of which has bloody results).
  • Smith knocks a guy on the head, leaving red marks.
  • Many goons shoot at Smith, with him shooting at least one, and Hertz wipes the resultant blood on someone else.
  • Smith shoots at least two goons, and then uses various gun-based booby traps (tripwires, pulling remote strings, etc.) to shoot even more (wounding and killing the men, with varying amounts of resultant blood).
  • A gun battle results in a hole being in the butt section of a bikini-clad woman's bottom (on a poster).
  • Smith jokes, "You should see me spell my name in the snow" (a urination reference).
  • Smith shoots a man in the head, killing him, with bloody results.
  • Smith jumps from a plane, followed by various goons, with a gun battle breaking out during their freefall. Smith shoots some and uses one's body as a shield to block gunfire back at him. Some hand-to-hand fighting also occurs, culminating in one bad guy falling into a helicopter's spinning rotors. We see an arm come off (along with other blood) and then see that limb on the ground, along with the dead and twisted bodies of those killed in the air (that landed hard on the ground without parachutes).
  • Hertz holds a scalpel near Smith's eye, but Smith head-butts Hertz (thus impaling the scalpel into Smith's head, from which he then pulls it out). He then uses that scalpel to stab and slice others (all with bloody results).
  • Smith has some blood on his head following a battle with goons.
  • Smith uses his own spraying blood to blind a bad guy before shooting him dead.
  • A dog licks a dead man's bloody face.
  • When it looks like a man is going to kill Smith, he puts his hand in a fire, causing the bullets lodged between his broken fingers to fire, striking that other person (with bloody results, as well as one of Smith's fingers to be on fire). Smith then shoots the man through the mouth (we then see through the man's head from the hole in the back).
  • Some punks who Smith shoots are bloody to varying degrees (including a finger that's been shot off one's hand).
  • DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE
  • Hertz and all of his goons and associates (and those they work for) obviously have extreme cases of bad attitudes for their actions and goals, etc.
  • With the dead mother in the backseat of his car, Hertz looks at the woman's bare breasts, gropes one, and then seemingly climaxes. He then smells his hand after that (giving him a clue that the infant he wants dead will need to be breast-fed).
  • A miscellaneous driver cuts off others and drives like a jerk. That angers Smith who then catches up with that man and causes him to crash into a parked vehicle.
  • About the baby in his care, Smith says it's an "it" to him.
  • We learn that people have been creating and harvesting babies for a bone marrow transplant effort.
  • Some punks try to rob a restaurant.
  • FRIGHTENING SCENES
  • Scenes listed under "Violence" and/or "Blood/Gore" may be unsettling and/or suspenseful to some viewers (although everything is played over the top), particularly when the young baby is involved.
  • Smith leaves the infant on a park's self-propelled, park-based Merry-Go-Round, thinking someone will find it there. A miscellaneous woman spots and approaches the infant, but Hertz shoots and kills her from a distance (with a sniper rifle). Hertz then prepares to shoot the baby, but Smith rushes toward it, firing his gun to hit the Merry-Go-Round's railing, thus making it spin around and prevent Hertz from getting a clean shot. He then snags the baby off it.
  • During a car chase and gun battle, Smith realizes the baby has fallen out of the car and is now in the middle of the road. He drives back to scoop it up, but misses, with Hertz's vehicle then driving over it. But he and we then realize that Smith substituted a fake baby for the real thing.
  • Smith jumps from a plane, followed by various goons, with a gun battle breaking out during their freefall. Smith shoots some and uses one's body as a shield to block gunfire back at him. Some hand-to-hand fighting also occurs, culminating in one bad guy falling into a helicopter's spinning rotors. We see an arm come off (along with other blood) and then see that limb on the ground, along with the dead and twisted bodies of those killed in the air (that landed hard on the ground without parachutes).
  • Hertz holds his gun on Smith. We then see him preparing to torture Smith to find the infant's whereabouts, but Smith won't disclose that. Accordingly, Hertz breaks one of Smith's fingers, and then more (causing him a great deal of pain). Hertz then holds a scalpel near Smith's eye, but Smith head-butts Hertz (thus impaling the scalpel into Smith's head, from which he then pulls it out). He then uses that scalpel to stab and slice others (all with bloody results).
  • GUNS/WEAPONS
  • Handguns/Shotguns/Machine guns/Switchblade/Scalpel: Carried and/or used to threaten, wound, or kill others, and/or cause property damage. See "Violence" for details.
  • Donna and the baby briefly hide inside a museum's military tank.
  • IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR
  • Phrases: "F*cking hell," "What the f*ck?" "F*ck you, you f*cking f*ckers," "F*ck me sideways," "I f*cking hate that," "This is pretty f*cked up," "F*cking great," "F*ck you too," "You're sh*t out of luck," "Nice knockers" (breasts), "You've blown your load," "Nothing like a good hand job," "The leader who stays in the rear, takes it in the rear," "Talk about shooting your load," "Phallic mumbo jumbo," "I'm a tough guy with a p*ssy in my hand," "T*ts up from the get-go," "You know what I really hate...is a p*ssy with a gun in his hand," "You're dead, bitch," "What the hell /you looking at/are you doing/do you think you're doing/is that?" "Eat your vegetables" (said after jamming a carrot into someone's mouth, killing that person), "Jack-holes," "What a piece of crap," "No tit for tat," "My ass," "You know why a gun is better than a wife? You can put a silencer on a gun," "Screw yourself," "A real jerk," "How the hell would I know his real name?" "What's up doc?" "Damn you," "Saving your sweet backdoor," "So G*ddman long," "Rich bastards," "Let's kill this mother," "Do we really suck, or is this guy really that good?" "That rat bastard," "Go to hell," "Cajones," "Eggs have no business dancing with stones," "You're whacked," "Pissed," "Hard ass," "You got diddly," "You should see me spell my name in the snow," "G*ddman Smith," "Silver spoon up his ass," "That sick son of a bitch," "Guns don't kill people, but they sure help," "Nothing could be more painful than listening to you jabbering on and on," "Don't even pucker your butt-hole" and "Shut up and sit on this" (said about a raised middle finger).
  • All of the fighting, gunplay, and other stunts might be enticing for some kids to try to imitate.
  • We see miscellaneous graffiti.
  • Smith tells a joke about the difference between a luxury car and a porcupine, saying that with the former, "the pr*cks are on the inside."
  • Smith buys ammo with food stamps.
  • Various people have tattoos and piercings in a club.
  • Smith gives "the finger" to Hertz.
  • Some punks have tattoos.
  • JUMP SCENES
  • Some of the sudden gunfire might startle some viewers.
  • MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE)
  • A heavy amount of action-oriented and some suspenseful/ominous music plays in the film.
  • MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE)
  • None that we heard, but some songs had lyrics that we couldn't fully hear and/or understand, thus presenting the possibility of them potentially containing objectionable material.
  • PROFANITY
  • At least 12 "f" words, 3 "s" words, 4 slang terms using female genitals ("p*ssy"), 1 using male ones ("pr*cks"), 3 for breasts ("t*t" and "knockers," while others are used as double entendres in the phrase "tit for tat"), 8 hells, 5 asses (1 used with "hole"), 5 S.O.B.s, 2 damns, 1 crap, 6 uses of "G-damn," 2 of "My God" and 1 use each of "By God" and "Oh my God."
  • SEX/NUDITY
  • We twice see a brand new mother's bare breasts as she breast-feeds, and Hertz comments, "Nice knockers."
  • Smith seemingly goes to see a nun about the baby, but she turns out to be a hooker in a nun's outfit (on the front, but the rear is open, showing her in a thong bottom). As they walk through this brothel, we see various hookers in various outfits (including S&M type ones), as well as sexual activity (including a woman having sex on a top of a man, with movement and nudity), all in passing. We then see a man in just a diaper, role-playing as an infant while breast-feeding from Donna (a lactating hooker). When Smith makes his presence known, the man in the diaper leaves, and Donna says there's plenty for everyone, but Smith half-jokes that he's lactose intolerant. He then says he has a duty for her that will keep her off her back (caring for the infant, but when he shows her that child, she initially thinks he has something kinky in mind).
  • With the dead mother in the backseat of his car, Hertz looks at the woman's bare breasts, gropes one, and then seemingly climaxes. He then smells his hand after that (giving him a clue that the infant he wants dead will need to be breast-fed).
  • Donna shows cleavage (often a lot) throughout the film.
  • Trying to get Donna to tell him about Smith, Hertz fires warning shots and then places his gun's hot muzzle to her leg, and then to the inside of her thigh (we don't see anything explicit from our side view).
  • Following a violent, nonsexual encounter with Hertz, Smith quips, "You've blown your load" and "Nothing like a good hand job" (after using a severed hand to fire a fingerprint-enabled handgun).
  • About something nonsexual, Donna tells Smith he's the angriest man in the world. He then replies that she used to like that.
  • With Smith buying guns, etc., a pawnbroker/gun dealer asks about Smith's check from the sperm bank, with Smith saying he doesn't have it yet.
  • We see the motion of Donna performing oral sex on a man behind a dumpster (to raise money for her and Smith). Smith isn't happy with that, closes the dumpster lid on that man (who then walks away), and Donna stands up, wiping her mouth.
  • Hertz states that the leader who stays in the rear, takes it in the rear.
  • We see the infant's penis.
  • We see a bikini-clad woman on a birthday card.
  • Donna grabs a heavily tattooed and pierced guy by his crotch, and yanks out one stud, presumably from his penis (we don't see the actual contact, or any genitalia).
  • Finding a baby factory of sorts, Smith half-jokes that he thought donor sperm was Donna's department. He then realizes that there was only one donor, adding that he was "a generous one at that."
  • Donna asks Smith if he's hungry as she suggestively puts her finger into her mouth, and then into Smith's. The two then passionately kiss and start undressing, including her bra coming off (seen from behind her), and him removing her panties down her legs. They then have sex, with her on top and there are related sounds, movement, and a view of the side of her bare breasts pressed up against him (no nipple). Gunmen then rush in, and the couple rolls off the bed while still in their sexual embrace (and as Smith shoots the intruders). The couple then ends up standing against the wall, still having sex (we see movement and his bare butt, while we continue to hear her sexual sounds), as he continues shooting the bad guys. During that, the double entendre "Talk about shooting your load" is delivered.
  • A comment is made about phallic mumbo jumbo, such as cocking your gun.
  • Hertz tells his boss that he's "a tough guy with a p*ssy in my hand."
  • A gun battle results in a hole being in the butt section of a bikini-clad woman's bottom (on a poster).
  • Meeting the Senator on his plane, Smith half-jokingly states that's where the Senator gets to "do" all of the hookers.
  • Smith and Donna passionately kiss.
  • SMOKING
  • A miscellaneous character smokes.
  • TENSE FAMILY SCENES
  • An infant is orphaned.
  • Donna cries over her own child, who we then learn was stillborn sometime in the past.
  • Hertz talks of Smith's wife and child being murdered in the past, but we don't know if that's true or just conjecture.
  • TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT
  • How the violence is played out in a cartoon-like fashion.
  • Prostitution and sexual fetishes.
  • Bone marrow transplants.
  • The comment never to trust the people who stand to profit from something.
  • VIOLENCE
  • A car crashes his car into another while pursuing a pregnant woman on foot. He then gets out, is rude to Smith, and follows her into an alley where she tries to shoot him, and he then pulls a knife he plans to use on her. Smith then comes to her rescue, jamming a large carrot through that man's mouth and out the back of his head, killing him, with bloody results.
  • Smith shoots many assassins who arrive on the scene, doing various stunts in the middle of that (sliding on the floor while firing, etc.), and some of that violence has bloody results (spraying out from gunshot wounds, etc.). He does all of that while delivering a pregnant woman's baby, and shoots the umbilical cord to separate the mother from her newborn (also with bloody results on her, her clothing, and their surroundings, including a trail on the floor). Smith then hits the woman on the head with a gun to quiet her (knocking her out, followed by him carrying her), but a shot hits the woman in the head, killing her (with bloody results -- a hole and some down her face). Using his own wounded man for cover, Hertz shoots the man dead so that he can steady his own shot balanced on that man's body.
  • Smith throws something that hits one goon, and that's followed by another gun battle on a rooftop where, among other things, letters in a neon sign are hit. During that, Smith runs and jumps from one building to another, through the closed window, breaking it.
  • Hertz kicks his own wounded man on the clothed butt, and then shoots him there, all from being disappointed that he failed him.
  • Knowing someone's coming to kill the baby he's carrying, Smith holes up in a bathroom, but accidentally drops his gun into the toilet. He then hurries to disassemble and dry it, all as we see the man getting closer. That man then enters and fires a shot at Smith, with the lights then going out. That's followed by struggling with the gun firing again, the man holding a switchblade toward Smith's neck, and Smith then holding that man's hand near a hand-dryer, with the heat burning his hand. Smith then shoots the man or just near him and then escapes.
  • Smith leaves the infant on a park's self-propelled, park-based Merry-Go-Round, thinking someone will find it there. A miscellaneous woman spots and approaches the infant, but Hertz shoots and kills her from a distance (with a sniper rifle). Hertz then prepares to shoot the baby, but Smith rushes toward it, firing his gun to hit the Merry-Go-Round's railing, thus making it spin around and prevent Hertz from getting a clean shot. He then snags the baby off it.
  • Hertz confronts Donna, and she slaps a cup of coffee from his hand, with the hot contents landing on his clothed crotch.
  • Trying to get Donna to tell him about Smith, Hertz fires warning shots and then places his gun's hot muzzle to her leg, and then to the inside of her thigh (we don't see anything explicit from our side view).
  • Smith and Hertz get into a gun standoff, with the former then using a severed hand to fire a fingerprint-enabled handgun at Hertz, hitting and downing him (we later see he's wearing a bulletproof vest).
  • A miscellaneous driver cuts off others and drives like a jerk. That angers Smith who then catches up with that man and causes him to crash into a parked vehicle.
  • We see the motion of Donna performing oral sex on a man behind a dumpster (to raise money for her and Smith). Smith isn't happy with that, closes the dumpster lid on that man (who then walks away), and Donna stands up, wiping her mouth.
  • We see wrestling violence on TV, followed by two lions taking down another animal on some nature show.
  • Hertz's goons try to kill Smith (with various weapons), but he shoots many of them dead (with various weapons), and even knocks one out by shooting the back of a filing cabinet drawer, causing the front end to pop out and hit the guy on the head. Smith then goes down the inside of an open stairwell on a rope, shooting even more dead with a machine gun. Hertz then shoots the rope, sending Smith falling the rest of the way toward the floor, but he lands on a body down there and is okay.
  • Donna grabs a heavily tattooed and pierced guy by his crotch, and yanks out one stud, presumably from his penis (we don't see the actual contact, or any genitalia).
  • We see various dead and bloody men and women on the floor of a lab.
  • Smith jams a large carrot into a man's eye, with bloody results.
  • Smith ends up shooting and killing many goons as they interrupt him and Donna having sex (the sex continues during the shooting, some of which has bloody results).
  • Upset at seeing a mother spanking her child hard in public, and needing a distraction for Donna, Smith grabs and spanks that mother hard. When a stranger tries to intervene, Smith punches that man in the face.
  • Smith knocks a guy on the head, leaving red marks.
  • Many goons shoot at Smith, with him shooting at least one, and Hertz wipes the resultant blood on someone else.
  • Smith shoots at least two goons, and then uses various gun-based booby traps (tripwires, pulling remote strings, etc.) to shoot even more (wounding and killing the men, with varying amounts of resultant blood).
  • Men in a large vehicle chase Smith who's on foot. He then jumps off a bridge, shooting a car's sunroof below him, and then drops into the car through that opening. A car chase then follows with machine guns fired at Smith. He then opens his car door to hit one shooter, and then fires his machine gun at the others. He then removes his seatbelt, purposefully smashes into the vehicle and ends up flying out of his car, and into the other vehicle where he shoots everyone there dead.
  • During a car chase and gun battle, Smith realizes the baby has fallen out of the car and is now in the middle of the road. He drives back to scoop it up, but misses, with Hertz's vehicle then driving over it. But he and we then realize that Smith substituted a fake baby for the real thing.
  • Smith holds his gun on a corrupt politician, with others then holding their guns on him (on a plane). Smith then takes the politician down into the below-deck hold where he shoots him dead (in the head, with bloody results).
  • Smith jumps from a plane, followed by various goons, with a gun battle breaking out during their freefall. Smith shoots some and uses one's body as a shield to block gunfire back at him. Some hand-to-hand fighting also occurs, culminating in one bad guy falling into a helicopter's spinning rotors. We see an arm come off (along with other blood) and then see that limb on the ground, along with the dead and twisted bodies of those killed in the air (that landed hard on the ground without parachutes).
  • Hertz holds his gun on Smith. We then see him preparing to torture Smith to find the infant's whereabouts, but Smith won't disclose that. Accordingly, Hertz breaks one of Smith's fingers, and then more (causing him a great deal of pain). Hertz then holds a scalpel near Smith's eye, but Smith head-butts Hertz (thus impaling the scalpel into Smith's head, from which he then pulls it out). He then uses that scalpel to stab and slice others (all with bloody results).
  • Smith uses his own spraying blood to blind a bad guy before shooting him dead.
  • Smith tries to shoot Hertz, but his broken fingers prevent any sort of good shot.
  • When it looks like a man is going to kill Smith, he puts his hand in a fire, causing the bullets lodged between his broken fingers to fire, striking that other person (with bloody results, as well as one of Smith's fingers to be on fire). Smith then shoots the man through the mouth (we then see through the man's head from the hole in the back).
  • Some punks try to rob a restaurant, but Smith is there, kicks a gun from one's hand, and uses his carrot to catch that. He then shoots many of them, including blowing off one's finger, shooting one in the knee, and causing another to shoot another robber.



  • Reviewed August 23, 2007 / Posted September 7, 2007

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