Shoot 'Em Up (film)
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''Shoot 'Em Up'' is a 2007 American
action film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...
written and directed by Michael Davis and produced by Montford/Murphy. It stars
Clive Owen Clive Owen (born 3 October 1964) is an English actor. He first gained recognition in the United Kingdom for playing the lead role in the ITV series '' Chancer'' from 1990 to 1991. He received critical acclaim for his work in the film '' Close ...
,
Paul Giamatti Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti ( ; born June6, 1967) is an American actor. His accolades include a Primetime Emmy Award and three Golden Globes, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards and a British Academy Film Award. After studying a ...
,
Monica Bellucci Monica Anna Maria Bellucci (; born 30 September 1964) is an Italian actress and model who began her career as a fashion model before working in Italian, American, and French films. She has an eclectic filmography in a range of genres and langua ...
and
Stephen McHattie Stephen McHattie Smith (born February 3, 1947) is a Canadian actor. Since beginning his professional career in 1970, he has amassed over 200 film and television credits. He won the Genie Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in '' ...
. In the film, Smith (Owen), a drifter and former black-ops soldier, rescues a newborn from being killed by assassin Hertz (Giamatti) and his henchmen. Smith enlists the help of prostitute Donna Quintano (Bellucci) to keep the baby safe as he unravels the conspiracy. According to Davis, the film's idea came after he saw a gun-battle scene from ''
Hard Boiled ''Hard Boiled'' ()Elder, 2005, pg. xxviii is a 1992 Hong Kong action thriller film directed by John Woo from a screenplay by Gordon Chan and Barry Wong based on a story written by Woo. The film stars Chow Yun-fat, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, an ...
'' in which
Chow Yun-fat Chow Yun-fat (born 18 May 1955), previously known as Donald Chow, is a Hong Kong actor and filmmaker. Known for his versatility, encompassing action to melodrama and comedy and historical drama, his accolades include three Hong Kong Film Awar ...
rescues newborn babies from gangsters. Desiring to make an
action film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...
centering on guns, Davis expanded the idea into a script in 2000, accompanied by an animated footage with 17,000 drawings for the action scenes. After a deal with
New Line Cinema New Line Productions, Inc., Trade name, doing business as New Line Cinema, is an American film production, film and television production company that is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, a division of the Major film studios, ...
, filming began in
Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
. The music was composed by
Paul Haslinger Paul Haslinger (born 11 December 1962) is an Austrian musician and composer. He lives and works in Los Angeles, California. Life and career Early life Haslinger was born and raised in Linz, Austria. He attended high school at Kollegium Aloisi ...
, while cinematography and editing were handled by Peter Pau and Peter Amundson respectively. ''Shoot 'Em Up'', before its September 2007 release, was previewed at that year's
San Diego Comic-Con San Diego Comic-Con is a comic book convention and multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California, at the San Diego Convention Center. Founded in 1970, originally showcasing primarily comic books and science fiction/fant ...
and received a positive response. Despite a mediocre commercial performance (recouping less than its budget), critical reception was mixed-to-favorable.


Plot

In a rough part of town, Smith, a
carrot The carrot ('' Daucus carota'' subsp. ''sativus'') is a root vegetable, typically orange in colour, though heirloom variants including purple, black, red, white, and yellow cultivars exist, all of which are domesticated forms of the wild ...
-eating drifter and ex- black-ops soldier, sees a pregnant woman fleeing a
hitman Contract killing (also known as murder-for-hire) is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or people. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of compensation, moneta ...
. Smith kills the hitman by stabbing his head with a carrot and retrieves the woman's pistol. Few more thugs arrive, led by the ruthless Hertz. The woman goes into labor and Smith delivers her baby boy during a shootout, but the woman is shot dead. Smith narrowly escapes with the newborn, where he abandons the baby in a park, hoping someone will adopt the baby, but a passing woman is killed with a shot from Hertz's
sniper rifle A sniper rifle is a high-precision, long range shooting, long-range rifle. Requirements include high accuracy, reliability, mobility, concealment, and optics, for anti-personnel weapon, anti-personnel, anti-materiel rifle, anti-materiel and sur ...
. Realizing that Hertz is trying to kill the baby, Smith tries to leave him with a
prostitute Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-pe ...
named Donna Quintano. Hertz arrives at the brothel and tortures Donna for information. Smith returns and kills Hertz's henchmen. After a brief confrontation, Smith shoots Hertz and leaves with Donna and the baby. Hertz survives due to
bulletproof vest A bulletproof vest, also known as a ballistic vest or bullet-resistant vest, is a type of body armor designed to absorb impact and prevent the penetration of firearm projectiles and explosion fragments to the torso. The vest can be either soft ...
. Taking Donna to his hideout, Smith realizes that the baby (whom Smith names Oliver) stops crying when he hears
heavy metal music Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a Music genre, genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock, heavy metal band ...
. Smith concludes that Oliver's mother lived near a heavy metal club. Pursued by Hertz, Smith shoots his way out of the hideout, where he and Donna head to a nearby club. Above the club they discover an apartment with medical equipment and two pregnant women dead. Smith concludes that the women were all impregnated with a man's sperm to give birth to matching
bone marrow Bone marrow is a semi-solid biological tissue, tissue found within the Spongy bone, spongy (also known as cancellous) portions of bones. In birds and mammals, bone marrow is the primary site of new blood cell production (or haematopoiesis). It i ...
donors. A squad of gunmen attack, where Smith shoots all of them without stopping intercourse with Donna. Smith notices that the gunmen had Hammerson guns, which is unavailable to the public. Smith brings Donna and Oliver to a war museum and hides them in a
M24 Chaffee The M24 Chaffee (officially light tank M24) was an American light tank used during the later part of World War II; it was also used in post–World War II conflicts including the Korean War, and by the French in the Algerian War, War in Algeri ...
tank for safekeeping. Smith infiltrates the Hammerson factory and hears Hertz and Hammerson saying they do not want the next president to repeal the right to bear arms. Smith also notices that Hammerson owns a
German Shepherd dog The German Shepherd, also known in Britain as an Alsatian, is a German breed of working dog of medium to large size. The breed was developed by Max von Stephanitz using various traditional German herding dogs from 1899. It was originally b ...
Duchess. Smith booby-traps the facility with firearms, allowing him to kill the thugs and escape. During a shootout, Hertz reveals that he learnt that Smith's profession and also learnt about how his wife and kid were killed in a shootout at a burger joint. Smith sees an article about Senator Rutledge, a Democratic presidential candidate who favors stricter gun laws. Smith deduces that Rutledge has cancer and requires a bone marrow transplant. Due to this, Rutledge impregnated the woman with his sperm (and why Hertz and Hammerson wanted Oliver dead). If the infants die, the senator will not receive a transplant and will be unable to run for president. Smith tells Donna to leave town and contacts one of Rutledge's henchmen to request an appointment. Meeting on an airplane, the senator confirms Smith's suspicions and Smith notices dog hair on Rutledge's trousers. Deducing that the hair belongs to Duchess and that the senator made a deal with Hammerson, Smith takes Rutledge hostage. Hertz appears and reveals that he agreed to help Rutledge find a bone-marrow donor, on the condition that Rutledge protects Hertz's constitutional right to bear arms when elected president. Smith kills the senator and explains that the senator's assassination "will cause public outrage and trigger immense support" for his
gun control Gun control, or firearms regulation, is the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms and ammunition by civilians. Most countries allow civilians to own firearms, bu ...
proposals. Smith parachutes from the airplane and kills several pursuing henchmen, but is himself shot and collapses after he lands. Smith awakens in Hammerson's mansion; Hertz tortures him, breaking his fingers in an attempt to learn where Smith sent Donna and Oliver. As Hertz prepares to cut Smith's eyes, Smith breaks free and kills Hammerson and several thugs. Struggling to use his gun, Smith places live bullets between his broken fingers and detonates them with a fireplace, critically wounding Hertz. Smith and Hertz struggle with pistols, but Smith finally kills Hertz. Smith travels with Duchess to an
ice cream Ice cream is a frozen dessert typically made from milk or cream that has been flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as Chocolate, cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit, such as strawberries or peaches. Food ...
parlor, where Donna works as a waitress while watching Oliver. Surprised to see each other alive, Smith and Donna kiss passionately. When amateur armed robbers enter the parlor and despite his hands being bandaged, Smith shoots them by using a carrot to pull the trigger.


Cast

The protagonist, known only as Smith, is an homage to the
Man with No Name The Man with No Name () is the antihero character portrayed by Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone's "''Dollars Trilogy''" of Italian Spaghetti Western films: '' A Fistful of Dollars'' (1964), '' For a Few Dollars More'' (1965), and '' The Good, t ...
of
Sergio Leone Sergio Leone ( ; ; 3 January 1929 – 30 April 1989) was an Italian filmmaker, credited as the pioneer of the spaghetti Western genre. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest directors in the history of cinema. Leone's film-making style ...
's
Spaghetti Western The spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's filmmaking style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most o ...
s. Smith's misanthropy derived from writer-director Michael Davis' frustration when his 1989 script about
Alfred Kinsey Alfred Charles Kinsey (; June 23, 1894 – August 25, 1956) was an American sexologist, biologist, and professor of entomology and zoology who, in 1947, founded the Institute for Sex Research at Indiana University, now known as the Kinsey Insti ...
failed to materialize as a feature film. His research about Kinsey and human sexuality in general inspired the character of Donna Quintano, a gold-hearted prostitute and Smith's eventual love interest. Hertz, a former
FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
profiler who lives a double life as an assassin and a family patriarch, pursues Smith. According to co-producer Susan Montford, the antagonist was modeled after the BTK Killer. Hertz's feud with Smith has been compared to that of
Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny is a cartoon character created in the late 1930s at Warner Bros. Cartoons (originally Leon Schlesinger, Leon Schlesinger Productions) and Voice acting, voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his featured roles in the ' ...
and
Elmer Fudd Elmer J. Fudd is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes''/''Merrie Melodies'' series and the archenemy of Bugs Bunny. Elmer Fudd's aim is to hunt Bugs, but he usually ends up seriously injuring himself and other antag ...
in ''
Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American media franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The franchise began as a series of animated short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside its spin-off series ''Merrie Melodies'', during t ...
'' because Smith (like Bugs) spends considerable time eating carrots in the film. Davis acknowledged that the ''Looney Tunes'' reference was deliberate.


Production

Davis had wanted to make an
action film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...
which focused on guns and was devoid of explosions. He conceived the film after seeing a scene from
John Woo John Woo Yu-sen ( zh, t= ; born 22 September 1946) is a Hongkongers, Hong Kong film director known as a highly influential figure in the action film genre. The recipient of various accolades, including a Hong Kong Film Awards, Hong Kong Film Award ...
's film ''
Hard Boiled ''Hard Boiled'' ()Elder, 2005, pg. xxviii is a 1992 Hong Kong action thriller film directed by John Woo from a screenplay by Gordon Chan and Barry Wong based on a story written by Woo. The film stars Chow Yun-fat, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, an ...
'' (1992), in which
Chow Yun-fat Chow Yun-fat (born 18 May 1955), previously known as Donald Chow, is a Hong Kong actor and filmmaker. Known for his versatility, encompassing action to melodrama and comedy and historical drama, his accolades include three Hong Kong Film Awar ...
rescues newborn babies from gangsters while engaged in a gunfight. Davis felt that the scene could be expanded into a feature film, a "gun-like" version of ''
Run Lola Run ''Run Lola Run'' (, ) is a 1998 German experimental thriller film written and directed by Tom Tykwer. The story follows a woman named Lola ( Franka Potente) who needs to obtain 100,000 Deutsche Mark in twenty minutes to save the life of her boy ...
'' (1998). By 2000, Davis had begun writing the screenplay; when the script was finished, however, studios refused to get it made after the
Columbine High School massacre A school shooting and attempted bombing occurred on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado, United States. The perpetrators, twelfth-grade students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, murdered 13 students and one teach ...
happened, causing him to shelve the project and return to making low-budget
independent film An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is film production, produced outside the Major film studios, major film studio system in addition to being produced and distributed by independ ...
s. During his subsequent years as an independent filmmaker, Davis started putting together an
animatic A storyboard is a graphic organizer that consists of simple illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. The storyboarding proces ...
of the script's action scenes using a
Wacom is a Japanese company headquartered in Kazo, Saitama, Japan, that specializes in manufacturing graphics tablets and related products. As of 2012 Wacom generated sales of approximately 40.7 billion yen with 785 employees. The company's shares ...
tablet and the
iMovie iMovie is a free video editing software, video editing application made by Apple Inc., Apple for the Mac (computer), Mac, the iPhone, and the iPad. It includes a range of video effects and tools like color correction and image stabilization, b ...
app. The animatic, which he made originally as a hobby, became his pitch animation in finding a producer for the project. He sent the script to
Don Murphy Don Murphy (born April 1970) is an American film producer who produced ''Natural Born Killers'', ''Real Steel'', '' Splice'' and many other films, including ''Transformers'' and '' Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'' and the upcoming re-ima ...
, a producer he went to film school with at the
USC School of Cinematic Arts The USC School of Cinematic Arts is an academic unit of the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles. With a history that dates to the first years of Sound film, talkies, the school descends from America's first ...
, and Murphy as well as co-producers Susan Montford and Rick Benattar enjoyed it. Murphy, Montford and Benattar also saw the film's potential as a big-budget production, so they sent the animatic to major film studio
New Line Cinema New Line Productions, Inc., Trade name, doing business as New Line Cinema, is an American film production, film and television production company that is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, a division of the Major film studios, ...
. New Line executives
Jeff Katz Jeff Katz is an American film producer and comic book author, best known for genre movies such as ''The Pope's Exorcist'', '' Snakes On A Plane'' and ''Freddy vs. Jason''. Early life Katz is from Franklin, Michigan. He started a pen-pal relat ...
and
Cale Boyter Cale Boyter (born June 28, 1972) is an American film producer. He was nominated for two Academy Awards in the category Best Picture for the films ''Dune'' and '' Dune: Part Two''. Selected filmography * '' Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met L ...
liked it and they passed it on to
Toby Emmerich Toby Emmerich (born February 8, 1963), is an American producer, film executive, and screenwriter. He formerly served as the chairman of the Warner Bros. Pictures Group. Early life and education Emmerich was born to Constance (née Marantz) and ...
, who
greenlit In the context of the film and television industries, to greenlight is to give permission to proceed with a project. It specifically refers to formally approving its production finance and committing to this financing, thereby allowing the project ...
the project at the behest of New Line founder
Bob Shaye Robert Kenneth Shaye (born March 4, 1939) is an American businessman, film producer, actor, director, and writer. Shaye is the founder of New Line Cinema, a film production studio that was most successful for distributing ''The Lord of the Rin ...
. Davis's first choice to play Smith was
Clive Owen Clive Owen (born 3 October 1964) is an English actor. He first gained recognition in the United Kingdom for playing the lead role in the ITV series '' Chancer'' from 1990 to 1991. He received critical acclaim for his work in the film '' Close ...
, who signed as the lead because the script impressed him. The role of Donna went to
Monica Bellucci Monica Anna Maria Bellucci (; born 30 September 1964) is an Italian actress and model who began her career as a fashion model before working in Italian, American, and French films. She has an eclectic filmography in a range of genres and langua ...
, who liked the script and the character: an independent woman who "does dangerous, dark dirty things in a playful way". The multilingual Bellucci dubbed herself in the film's French and Italian versions. Davis cast
Paul Giamatti Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti ( ; born June6, 1967) is an American actor. His accolades include a Primetime Emmy Award and three Golden Globes, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards and a British Academy Film Award. After studying a ...
, who usually played "
nice guy "Nice guy" is an informal term, commonly used with either a literal or a sarcastic meaning, for a man. In the literal sense, the term describes a man who is agreeable, gentle, compassionate, sensitive, and vulnerable. The term is used both po ...
" roles, against
type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * ...
to avoid the stereotype of a physically imposing villain, and because he believed Giamatti could deliver the duality of the role. ''Shoot 'Em Up'' was produced on a budget of $39 million.
Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...
took place in
Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
and lasted fifty-five days, with
Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
's Peter Pau serving as cinematographer. Before filming, Owen and Giamatti were trained in firearms. Although he found the stunts physically demanding, Owen resolved to perform most of them himself. In the skydiving scene, he was aided by a
Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; ) is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, Montreal, Saint-Michel, Montreal, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Jun ...
safety harness. Eighty firearms were used during production, and $70,000 of the film's budget was allocated for 6,000 squibs.


Music

The
score SCORE may refer to: *SCORE (software), a music scorewriter program * SCORE (television), a weekend sports service of the defunct Financial News Network *SCORE! Educational Centers *SCORE International, an offroad racing organization *Sarawak Corrido ...
for ''Shoot 'Em Up'' was composed by
Paul Haslinger Paul Haslinger (born 11 December 1962) is an Austrian musician and composer. He lives and works in Los Angeles, California. Life and career Early life Haslinger was born and raised in Linz, Austria. He attended high school at Kollegium Aloisi ...
and recorded at
NRG Recording Studios NRG Recording Studios is a recording facility located in North Hollywood, California, that was created by producer and mixer Jay Baumgardner in 1992. History Before starting NRG Recording Studio, Jay Baumgardner, operated from a home based st ...
in
North Hollywood, California North Hollywood is a neighborhood and district in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California. The neighborhood contains the NoHo Arts District, El Portal Theater, several art galleries, and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Th ...
. It was released on CD and as a digital download on August 28, 2007, by
Varèse Sarabande Varèse Sarabande is an American record label, owned by Concord Music Group and distributed by Universal Music Group, which specializes in film scores and cast recording, original cast recordings. It aims to reissue rare or unavailable albums, as ...
. A soundtrack album of
nu metal Nu metal (sometimes stylized as nü-metal, with a metal umlaut) is a subgenre of that combines elements of heavy metal music with elements of other music genres such as hip hop music, hip hop, funk, industrial music, industrial, and grunge. Nu ...
and
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
songs by various artists was made available on February 12, 2008.


Marketing

In July 2007, ''Shoot 'Em Up'' was publicized with a
guerrilla marketing Guerrilla marketing is an Advertising, advertisement strategy in which a company uses surprise and/or unconventional interactions in order to promote a Product (business), product or Service (business), service. It is a type of publicity. The ...
campaign by the London-based agency New Media Maze. The campaign included a
viral video Viral videos are video, videos that become popular through viral phenomenon, a viral process of Internet sharing, primarily through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhon ...
and a website selling bogus items ranging from
bulletproof Bulletproofing is the process of making an object capable of stopping a bullet or similar high velocity projectiles (e.g. shrapnel). The term bullet resistance is often preferred because few, if any, practical materials provide complete protecti ...
stroller Various methods of transporting children have been used in different cultures and times. These methods include baby carriages (prams in British English), infant car seats, portable bassinets (carrycots), strollers (pushchairs), slings, backpacks ...
s to riot helmets for infants. A video was released on
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
in which the company claimed to test the bulletproof stroller by shooting at it with a
submachine gun A submachine gun (SMG) is a magazine (firearms), magazine-fed automatic firearm, automatic carbine designed to fire handgun cartridges. The term "submachine gun" was coined by John T. Thompson, the inventor of the Thompson submachine gun, to descri ...
while a baby was in it. The baby was then removed from the stroller unharmed. The hoax campaign was taken seriously by global media and the blogging community; ''
Aftonbladet (, lit. "The evening paper") is a Swedish language, Swedish daily tabloid newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden. It is one of the largest daily newspapers in the Nordic countries. History and profile The newspaper was founded by Lar ...
'',
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
's largest evening tabloid, carried the story on its online edition for some time. In November 2007, two ads that showed Owen and Giamatti holding guns were banned in the United Kingdom by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) on the grounds that they had "glamorized and glorified gun crime" and "were offensive and insensitive toward families directly affected by gun crime". At the time of the ruling, it was also reported that gun violence in the UK was on the rise.


Release

Although ''
Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' reported a planned release during the 2006 holiday season, ''Shoot 'Em Up'' was previewed in September of that year. The film was released in American theaters on September 7, 2007. It was released on the same day in Canada, opening on 235 screens against '' 3:10 to Yuma''. Audience response to a screening at the 2007
San Diego Comic-Con San Diego Comic-Con is a comic book convention and multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California, at the San Diego Convention Center. Founded in 1970, originally showcasing primarily comic books and science fiction/fant ...
was positive. ''Shoot 'Em Up'' opened in fourth place on its first weekend, earning $5,716,139 at 2,108 locations. Overall, the film grossed $12,807,139 over six weeks in North American theaters and $26,820,641 worldwide. It was regarded as a
box-office bomb A box-office bomb is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the combined production budget, marketing, and distribution costs exceed the revenue after release has te ...
, recouping less than its budget. The film's
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
and
Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...
versions were released in January 2008 by
New Line Home Entertainment New Line Home Entertainment (formerly known as New Line Home Video) was the home entertainment distribution arm of the film production studio of the same name, founded in 1990. It was responsible for the distribution of all New Line Cinema the ...
with a
BTS BTS (), also known as the Bangtan Boys, is a South Korean boy band formed in 2010. The band consists of Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jung Kook, who co-write or co-produce much of their material. Originally a hip hop group, they ...
featurette titled "Ballet of Bullets", 17 minutes of animatics and audio commentary from director Michael Davis, trailers and deleted scenes. New Line released another DVD and Blu-ray of the film in a two-disc version in August 2011.


Reception


Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
gives the film an approval rating of 67%, with an average rating of 6.15/10, based on reviews from 161 critics. The website's "Critics Consensus" for the film reads, "As preposterous and over-the-top as ''Shoot 'Em Up'' may be, its humor and non-stop action make for a very enjoyable film." On
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
it has a weighted average score of 49 out of 100, based on reviews from 23 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by
CinemaScore CinemaScore is an American market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts from the data. Background Ed Mintz, who ...
during its opening weekend gave the film an average grade of "B−" on a scale ranging from A+ to F.
Peter Travers Peter Joseph Travers (born June 27, 1943) is an American film critic, journalist, and television presenter. He reviews films for ABC News and previously served as a movie critic for ''People'' and ''Rolling Stone''. Travers also hosts the film i ...
rated the film 3 out of 4 stars for ''Rolling Stone'', calling it "eighty-two minutes of hardcore pow. ..You'll be exhilarated – also exhausted."
Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...
for the ''
Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...
'' scored the film 3 out of 4 stars, comparing it favorably with ''
Sin City ''Sin City'' is a series of neo-noir Comic book, comics by American comic book writer-artist Frank Miller. The first story originally appeared in ''Dark Horse Presents Fifth Anniversary Special'' (April 1991), and continued in ''Dark Horse Prese ...
'' as "the most audacious, implausible, cheerfully offensive, hyperactive action picture
e had E, or e, is the fifth Letter (alphabet), letter and the second vowel#Written vowels, vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others wo ...
seen".
Frank Scheck Frank Scheck is an American film critic. He is best known for his reviews in the ''New York Post'' and ''The Hollywood Reporter''. He formerly edited ''STAGES Magazine'' and worked as a theater critic for the ''Christian Science Monitor ''Th ...
in ''The Hollywood Reporter'' called it a "ramped-up action movie on steroids" that "makes ''
Hard Boiled ''Hard Boiled'' ()Elder, 2005, pg. xxviii is a 1992 Hong Kong action thriller film directed by John Woo from a screenplay by Gordon Chan and Barry Wong based on a story written by Woo. The film stars Chow Yun-fat, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, an ...
'' look restrained". Ebert extended his praise toward the film's acting, calling Owen's character sympathetic and Giamatti's "surprisingly, teeth-gnashingly evil". Scheck complimented Owen's "low-rent
James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...
" performance, and was delighted to see Giamatti cast against his usual "nerdy" on-screen persona. A. O. Scott gave the film a scathing review for ''The New York Times'', calling it "a worthless piece of garbage" and that it was one of several "witless, soulless, heartless movies that mistake noise for bravura and tastelessness for wit".
Stephen Hunter Stephen Hunter (born March 25, 1946, in Kansas City, Missouri) is an American novelist, essayist, and film critic. Life and career Hunter was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and grew up in Evanston, Illinois. His father was Charles Francis Hunte ...
in ''The Washington Post'' said the film "is just gunfights strung together, without a whisper of coherence or meaning. The fights are staged so that they all look the same, and the principle is always the same: The gunman's multiple antagonists never hit, and he never misses."
James Berardinelli James Berardinelli (born September 25, 1967) is an American film critic. His reviews are mainly published on his blog ''ReelViews.'' Approved as a critic by the aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, he has published two collections of reviews of movies on ...
gave the film a mixed review, saying that while it delivered gunfights as advertised, he complained that it "pretty much consists of shoot-outs and chases overtaking each other like waves rolling onto a beach, each more over-the-top than its predecessor". Berardinelli scored the film 2.5 out of 4 stars, writing that he "like the audacity and its willingness to push the envelope beyond the limits of good taste. In the end, it's a little too long and uneven to recommend outright, but ewon't deny having enjoyed aspects of what Davis is offering." In 2016, ''Shoot 'Em Up'' made the list of "25 great action films that are 90 minutes or under" compiled by Nick Horton of
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. Rotten Tomatoes ranked ''Shoot 'Em Up'' at  111 on its list of the "140 Essential Actions Movies To Watch".


References


External links

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Big Interview with Michael Davis about "Shoot'Em Up" movie
{{Michael Davis 2007 action films 2007 films American action thriller films Films about babies Films about prostitution in the United States Films directed by Michael Davis Films shot in Toronto Films scored by Paul Haslinger New Line Cinema films Films produced by Don Murphy 2000s English-language films 2000s American films English-language action films