Sunday 30 January 2011

Shoot 'Em Up

Are you in the mood for TNA (Total Nonstop Action for the not so educated with wrestling as a sport). But the TNA that I am talking about now has nothing to do with wrestling. Just a TLA (Three Letter Abbreviation) that I wanted to use for a long long time. But then the movie that I saw around 2 pm this afternoon was a heavy load of TNA in the style of Clive Owen. It had guns, guns and loads of guns. It had a chase or a fight sequence every 38.37 seconds. And for most part, you will be wondering as to why are these fights happening in the first place? Thankfully you will not need to wait for too long to find out. Thankfully. The pace of the movie is fast enough through its 86 minutes – 80 minutes thanks to the editing that has been done on Warner Brothers Movie Channel – and you will reach the levels of understanding that you want to reach sooner than later.


Smith (Clive Owen) is waiting at a bus stand in the middle of the night (or so I assume) when he sees a woman (Ramona Pringle) in a bright yellow coat walking past holding her stomach and crying out in pain. Yes – she is pregnant but doesn’t really seem like she is about to deliver immediately. A few seconds later, she is followed by a villainous looking man with a gun. She runs into a warehouse of sorts and the man follows, obviously with an intent to relieve her of her life and the life that she is carrying. Smith, obviously cannot look the other way and mind his own business. Only cowards do that right. So he follows the 2 into the warehouse and just as the man is going to kill the mother to be, Smith stops him and follows it up by killing 10-15 other men while simultaneously helping the woman in the yellow coat deliver her baby. Once the baby is delivered, he is confronted with another bunch of shooters, this time led by the lead villain, Hertz (Paul Giamatti) who is after the girl and her new born. This time around, hero not only manages to keep the bad guys away but does it with the woman and baby in tow – in his arms – after a point of time, you check the screen again to see if its Clive Owen or Rajani Saar. So when they show the woman with a bullet in her head – our hero is unable to save her – you are reassured that Rajani Saar is still in India.

A few more bullets and a few more car chases later, you are more clear on what the entire story is about. Expected a bit better from Clive Owen – in his choice of movies that is. This one is more like a mindless Vin Diesel movie and not one for Clive Owen. Clive Owen is a bit more classy than this. And what the hell is Paul Giamatti doing here? Taking his new found love to be a villain a bit too seriously? Hello – both of you – stick to roles that demand a bit more of you. And if you are running short of money then the find yourself an investment consultant soon. But don’t stoop down to these levels. The silver lining in the movie – and this has nothing to do with good movie making – is luscious eye candy in the form of Monica Bellucci – red hot furniture (a term I have used previously with Eva Mendes in The Other Guys). The direction is average at best. And I would not put too much of money on Michael Davis henceforth if I was a producer. But, if you like action movies of the mindless Vin Diesel, as mentioned yesterday, variety then this one is definitely for you. As a movie – 5 on 10 is what I can give this on my best days. Today isn’t. So it will be a 4 on 10.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2256994585/

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