SHOOT ’EM UP begins with a man named Mr. Smith (Clive Owen) delivering a woman’s baby during a shootout, and is then called upon to protect the newborn from an army of gunmen led my Mr. Hertz (Paul Giamatti).

SHOOT ’EM UP plays like last year’s action flick CRANK.  Action from start to finish, this over the top auctioneer includes a minor plot, not that it matters, about baby rearing and a corrupt politician wishing to do away with the gun law.  The film contains no real villain - the villain (Paul Giammati) plays the game to make money – but more like a spy vs. spy story.  The only difference is that the white spy always wins.

Michael Davis has written and directed film of varied genres from children’s films (BEANSTALK, THE GENIE) and teen flicks (100 GIRLS) to horror slashers (MONSTER MAN).  For the B-movie action flick SHOOT ‘EM UP, Davis effectively combines the horror and comic-book action genres.  Just as the bad guy, Mr. Hertz never dies, the hero also keeps coming up stronger and stronger and eventually invincible, Finger or no finger, with a carrot, Mr. Smith still manage to SHOOT ’EM UP.

Davis obviously pays tribute to the John Woo films.  A bit more violent, especially at the end with Mr. Hertz breaking off Smith’s digits one by one and other nastiness like burning flesh and punctured eyes, the film eventually settles down to be what the title implies.  The climax with spaghetti Morricone-like sounding music, is an old fashioned draw stand-off between good and bad guy with the winner being the faster one at the draw.