"What's up Doc", death by carrot. The first of many soon to be dead villains, is killed in this ridiculous fashion, and sets the tone for this gloriously over the top blast of a movie. Clive Owen plays "Smith" a badass good samaritan, who goes to the aid of a very pregnant woman, who is being terrorised by assorted baddies led by "Hertz", Giamatti, playing a nice line in psychotic family man/assassin. Smith helps the woman give birth while dispatching a veritable army of heavily armed hoods. He manages to save the baby, but the mother is killed in the shootout. Smith then seeks the help of a hooker, the gorgeous Monica Bellucci, to mother the newborn child.

The gunplay gets more ridiculous as the movie goes on, even during a sex scene. The idea of keeping your mind on killing baddies, while enjoying sex with miss Bellucci, and continuing the killing throughout, really is stretching things a bit, coitus interruptus taken to extremes. So basically, forget niceties like plot coherence or character development, and sit back and enjoy "Shoot'em up" for what it is, a ballsy adrenalin rush with no pretence at art, or oscar glory. The script is economical, and sometimes very funny. Owen is on great form as Smith, Giamatti is a superbly nasty villain and Bellucci looks fabulous.

Great fun.