YMMV / Shoot 'Em Up

• Alternate Character Interpretation: Mr. Hertz's final question (I am dead on about you right?) brings up an interesting question. Did the origin that Hertz gave out really belong to Mr. Smith? Or was he actually wrong about his theory? Sure it fits with Smith's character and all but there is some doubt raised. He never confirms nor does he deny Hertz's guess. There's also a subtle moment during the torture scene where after Hertz tells Smith about how he (supposedly) sold the shotguns that killed his family, Mr. Smith merely tells Hertz that he won't reveal where DQ and Oliver are, not even remotely reacting to what should have been a hot button that Hertz pressed.
• Awesome Music:
  • "THE ACE OF SPADES!! THE ACE OF SPAAAADES!!"
  • Nirvana's "Breed" in the first gunfight scene sets the tone of the rest of the movie. And "Joker and the Thief" shortly after.
  • Mötley Crüe's "Kickstart My Heart" over the final scene. And never stop.
  • AC/DC's "If You Want Blood (You've Got It)" for the skydiving scene.
• Best Known for the Fanservice: The sex scene is by far the most well-known scene in the movie. Many viewers who watch the scene on video hosting sites have no idea what movie it's from. They just know that it's an absurdly awesome sex scene with Monica Bellucci in it.
• Complete Monster: Hammerson is a gun manufacturer and mogul who seeks to end Presidential candidate Rutledge's life by preventing a bone marrow transplant he needs. Hiring the hitman Mr. Hertz, Hammerson has him kill three pregnant women whose children Rutledge was planning to use as part of his marrow transplant, and when Mr. Smith manages to rescue one of the women long enough for her to deliver the baby, Hammerson orders Hertz to kill the newborn as well. Hertz goes on to torture and kill many people on Hammerson's mission, and Hammerson ultimately watches with smug satisfaction as Hertz tortures Smith, planning to have Hertz kill the infant and the woman caring for him to silence all loose ends to Rutledge simply so that his campaigning for stricter gun control won't affect Hammerson's business.
• Critical Dissonance: It's exactly the kind of film you expect audiences to love but critics to hate. In reality, it was the opposite. The film got solid reviews and has a healthy 67% on RT but audiences weren't as into it and it bombed.
• Crosses the Line Twice: Roger Ebert's review provides the trope's page quote: "I may disapprove of a movie for going too far, and yet have a sneaky regard for a movie that goes much, much farther than merely too far."
• Ham and Cheese: Pretty much everyone knows exactly what kind of film this is and acts accordingly, particularly the leads. Clive Owen plays it with a self-aware, Roger Moore-style detachment that lets the audience know he's firmly in on the joke and Paul Giamatti in particular looks to be having an absolute blast devouring scenery like there's no tomorrow.
• Love to Hate: Mr Herz is a truly horrible excuse of a person, yet he's also an undeniably fun and oddly likeable character thanks to Paul Giatmatti's performance. Never has a cold-blooded dead body fonderling attempt baby killing assassin been so charismatic.
• Magnificent Bastard: Mr. Smith is a mysterious drifter and possible military veteran with a keen sense of karmic justice. Witnessing a heavily pregnant woman in labor escaping from a hitman sent by Mr. Hertz, he saves her by impaling the hitman with a carrot and fends off additional assassins while helping the woman give birth. When the mother is killed in the process, he takes the baby with him and leaves it in a park, hoping for someone to adopt it. When a passerby looking at the baby is shot by Hertz, Smith realizes that the hitmen are also after the baby, takes it back, and with the help of prostitute Donna Quintano, decides to investigate why they're after it, fending off Hertz's goons the whole time. He learns that the baby was bred to be one of three bone marrow donors for Senator Rutledge, who needs them to treat his cancer so he can run for president, and the attempts on its life were part of a conspiracy by gun mogul Hammerson and Hertz to prevent Rutledge from becoming president and enacting more stringent gun control laws. Smith then tells Donna to leave town with the baby and requests a private meeting with Rutledge on his private jet, where he figures out that Rutledge made a deal with Hammerson and Hertz for a bone donor in exchange for looser future gun laws. He holds Rutledge hostage and shoots him in the head, hoping that the news of his assassination would trigger public outrage and immense support for his gun control proposals, and escapes the crashing jet. While he gets captured by Hertz and Hammerson afterwards and is tortured for the location of the baby, he breaks free and kills both of them in return. Smith tips off the FBI to the location of Rutledge's body and reunites with Donna and the baby at a diner, where he foils a robbery despite having his hands broken by Hertz.
• Narm Charm: The entire film. It completely abandons even the fuzziest notion of realism and commits itself to being a gloriously over the top, high-octane action film with its tongue firmly in its cheek the whole time and is all the better for it. Go into it with the right mindset and you'll have an absolute blast.
• Signature Scene: The sex scene between Clive Owen and Monica Bellucci's characters is probably the best-known part of the movie, not only for its fanservice but also how absurd[ly awesome] it is as Clive Owen's character guns down an army of mooks mid-coitus.
• Special Effects Failure: Is the sky-diving shootout awesome? Yes. Is the greenscreen amazingly cheap? Even more yes.
• Squick:
  • Hertz fondling the dead mother. It causes him to realize that Smith will need to find the baby a nursemaid. The director laughingly said he hoped that scene won "Best Romantic Moment" at the MTV Movie Awards.
  • Also, when DQ gets the Marilyn Manson wannabe to cooperate with her by ripping his cock-ring out.
  • The fight after the torture scene is made by this trope.