Shoot ‘Em Up is a 2007 action/black comedy film,[1] starring Clive Owen, Paul Giamatti, and Monica Bellucci. The film was written and directed by Michael Davis and produced by Susan Montford, Don Murphy and Rick Benattar.[2] The film was released on September 7, 2007. Despite receiving positive reviews, Shoot ‘Em Up underperformed at the box office.

The film opens as a drifter, known as Smith (Clive Owen), sits at a bus stop eating a carrot and drinking coffee. A pregnant woman who is going into labor passes by. Shortly after, a hitman pursues her and attempts to kill her in a warehouse. Smith saves the woman, only to have another group of armed thugs attack. During the ensuing firefight, the woman gives birth to a baby boy (later named Oliver) and Smith confronts the leader of the assassins, Karl Hertz (Paul Giamatti), who praises him for his efforts and decides to “return the favor”. Hertz escapes as more of his men arrive, and as Smith flees he finds the baby’s mother has been killed. Taking the baby with him, Smith narrowly escapes the pursuing thugs by jumping into an apartment in a neighboring building through the window.
The following day, Smith attempts to leave the baby in a local park, hoping someone will adopt the child. However, Hertz is watching and shoots a woman, who goes to retrieve the baby, with a sniper rifle. Realizing the baby is a prime target, Smith takes Oliver to a brothel to leave him there with Donna, a lactating hooker (Monica Bellucci). She refuses to take the child, and Smith leaves. Hertz arrives at the brothel shortly after, and tortures Donna for information. Smith returns, killing Hertz’s henchmen, he also manages to shoot Hertz, but the latter is saved by a bulletproof vest.
Smith and Donna hole up in his hideout, where Smith discovers that Oliver stops crying when he hears heavy metal music. This leads Smith to think the baby felt similar vibrations in his mother’s womb and that Oliver’s mother lived near a heavy metal club. Meanwhile Hertz employs a number of thugs to fight Smith. Hertz soon discovers Smith’s hideout and a gun battle ensues. Smith escapes Hertz and his men and visits a heavy metal club near the place where he saw the pregnant woman in the opening of the movie. He discovers an apartment above the club where three mothers were impregnated with one man’s sperm. Two of the mothers were killed in that apartment, while the third one escaped and gave birth to Oliver.
Smith later makes love to Donna in a motel with Oliver safely in the tub of their bathroom. This motel is raided by masked men. Smith defeats them in the gun battle that follows and discovers that his assailants’ weapons are all the same make – Hammerson – and a model that isn’t to be made available for six more months. This discovery causes Smith to suspect the involvement of the Hammerson factory. Smith believes that the only place Donna and Oliver will be safe is in a M24 Chaffee armored tank within an army museum. He allows Donna and Oliver to enter the tank by creating a distraction.
Smith covertly visits the Hammerson factory and witnesses Hertz and Hammerson in conversation about how they do not want the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution to be repealed by the next President. Smith also notices a dog with Hammerson called “Dutchess”. Smith booby traps the entire facility with guns that are controlled remotely using a rope and pulley system, but Hertz spots him and orders the guards of the factory to find and kill Smith. Smith with the help of the traps defeats the guards.
Smith returns to Donna, where he reads a bit of newspaper with a story on Senator Harry Rutledge (Daniel Pilon) running for the presidency and the senator’s opposition to the second amendment. Smith deduces that Rutledge is sick and needs a bone marrow transplant, which is why he used his sperm to create the three babies. Smith tells Donna to leave town using a “Green bus” because the regular transportation lines will be monitored by both the Secret Service and Hertz’s henchmen. Smith also asks Donna not to tell him where she will get off the bus. Smith later contacts the head of security for Rutledge, referred to throughout the film as the “Go-to-guy”, asking him for an appointment with Rutledge. The “Go-to-guy” arranges the meeting with the senator aboard a plane. During the meeting Smith notices dog hair on the Senator’s trousers, causing Smith to suspect the senator has struck a deal with Hammerson.
Smith takes the senator hostage at gun point and his suspicions are confirmed when Hertz and Hammerson come to meet Smith. Smith kills the senator and bails out of the aircraft with a parachute. Smith is pursued by armed men, leading to a mid-air shoot-out. Smith is injured but manages to eliminate all the attackers. After landing Smith passes out due to his injuries.
Smith awakens to find Hertz holding him at gunpoint. In the comfort of Hammerson’s mansion, Hertz tortures Smith by breaking his fingers to learn where Donna and Oliver are hiding. Smith endures the pain. Hertz taunts Smith with knowledge of his past, hinting that he had once illegally sold a firearm that was later used to kill Smith’s wife and son. As a last effort, Hertz decides to carve out Smith’s eyes with a scalpel, but Smith manages to break free. Smith kills Hammerson and numerous other thugs but fails to kill Hertz. Seeing that Smith is incapable of using a firearm due to his broken fingers, Hertz laughs at his fruitless efforts. Hertz follows Smith into a library to finish him off. He severely wounds Hertz by putting his hand in an open fire, revealing the bullets he had placed between his fingers. The heat causes the gunpowder to detonate, firing the bullets into Hertz’s chest. Hertz, despite his wounds, is not dead. Struggling to his feet, he raises his gun, but Smith manages to shoot his gun first, killing Hertz.
Smith then boards a bus, not knowing where Donna or Oliver are. At an ice-cream parlor, Smith sits at a table and hears Donna’s voice. Turning around, he sees Oliver in a baby chair and passionately reunites with Donna. The film ends as a group of amateur robbers enter the parlor, and a disgusted Smith stops them.