"Shoot 'Em Up" *** (out of four): This hyperkinetic, ultra-violent, guns-a-blazin' actioner from writer-director Michael Davis can be accused of many things - stupidity, misogyny, the death of American film as we know it - but false advertising is not one of them.

It must be liberating to make a movie that has no aspirations but to provide ridiculous, non-stop, over-the-top action. For examples, see the collected works of Luc Besson and/or Jason Statham - a catalog of films whose quality decreases proportionally with the number of letters in the titles ("The Transporter", "Crank", "War"). Unhindered by pesky trivialities like plot, believability and sense, these films are like energetic puppies nipping at your heels begging for attention. "Shoot 'Em Up" - from writer-director and James Bond fanatic Michael Davis - lacks the style of ultra-violent classics like "El Mariachi" or "Hard Boiled", but there's no denying the inventiveness of the gunplay (John Woo, an obvious inspiration and the genre's godfather, would be proud). With its single-minded obsession with all things triggered, "Shoot" is a blast before its ammo is spent.

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