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DVDfever.co.uk – Shut Up And Shoot Me DVD reviewDom Robinson reviews
Stoney Road Films
- Cert:
- Running time: 86 minutes
- Year: 2005
- Released: December 2008
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: none
- Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Dolby Surround)
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: None
- Widescreen: 1.85:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £12.99
- Extras:Trailers, Photo galleries
- Vote and comment on this film:View Comments
Director:
- Steen Argo
(Ring a King, Shut Up And Shoot Me)
Producer:
- Paul Sherwood
Screenplay:
- Steen Argo
Music:
- Frank Gough
Cast :
- Pavel Zeman: Karel Roden
Colin Frampton: Andy Nyman
Liba Zeman: Anna Geislerová
Karel Karlovic: Robert Polo
Veronika: Denisa Knoblochová
Neighbour: Matej Ruppert
Receptionist: Petr Vanek
Maggie Frampton: Klara Low
Shut Up And Shoot Mebrings together two characters from different backgrounds but equally left wanting in life.
Pavel Zeman (Karel Roden) works 6 jobs, one after another, since his wife, Liba (the captivating Anna Geislerová, bottom-right)likes designer gear and she’s also having a bit on the side – and you get the impression this is something for which she haspast form. Colin Frampton (Andy Nyman, right with Karel Roden) is a quiet man who worries about every little thing, even to the point of obsessingwhether he left the iron on before going for a week in Prague with his wife, Maggie (Klara Low).
Sadly, Maggie is killed in a freak accident and, at a loss, Colin wants to die. The only man he knows in Prague is the manwho’s just been instructed to drive him to the mortuary and so he Pavel Karel to kill him, stating that he’ll pay a large amountas he can see the Czech man is a busy one and who wouldn’t say no to a nice little earner?
Alas, when the film is led by characters who are clearly two of life’s great losers, still looking for direction in their lives,things don’t go to plan and Colin has trouble dying.
Without going into too much detail as there’s plenty to discover that you’ll want to find out for yourself, the situationalso involves a professional hitman, Karlovic (Robert Polo) and his moll, Veronika (Denisa Knoblochová) – stunning,but deadly).
I love Prague. I spent a few days there as part of an interrailing trip back in 1992 and it’s the place I’d most like to go backto. It’s a fantastic place for great architecture – a perfect antidote to those who think a holiday should revolve around thebeach – and all the women are gorgeous! Shut Up And Shoot Me features very understated performances from the two leadsand if you’re wondering where you might’ve seen them before, Karel Roden is best known for playing evil villain typesin mainstream movies, heralding from either Russia or Eastern Europe, examples includingThe Bourne Supremacy, as well as RockNRolla and 2006’sRunning Scared, so it’s nice to see him playing a regular guy with a far-from-regular request to digest. Here, in hitmanmode, he ends up looking like Leon with his small dark glasses 🙂
Andy Nyman was most recently seen on E4 & Channel 4’s zombie drama/comedy Dead Set as the bastard producer of BigBrother and on Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe‘s children’s TV special talking about the bizarre Junior Christian ScienceBible Lesson(see a clip here).
The film also features such great attention to detail about the way of human life, such as when Colin goes to collect his late wife’s remainsfrom the mortuary and gets up from a chair to go into a room, he doesn’t realise until it’s too late that the chair is one thatsprings back up like a cinema seat, but because it’s wooden it snaps back loudly and he looks back with slight embarrassment,which takes him briefly away from the fact that his wife’s only just died.
Overall, while there are some occasional slow moments, in the end it’s a film that’s an absolute must-see as it’s a gem for thegreat majority of the time.
The film is presented in a 16:9 anamorphic widescreen ratio, but is slightly windowboxed. This is something most peoplewon’t notice unless they’re viewing on a flatscreen TV as a CRT TV will always have some overscan that can’t be got rid of.Viewed upscaled to a 37″ plasma screen via an Xbox 360, the picture is still a little on the soft side at times.
The sound is in Dolby Surround only and, while dialogue is clear enough in most cases – although Karel Roden can talk quicklyso it’s a little indistinguishable at times, sound FX such as trudging in the snow sound like they’re in a small echo chamber- it’s really quite bizarre.
The extras are simply two trailers (2:05, 2:08) in letterbox 16:9, both of which give a little too much away for my likingso I’m glad I saw them after the film, although I will say that the second trailer mentions a different flavour of soup to thatused in the film (the relevance of which I won’t mention here). There’s also two photo galleries, set to music – one each forthe cast and crew.
Sadly, there are no subtitles for the DVD and, surprisingly, there are no chapters! That’s not right for a DVD. Personally,I’d bank on at least one every five minutes plus one each for the opening and closing credits, but to have none at all?I can’t quite understand the thinking behind that.
The menu features a short piece of music from the film against a looped piece of footage which, like the trailers, give toomuch away, so I’m glad I quickly started watching the film before the full menu sequence played out.
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Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.