Shoot or Be Shot

This movie spends most of its time preaching that it is the script that makes the movie, but apparently there was no script when they shot this waste of time! The trailer makes this out to be a comedy, but the film can't decide if it wants to be a comedy, a drama, a romance or an action film. Press releases indicated that Shatner and Hamlin made this movie because they loved the script (what were they thinking?). If you like William Shatner (I do) see "Free Enterprise" instead.

This film is a funny rant that slightly knocks at the Dogma style of film making. This may or may not be intended and other slight jests at films (like Saving Private Ryan) fall flat, but for the most if you buy into the gimmick you should enjoy the ride.

The gimmick is a new film making style where you don't write the movie, it writes itself. Er-go, you stage an event (or location) and let the actors make up the story as events interact with them. There are no special effects and no sets that are not natural. Basically, this is Dogma film making (see Lars von Trier or a film like Idioterne (1998) aka Idiots), or rather a film about a film using the Dogma style, only in this movie its called something different.

The rest of the movie feeds off of the gimmick as Shatner, as an escaped mental patient whom wants to be a screen writer, provides the "event" as the actors and director are held hostage and forced to shoot Shatner's movie, the producer films the events in the style mentioned above.

There are funny lines and bantor (mainly Shatner), but the main part is you must buy into the gimmick.

If you do, it is funny, but granted not specacular. If you miss the gimmick, like Dogma film style is stupid, or don't know what it is, then you movie will most likely be a dud in your eyes.

Rating: 6

Finally a Shatner film with no stupid Star trek references in it ! My God he can act! Unlike the painful "Free Enterprise" made for all the " Please,Get a Life " trekkies, Shanter creates a new character and its pretty funny. He plays an escaped mental case who's "Voice cries out to be heard" and has a script that must be made under him arm. Shatner has many witty scenes that are a pleasure to watch. I was reminded of the old "Twilight Zone'"Shatner. It's nice to see Shanter with out all the dreary Star Trek baggage in tow.

While I am a long-time Shatner fan (since we used to watch Trek re-runs over the dinner hour in the early '70s), I cannot think of any possible reason why he wanted to do this film, whether for personal development or business reasons. Did he lose a bet?

As a movie fan, I like to appreciate the bad films along with the great ones. But "Shoot or be Shot" doesn't have any flair or funny bits, unintentional or not.

While unrated, there were no objectionable scenes (blink or you'll miss it nudity, cartoonish gunfire "violence" with the endless bullet gunfights), so one is led to believe that the producers merely wanted to save the fee required to get the MPAA to rate it. This will make its way to cable with barely 10 seconds edited out.

Of the eight people that were in the theatre with us, four of them left mid-way, muttering statements like "This is stupid".

Shatner plays an escaped mental patient who has been denied release because he views himself as a screenwriter. The examination board stamps his request "INSANE". He runs into a group of Z-grade moviemakers who "shoot on video because its 80% cheaper than film" and decides to force them to shoot his script at gunpoint. There are a few minor subplots that develop some of the secondary characters, but for the most part, that is the whole movie.

If you want to spend 90 minutes on a Shatner "art" film, see "Free Enterprise" instead, it is a much better film.

'The King of Comedy' meets 'Living in Oblivion'

Another of the small, but growing, number of Lo-No budget movies about Lo-No budget movie-making. Think of 'Living in Oblivion', 'The Independent', etc. etc. Aspiring writers are constantly told "write what you know about" so it's not surprising that aspirant movie writers write about aspirant movie writers and the frustrations they face.

The basic premise of this movie is simple, schlock movie producer wants to make an more upmarket "arty" movie, an aspiring director wants to make a serious anti - violence movie but with no script using an experimental improvised (very cheap) shooting method. The Producer's former leading lady, and lover, wants to prove she can really act, disguises herself, auditions and gets a part in the movie. Together with a small crew they head out to the desert to shoot the film. There they meet an escaped lunatic with a script in one hand and a gun in the other. He hijacks the crew and forces them to start shooting his script.

Except he doesn't. The whole film takes so long to get to the point where the story really starts, ie the moment where Shatner's maniac scriptwriter and the crew meet up, that there is no time left to tell it and the movie quickly descends into gun-play before abruptly ending in a short series of twee happy-ever-afters for all the characters.

Shatner gets all the good lines some of them are genuinely funny, the man has a nice comic touch, but an hour after watching the film I can't bring to mind any of them. A slight, light little film. It drags in places but doesn't outstay its welcome. It could have been better but easily could have been a hell of a lot worse.

In 2005 this film was released on DVD in the UK under the title "Shooting Stars" by Digiview Productions with a run time of 91 minutes 36 sec. Cert 12 Aspect ratio 4:3