Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Sharkflei Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

Derry Herrera Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Paynbob It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Bezenby This one stars Luc Merenda as a hard-nosed cop famed for taking down the bad guys in Milan, as we see during a pretty good shoot-out/car chase at the beginning of the film. Luc's also got a good thing going with his girlfriend, but we soon get to find out why he can afford to buy her such expensive things...Luc's a corrupt cop and is working for two mobsters who are paying Luc to turn a blind eye to all the tobacco and booze smuggling in the city. He kind of loses the rag a bit when their latest venture turns out to be gun running, but an increase in the old bribes softens that blow a little. There's a tiny bit of a problem, however. A nosy neighbour type has reported the registrations of two cars in his area that the mob would rather the police forget about, but to Luc this means going to that particular police station, which, unfortunately for him, is run by his own father. At the same time a body turns up in a steel drum and Luc now has to sort all this out before the mafia lose their already thin patience.What makes this one a bit different from the rough cop socking people in the jaw is that Luc is basically struggling to cover up his initial mistake of having trusted the mob in the first place, and becomes a victim of his own over-confidence. There's a greater emotional depth here too as Luc's relationships with his girlfriend and father become strained as his shady dealings rise to the fore. Those looking for the brutal violence of De Leo's other films won't be disappointed either, as many characters here are outright violently murdered rather than having shootouts with each other. These films usually work better with the brutality turned up to ten anyway, although the bit with the kitten wasn't called for. As usual. This trend would get much, much worse!I can't decide if Luc Merenda is a good actor or not because he just kind of glares at everything.

Wizard-8 With the English title of this movie being "Shoot First, Die Later", and the art on the DVD case depicting someone's head exploding from a gun shot, some people may expect this to be an action packed movie. But it really isn't. It's mostly a serious drama about police corruption. However, don't let that fact discourage you from watching this movie, because it's pretty good. Although the serious parts of the movie could have used a little more work (there is, in my opinion, not enough focus on the father/son relationship), it does all the same end up interesting, mainly because its tone is very cynical, which makes it very memorable. Although there's a lot of talk, director Fernando Di Leo does go from scene to scene pretty quickly, so there are no slow spots. And when the action does come, it's very memorable, particularly the car chase sequence in the first fifteen minutes of the movie. If you have a taste for European crime movies from the 1970s, more likely than not you'll find this offering more than decent.

radiobirdma Though generally a tad overrated (neither Milano Calibro 9 nor Il Boss are the transgressive "masterpieces" some Italocinema fetishists want them to be), so-called "cult" director Fernando di Leo manages to strike some grippingly dissonant chords in Shoot First, Die Later, the original title being less sensationalistic than bone dry: The Rotten Cop. While most poliziotteschi are essentially feelgood movies, the degenerates and lowlifes getting what they justly deserve, this one marches to an entirely different drum. At its core a father-son story – the excellent Salvo Randone playing Pops to the opposite of leading beau Luc Merenda –, it's a cynical morality play about a model cop appropriately named Malacarne (literally meaning "bad meat") who feels perfectly comfortable with being on the payroll of the mafia until things go terribly awry: Unlike the cheap-thrills roller coaster violence of other Eurocrime movies, the stark brutality here comes across as callous, pitiless, not even nasty, but unpleasant through and through; actually, the two car chases, skillfully done by stunt coordinator Rémy Julienne, feel like a concession to the regular poliziotto crowd. In its acidly sarcastic Weltanschauung and the complete lack of redeeming qualities, Shoot First, Die Later is doubtless more akin to the cinema of Rosi, Damiani or Elio Petri than to the staccato over-the-top action of Castellari or Lenzi: A doom loop of human failings.

manu *Minor spoiler in the following comment*A very good "spaghetti polar" from the talented director Fernando DiLeo. Luc Merenda isn't the best leading man of the genre but the rest of the cast is first rate, so is the inevitable car chase occurring in the middle of the story.There is also an interesting look at police corruption in Italy - a theme very sensitive at that time there, I guess - delivered by an intelligent script and a main character very well drawn.And, of course, there's also a huge amount of violence in it and a very dark conclusion.