{"id":6967,"date":"2013-08-31T15:30:01","date_gmt":"2013-08-31T19:30:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=6967"},"modified":"2013-08-31T15:30:01","modified_gmt":"2013-08-31T19:30:01","slug":"br-bullet-to-the-head-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=6967","title":{"rendered":"BR: Bullet to the Head (2012)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Return to: <\/strong>Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews<\/a> \/ <\/em>B<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Film: Very Good\/ DVD Transfer: Excellent\/ DVD Extras: Good<\/p>\n

Label: Home\/ Region: A \/\u00a0Released: June 16, 2013<\/p>\n

Genre: Action \/ Comic Book \/ Crime<\/p>\n

Synopsis: A hitman implicated in a cop’s murder must find the real killer before’s he’s arrested by New Orleans’ finest, or taken out by its worst.<\/p>\n

Special Features: Making-of featurette \/ Bonus DVD<\/p>\n

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Review:<\/p>\n

Walter Hill\u2019s return to feature films after a 10 year drought is cause for rejoicing among his fans, but not unlike Supernova<\/strong> (2000), his next-to last film before drifting to TV, Hill\u2019s involvement with this production stemmed from opportunity rather than choice.<\/p>\n

As the backstory reportedly goes, this adaptation of Alexis Nolent and Colin Wilson\u2019s French graphic novel (\u201cDu plomb dans la tete\u201d) was in development for some time before a director and cast were assigned. When creative differences with star Sylvester Stallone sent original director Wayne Kramer packing, Hill was brought in through the suggestion of then-costar Thomas Jane. The inclusion of producer Joel Silver sent Jane packing due to a co-star rethink, and Sung Kang (The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift<\/strong>) was the new replacement for what further developed into a more Hillsian buddy crime film.<\/p>\n

How much of the script changed during this time is unknown, but there are aspects that bear the imprimatur of Hill: a straight, linear storyline, a core group of characters with little peripheral distractions, and limited dialogue so the stars with their physical qualities, can convey information (attitude, emotions, and psychological states) without aural clutter. There\u2019s also a peculiar gag that\u2019s literally lifted from Hill\u2019s 1988 buddy cop \/ crime film Red Heat <\/strong>starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Belushi: in the first scene when hitman James Bonomo (Stallone) abruptly advances the car\u2019s speed, coffee spills into the lap of partner & passenger Louis (Jon Seda), and like James Belushi\u2019s reaction to the same incident, Louis complains \u2018everyone\u2019s gonna think I pissed in my pants.\u2019<\/p>\n

The action films bear Hill\u2019s kinetic speed, and there\u2019s the re-use of a health spa for a fight scene between Bonomo and a thug. Hills similarly uses a spa for confrontation at the beginning of Red Heat<\/strong>; and the location functions as a teaser encounter between fight agent Speed and a wealthy thug in Hill\u2019s Hard Times<\/a><\/strong> [M<\/a>] (1975). In Bullet to the Head<\/strong>, however, the eventually spa battle that involves crashing ceramic tiles with human bodies was assembled in a more contemporary editing style, and Timothy Alverson\u2019s cuts are often discontinuous, scattering motion and continuity in a predictable way which espouses the fast style of Terry Rawlings (Casino Royale<\/strong>) but bears some of the incoherence and vanity of Richard Pearson (Quantum of Solace<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also Stallone\u2019s age and physique which bear the veins and abuse from decades of inflating muscles through heavy exercise and other means, and at times he\u2019s truly grotesque. The situation is aggravated by showing Stallone as a fiftysomething hitman wearing a solid helmet of black hair; grey streaks were added in some day shots, but these appear as glaring continuity gaffes rather than a hint at the character\u2019s true age.<\/p>\n

Stallone may have the physical power of playing an aged, virile, and hard thinking hitman, but he\u2019s a good 10-15 years too old for the role\u2026 and yet in spite of the aforementioned problems, Bullet<\/strong> is neither a dud nor gem, but a meh comic book action film that\u2019s well-assembled, and like many of Hill\u2019s films, contains some solid sequences.<\/p>\n

The story of a hitman suspected of killing a corrupt cop and seeking the plot\u2019s architects with the aide of an American-Korean detective and his daughter wears thin very fast when sympathetic detective Taylor Kwon (Kang, who has great chemistry with Stallone) is able to frequently communicate with his superiors without any tracing issues or recriminations, but there are some great casting coups, especially Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (TV\u2019s Oz<\/strong>) as a corrupt land developer, and Christian Slater playing his scumbag associate. Slater, long absent from A-level films, makes a great comeback in a small role playing a moral worm, and has the best full-on attitude exchange with Stallone before an appropriate action silences his bullshit.<\/p>\n

Sarah Shahi (TV\u2019s Person of Interest<\/strong>) is fine as Bonomo\u2019s tattoo artist daughter Lisa, but like many of Hill\u2019s female characters, she\u2019s the archetypal moll \/ hot chick \/ girlfriend used to draw the hero away from a safe place for a rescue. Shahi is lovely, but a blatant topless scene is a clear indication her character will not develop beyond shapely furniture.<\/p>\n

The film\u2019s most interesting villain is a lesser character but the most Hillsian. Jason Momoa (Conan<\/strong> the Barbarian<\/strong>) speaks minimal dialogue, but like many of Hill\u2019s anti-heroes and grey villains, he has a specific code that decides when it\u2019s time to redress a superior who\u2019s flaunted enough insults, and as ex-green beret Keegan, Momoa uses his impressive physical presence to slowly build his otherwise flat character. His final confrontation with Bonomo offers some choice dialogue, but like the fighters in the end battle in Hard Times<\/strong>, the two adversaries may have respect for each other, but their goal is still very clear: kill the sonofabitch.<\/p>\n

Their duel using axes is a minor classic, and it offers a satisfying payoff for some of the contrived material that sends Bonomo back & forth across New Orleans. Hill doesn\u2019t offer anything new to the action genre nor his own canon of films with mythic genre heroes, but it\u2019s an adequate film. Perhaps the one ingredient that would\u2019ve warmed the hearts of fans is a score by longtime collaborator Ry Cooder, but since he\u2019s largely left film scoring (his final work for Hill was 1996\u2019s Last Man Standing<\/strong>), Steve Mazzaro\u2019s score lacks the kind of coarse, organic quality needed for a Hill film, especially moments of gnashing metallic clamor.<\/p>\n

Warner Home Video\u2019s Blu-ray contains a rudimentary making-of featurette but nothing marking the uniqueness of Hill\u2019s return to feature films. He\u2019s been missed for a good ten years, and although Bullet<\/strong> isn\u2019t the blatant shit pile that is Supernova<\/strong> \u2013 he was one of several directors assigned to the disastrous project which underwent huge<\/em> editorial changes and reshoots \u2013 it\u2019s not the classic film we hoped would bring further film work to the master, or be an appropriate swan song should he slide back to producing.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 2013 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

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External References<\/em>:<\/p>\n

IMDB <\/a>— Film Sites<\/a> — Soundtrack Album<\/a> — Composer Filmography<\/a><\/p>\n

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Vendor Search Links:<\/em><\/p>\n

Amazon.ca<\/a>\"\" \"\" —<\/span> Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" \"\" —<\/span> Amazon.co.uk<\/a>\"\" \"\"—New movie releases on iTunes<\/a>\"\"
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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews<\/a> <\/em>\/\u00a0B<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Return to: Home \/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews \/ B . Film: Very Good\/ DVD Transfer: Excellent\/ DVD Extras: Good Label: Home\/ Region: A \/\u00a0Released: June 16, 2013 Genre: Action \/ Comic Book \/ Crime Synopsis: A hitman implicated in a cop’s murder must find the real killer before’s he’s arrested by New Orleans’ finest, or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[2192,2195,2194,2196,2197,2193,2191,2190,659,2189],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-1On","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6967"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6967"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6971,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6967\/revisions\/6971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}