Bullet To The Head Review

26th Jan 2013

It’s been a long while since Walter Hill went behind the camera for a theatrical release. The past decade (and then some) has not been kind to the films he had worked on. Bullet To The Head then is a decent return for the director. Amazingly in his career which equally spans the length of his leading man’s, Sylvester Stallone – the two have never hooked up before. Hill had worked with Schwarzenegger and Willis, but never Stallone.

Hill pretty much reinvented the buddy movie with 48 Hrs back in the early 80’s and returns to it here with Stallone’s older and crankier hitman, Jimmy Bobo, who is team up with an out of town cop Taylor Kwon (Sung Kang) investigating crimes with which he is associated.

Sly normally would be playing this role all serious and mopey (See Assassins, The Specialist); but here he has loosened up and plays the role funny, impatient and occasionally bitterly angry. And it’s just the right sort of energy he needs for the role. Sung Kang makes for an affable enough counter-part but often is there to react and needs to work on some of his dialogue timing instead of leaving uncomfortable pauses before figuring out how to respond.

This then may be down to the editing which does offend in places. It seems that more than one person has hacked away at this and has either improved half the film, or made half the film worse for it. The action generally is quite good, but does resort in a couple of places to cutting too fast and to shots that are too tight to see the action properly, but generally is very good.

The comedic and dramatic beats are more problematic. But you at least can be sure that when it hits it really does hit. Sly proves more than capable of reeling off a one liner with zest and leaving it ringing in your head. But there are also a few that should have been time edited better or just left out altogether.

There is a short ensemble of villains featuring an amusing turn from Christian Slater (who has also been absent of late). The heavy lifting is left to new kid on the block Jason Momoa, who quite literally towers over Stallone and presents quite the physical challenge.

Also worth mentioning that despite the 15 rating, this is high end 15: In other words if this came out in the time it pays ode to, it clearly would have been given an 18. So purist action fans can enjoy a return to bloody form.

Bullet To The Head is an early surprise in the action genre then. We often get the duds at the start of the year, and this film was shaping up to be that after it’s delayed release, but generally it works very well, and is further justification for Sly to still be doing what he does best. This then isn’t new film making, it’s an old style actioner using all the old tricks.