Shootout - Keine Gnade

In case you can't discern from the title, this is a *very* violent film, so don't be a putz and take your five or six year old kid, like a couple of people did at the Independence, Missouri AMC screening tonight. There are more triple-taps to the head than any film in recent memory, to the point that it becomes rather over the top by the time the film ends All that said, Walter Hill has woven yet another well-paced, engrossing buddy film actioner with a pretty good left hand twist. Stallone plays a weary New Orleans hit-man very convincingly, and with a very wry sense of humor. Were he any more droll, he would have to become a British citizen.

"Bullet" has everything an Action fan loves...really nasty bad guys, impossibly punishing fights, explosions, hot women, and main characters you can actually care something about. The plot isn't suspenseful, but it isn't meant to be, as our heroes go on what for one is a vendetta, and for the other a bumbling police investigation. Indeed, Sung Kang's Washington DC detective seems at times to have the insight of a rock, but Kang is pretty and plays well alongside the grizzled Stallone.

All and all, if you enjoy this sort of film, well...you'll enjoy "Bullet to the Head".

"The guy I just saved is a cop. That's not the usual way I do things but sometimes you gotta abandon your principles and do what's right." James Bonomo (Stallone) is a career criminal with a partner that he trusts. Taylor Kwan (Kang) is a cop with a partner he trusts. When both their partners get killed by the same man they from an alliance to take him down but being on opposite sides of the law means they both have their own way of doing things. I'll open by saying that this movie was pretty much exactly what I expected. There are actors with a wide range of talent and can play almost any role they want. Then there are actors that can't play a wide range but try to and it never turns out well. Then there are actors like Stallone. He knows is limitations and stays within them, he doesn't always make the best movies but at least he doesn't try and do Shakespere. This is a movie that has the feel of an 80's action movie which is what he is best at. Nothing really new or original but it is entertaining. Overall, if you are a Stallone fan then you will like this. I thought it was OK. I give it a B.

All the ads for "Bullet to the Head" bear the name and image of Sylvester Stallone, an actor who is perfectly at home in this sort of picture: a violent shoot-'em-up with a rogue gun-for-hire working with and against a straight-shooting cop. But, as far as I am concerned, there should be a second name plastered right alongside Mr. Stallone's. The extra credit is not, ironically enough, for the Korean actor Sung Kang, even though he is very good, but instead the film's director. I walked into "Bullet to the Head" with an open mind, hoping that Mr. Stallone could keep up the good track record he's had in the last couple of years (the last "Rambo" and both of the "Expendables" movies), but when I saw the words 'directed by Walter Hill' in the opening credits, I knew I was in for a good time.

It's a little hard to believe that this is the first time these two men have worked alongside one another, since they've both made their names doing the same general sorts of movies, and both have been kicking around Hollywood for roughly the same length of time. Better late than never, for even though "Bullet to the Head" is a little rougher than it might be, thanks to Mr. Stallone's charisma and Mr. Hill's sure hand for coordinating action, this movie does pack a walloping punch.

No time is wasted; the movie gets rolling within the first ten minutes. From the start of things, we know who our protagonist is, we know the central bad guy is, and we know there will be plenty of grisly action sequences. Mr. Stallone and Mr. Kang do have a lot of deliberately amusing moments together, most of the laughs collected whenever they are driving from one seedy New Orleans location to another, bickering about ethics, the justice system, the difference between Japanese and Koreans, and Mr. Stallone's relationship to a sassy tattoo artist played by Sarah Shahi. The villains in the picture are also delightfully self-indulgent: the 'brain' behind the whole operation, which involves the balance of power between organized crime and the justice system, is a crippled man whose signature line is: Never trust a man who doesn't care about money. The subject man is the expected big muscle-man with a smirk, Jason Momoa: a walking mountain of a man who walks in and shoots up an entire bar for little reason other than pleasure.

But what really makes the movie is what Walter Hill has always been a virtuoso at: excellent fight scenes. Mr. Hill sets up his camera at many creative angles. My personal favorite being an overhead shot of Mr. Stallone and Mr. Momoa as they duke it out in a restroom, with one of them being slammed bodily through the stall door and knocking the whole thing down. The camera is also frequently set with wider shots, so we can see more than just a split-second now and then of a fist hitting what we perceive to be somebody's stomach. There is also a great shot where Mr. Kang punches somebody in the mouth, and the man's spittle is caught in an overhead light and shows up as an array of brilliant white specks. Every sort of weapon from handguns to out-dated firefighter axes is used at some point, and, just as the title hints, there are plenty of moments where somebody catches a muzzle blast clean through the forehead. It's exactly the sort of suspension of disbelief that a movie like this needs: a character will waste three or four shots hitting their target in the chest and stomach when, as they demonstrate subsequently, they planned all along to put a fatal round between the eyes.

There's also lots of fun imagery: such as an underwater shot where Mr. Stallone stares down at the submerged body of a man he just killed, and drops the murder weapon right down on top of us. Or a delightfully funny moment where Jason Momoa's head pops out of a scuzzy pond, like something from a 1950s science-fiction flick.

"Bullet to the Head" was a nice surprise: an out of the blue teaming up of two action-movie veterans. Admittedly, the story needs some refining and there are a couple of moments where a key shot seems to be missing (during a climax, a man falls from a rafter and just as he hits the ground, we cut to another scene. A reaction shot would have evened things out and given the scene a more completed feel). But this is a nice kick-start to the new year; of the three movies I've seen in 2013 thus far—and all have been action-orientated—this is the one I would encourage people to see more than once. I have a hankering to see it again, myself, as a matter of fact.

Now i'll admit I'm an action junkie and almost all the movies I review are in this genre. So with that in mind I'm an obvious fan of Stallone and Walter Hill. If you are also you'll like this as he one lines, punches, shoots, explodes and stabs his way through this film. Now the plot is very cliché and predictable which is why I would give it a 6.

However I do enjoy the retro,cheesy 80's feel this movie has. Overall, the film is average but watchable. Thats because of the Stallone/Hill combination and the action throughout. Comparing it to another similar retro action film from an ageing action star in early 2013 (The Last Stand),I felt that the last stand was more fun and enjoyable. But I'd still recommend both films if your a fan of the genre and the actors.

7/10.

With the unlikely alliance with a cop, a career criminal sets about to exact revenge after he is double crossed.

Far more memorable than Schwarzenegger's The Last Stand, writer Alessandro Camon's screenplay (based on Alexis Nolent's graphic novel) and director Walter Hill don't try to reinvent the action-wheel and too the films credit Sylvester Stallone successfully goes against his usual casting playing an unsavoury character namely James Bonomo (Marion Cobretti, Stallone's own "Cobra" would have certainly despised him).

Despite clichés, some unnecessary flashbacks, over exposition, even repeating plot points just in case you missed them the first time around Bullet to the Head is reminiscent of the Fast and Furious in style with a touch Red Heat with the leads conflicting opinions and one-liners. Vetran director Hill proves he still knows how to direct a solid action film with kinetic axe, gun and fist fights. Christian Slater has a memorable cameo with Jason Momoa proving he's more than just a Arnie alternative.

It's and old school action with modern slick delivery, worth a watch.