Bullitt County

"Bullet County" was released in 2018. A few years later, lead actor Mike C. Nelson would become a regular actor on the Progressive "Young Homeowners Becoming Their Parents" ads. And I simply could not separate the two parts.

In this film, set in the 1970s, Nelson plays a tortured Vietnam vet with a secret. But I still hear and see Progressive Mike and it's messing with my head. At no point throughout the running time-no matter how completely different the two roles are-I keep picturing Mike ordering a salad or striking up a conversation at a gas station. I understand that this is my issue, but it completely colored my impression of his performance. So that should be considered.

So Progressive Mike is kidnapped by his buddies as a bachelor party-type excursion through the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, which is a weird choice considering he hasn't had a drink in 10 years. Anyway, they camp in the woods and reminisce and honestly the first half of the movie lost me. I wasn't interested. I was distracted by you know who. I was bored. I nearly gave up but it had some decent reviews although I always ignore the 10s, so I hung in there.

The trip turns in to a hunt for buried treasure and they end up at an old couple's home in the woods and then shooting starts and it's a totally different movie. Unfortunately, I'm still not interested and don't care about what's going on because it doesn't make any sense and I CAN'T STOP SEEING PROGRESSIVE MIKE no matter how blood covered or crazy he gets.

Production value-wise it was fairly good considering the budget, although I really dislike the motion caused by the camera movements seen in every low budget film that can't afford stationary cameras. Lighting was good. Acting was okay. Script was problematic and sketchy. I tried to imagine it without Progressive Mike, and in all honesty, I don't think I'd change my rating. I just would have been less distracted.

Poor Mike. He's now in Progressive Flo territory. But it pays the bills.

A tale of fabled buried treasure circa the 1970s, friends swing shovels together in an effort to unearth it. The upshot? So often times, too often, the threat doesn't come from forces external. It manifests when those familiar turn on themselves.

It's a stretch to call this a thriller, but it certainly grips you a little. The movie starts slow, and I mean real sloooow. I was tempted to turn it off a few times in the first 30 minutes. You have a bunch of juvenile-acting hipsters who seem to be goofing around and wasting everybody's time, but you then get the feeling that they have a dark secret hovering over them, which is when things start getting interesting.

The action kind of picks up when they start searching for a treasure which is legend in those parts. Once we reach the psychological part of the movie, that's when the film starts messing with you and you start realizing what you may have missed the entire movie even though it was right in front of you the whole time (starting from the very first scene).

I would recommend checking out this movie, but do not expect a masterpiece. It can be better made, and the suspense scenes can be directed better. The acting is not too bad and the plot is first-class.

I feel I should first tell potential viewers of this independent film that despite its title, and the Netflix description promising this to be a hard-hitting and action-filled exercise, the movie actually has very limited action or suspense. There's nothing wrong with a movie being that way, as long as it's well made enough, but unfortunately this movie really misses the mark. It's a really slow exercise, for one thing - it takes about 40% of the movie before the characters truly find themselves in big trouble. Up to that point - and for much of the remaining running time after that point - the movie is jam-packed with characters spouting endless pretentious dialogue that sounds nothing like what people would say, even in the movie's 1970s setting. (And there seems to be no reason why the movie was set in the 1970s, by the way.) Towards the end (after there have been several points where linking footage seems to be missing, by the way), there are a couple of twists in the plot, but I was able to predict both of those twists long before they actually unfolded. The movie is well photographed, and there is some amusement with one of the key actors looking remarkably like Art Garfunkel, but otherwise, most viewers will want to put a "bullitt" in the head of the writer/director long before the end credits start rolling.

338. Bullitt County. A pretty cool thriller of the independent film variety. It does have the familiar, four college friends get together for one last... in this case it's one last hiking trip before a member of the group, Gordie, gets married. This trip also includes a hunt for buried Prohibition Era treasure. So off into the woods they go, totally ignoring those pesky No Trespassing signs, poking around where they shouldn't be, is when they meet the owners of the property. Sure they're nice at first until they bring up the subject of buried treasure and well, the poop hits the fan! Will they make it out of the woods alive with treasure? Or will some other buried things come to light? Twisted story, may be on the lower budget type flick but still a good watch! Filmbufftim on FB.