Bullet

I've been at 2 different screenings and have seen two different versions of the movie - the US cut distributed & cut by Giant Ape and the much better Director's Cut distributed by SC Films International. I just recommend everyone - WATCH THE DIRECTOR'S CUT - these are 2 completely different movies! As a huge fan of Trejo I can't believe what these incompetent guys at Giant Ape did with this movie! The Director's Cut (International version) is really a great cinematic action-thriller, but the Giant Ape / US version is a slow-paced drama which reminds of a typical boring TV crime movie. The slow-paced US cut misses a lot of necessary scenes which are very important for the story, for the characters and for the pace of the movie. Instead it seems like they just put together the worst & most boring scenes with an absolutely boring score (Chris Ridenhour's score in the Director's cut is much, much more better!). The Giant Ape cut should be seized immediately!

This should be shown on all film schools worldwide as a classic example how editing & scoring can change & ruin a movie.

Everyone who watches both versions will understand my anger. If you want to see a good movie just watch the Director's Cut (International version)! 9 of 10 stars for the Director's Cut. 1 of 10 stars for the US version.

I love to see Danny Trejo acting, so I'm familiar with almost all of his movies. This movie in particular have a common plot but in a different manner, what makes this a 4.5-5.0 rating is the poor directing, many scenes were bad and never made again, in other words with a good director this movie would get a 5.5-6.0 rating. Danny Trejo is Danny Trejo. What else can you say? That stoic face delivers good lines and those hammer-fists deliver country-boy style beat-downs. You can just tell these two guys, along with the rest of the cast, had a boatload of fun making this action packed film and prove once again that producers don't necessarily have to use high-end special effects and martial arts to make a great action flick. Give me a good story and some solid acting like this film delivers.

Having seen many Trejo movies, and having loved many of them (not all mind you, just many), I was disappointed with this one.

In order to make a old man into a larger than life figure, you need to pull off a small miracle. You need to bend and direct the audience's perception juuuuust right. Machete pulled it off, but Bullet simply does not. Danny does not truly appear as a larger than life character who takes charge and lives life dangerously, but instead as a nearly retired cop who has too many problems. I confess that I don't have the technical movie knowledge to adequately explain what I'm trying to say.

I can only say that the movie felt.. like the illusion was empty.

Trejo's movies are usually somewhat outlandish, heavy on the "grindhouse" style, and inventive. This film has none of that. It seems that the director decided to try making it more dramatic instead. The fun and vivacious extremity I was expecting was instead replaced with old cop movie clichés.

The acting was poor because it tried too hard, the execution was plodding and halting. The special effects were disappointingly poor. It seems the director and editor had no concept of what I like to call "vicinity errors". These occur when the objects being used in the scene do not correctly stay in their places from scene to scene, or their behavior defies the common sense expectations of the viewers. Essentially, the area around the actors isn't correctly used. Bullets hitting their targets too long after being fired, objects being there one second and gone the next, or a character taking his hat off twice in the same scene without putting it back on in between.. These are vicinity errors and are usually are the result of bad editing. This movie has too many of them.

It was not a bad film. It just simply didn't shine with any of the usual Trejo brilliance.

BRIEF BLU-RAY REVIEW: Whatever shortcomings the film may have, the Blu-ray will blow your frigg'n PANTS off!

It's very interesting that another reviewer here mentions a completely different Director's Version distributed by another company. I don't personally know anything about that, but I DID just finish watching the U.S. release and I can kind of see what he means.

Without knowing that there is another version, my first thought also was that the directing or something was a little off... But, maybe it might have been the USUAL producers meddling with it in post-production. But, it still is a fun enough 80 minutes or so. A bit of a shame too... Because with sharper editing or better scene choices I think the film could have been much more effective. They should have just left the Director's original intention alone (as usual...)

Trejo does his usual Kick@ss job, and a few of his lines are great. My favourite was the one he said after dealing with the French lawyer. Pretty funny. And, OF COURSE, Jonathan Banks is ALWAYS awesome.

Bloody BEAUTIFUL car too! (and I have a Classic 1969 Mustang, but even so...)

There is some fun to be had here. Just try your best to overlook whatever studio meddling was done and enjoy it for the CHEEEEEEEEEZ that it is. Sit back and relish Jonathan Banks and Danny Trejo's Bad@ssedness, and you should have a fun ride...

I like a lot of direct to DVD movies, and I also happen to like Danny Trejo, so I thought that I would enjoy "Bullet". But it turned out to be one of the worst movies I've seen for quite some time. The signs of a troubled production are quickly made evident by the opening credits, which list five (!) writers - too many cooks spoil the broth, and too many writers result in the movie having a lot of moments that are somewhat unclear or don't make the least amount of sense. The low budget also hurts the movie at times. While there are some bits that look very slick despite the low budget, often the movie looks underlit or has rotten photography. Also, the decision to use CGI for bullet wounds just doesn't work, with the splatter looking really phony. The movie is also directed with low energy, with the action mostly coming across as flat and not the least bit exciting. The low energy behind the camera may also explain why Trejo seems to be phoning his performance in instead of going all out. In short, this is pretty lame stuff.