L'amour ou la mort

What a massive desception this flick is, A movie based around a plot as thick as ice is on a hot-Summer night is usually something you don't want to step on, normally there would be some leverage before the layer breaks but beware step on this and you won't need a peddle you'll be swimming.

Picture this: a light-hearted action movie about a cold-blooded killer that does not hold back on the violence. Well that pretty much describes Love and a bullet. Ironically, whyat makes the the movie light-hearted is the honest and probably realistic reactions to many of the little speeches as well as certain actions that the main character has. A key example being when a fellow hitman gives him a speeck about "the life" and the main character simply says that after thinking about it for awhile he has no clue as to what his associate was talking about. Also, there are many points where this movie will fall into the typical hollywood syndrome of making the character overyl pathetic with the rush of emotion but it doesnt, instead, it makes him even more of a badass. Another unique aspect is that the majority of the movie is the main character reflecting on how he became a a hitman, eventually going into into his confusion over his presetn situation and comparing it to another similar event in which he fall s on love with a fellow hitman (or hitwoman to be more accurate). As for the action scenes, three movies came to mind: The Way of the Gun, Eqilibrium, and Legend of Drunken Master. The final martial arts bout at the end clearly shows its Legend of drunkne master unfluence with the villian fighting mainly on one foot and at oppne time balancing himself on one foot in a kick stance. Also, you kinda see a rugh draft of Equilibrium's gun-kata although Love and a Bulllet's obviously has break-dancing as a basis for it. As for way of the gun, i only though of that becuase there is an instance where a baddy is hiding behind a corner and his foot is visible by the hero resulting in the baddy's foot being shot.

This movie was quite unique with the way it tried to show the on and off conscience of a "cold blooded killer." They should've made the movie a bit more longer with a more complicated storyline and also, the lead actor should've been Michael Jai White and NOT the rapper from Naughty by Nature! Other then that, good fight sequences, adequate storyline and nice humorous moments.

Kantz and Ramsey also put together "The Big Hit", which I disliked so much, I demanded my money back from the video store. But I admit that there is something appealing about this one.

The film is an attempt to do comic noir, and is definitely of a flavor similar to that of Tarantino's films and of the British neo-noir.

The problem such films have is one of bad taste - it's difficult to know when killing and hurting people can be made amusing, and when it just hurts and laughing at it is stepping close to something profoundly unhealthy.

However, "Love and a Bullet" only crosses that line a couple of times; and I think much of the appeal of the film comes out of the performance of Treach, who is right on the money throughout. Some of the dialog is over much, and more could have been done with less - although I admit that for a film put together for half-a-million in 2002, this really looks well-made. But I really mean less in the story and in the dialog, which goes over the top once too often to suit me.

But on the whole, an entertaining Post-Modern crime comedy of the 'outre' variety.

When I first saw the trailer to this movie on some other action DVD, I thought, "You must be kidding me. This has got to be the worst straight-to-video HK-action rip-off ever made." But after watching the first few minutes of it on cable, I knew the trailer was all wrong. They'd focused on all the wrong elements. I found "Love and a Bullet" to be something of a black "Snatch"-type movie (no jokes, now), very tongue-in-cheek and enjoyably self-referential. The final battle, as silly as it was, was easier to swallow after the movie's setup. After all, it's not a straight gangsta-action movie; it's more of a black comedy. In both senses of the word. Definitely worth the 90-minute investment.