Bullet to the Head (2013)
Average Rating: 5/10
Reviews Counted: 132
Fresh: 61 | Rotten: 71
Bullet to the Head's unapologetically trashy thrills evoke memories of its star and director's proud cinematic pasts -- but sadly, those memories are just about all it has to offer.
Average Rating: 4.8/10
Critic Reviews: 31
Fresh: 12 | Rotten: 19
Bullet to the Head's unapologetically trashy thrills evoke memories of its star and director's proud cinematic pasts -- but sadly, those memories are just about all it has to offer.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.1/5
User Ratings: 24,437
Movie Info
Based on a graphic novel, Bullet to the Head tells the story of a New Orleans hitman (Stallone) and a DC cop (Kang) who form an alliance to bring down the killers of their respective partners. -- (C) Warner Bros
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Cast
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Sylvester Stallone
James Bonomo, Jimmy ... -
Sung Kang
Taylor Kwon -
Sarah Shahi
Lisa Bobo, Lisa Bono... -
Adewale Akinnuoye-Ag...
Morel, Robert Nkomo ... -
Jason Momoa
Keegan -
Christian Slater
Marcus Baptiste -
Jon Seda
Louis Blanchard -
Holt McCallany
Hank Greely -
Brian Van Holt
Ronnie Earl -
Weronika Rosati
Lola -
Dane Rhodes
L.T. Lebreton -
Marcus Lyle Brown
Detective Towne -
Andrew Austin-Peters...
Crawfish Hollow Band... -
Paul Etheredge
Crawfish Hollow Band... -
Robert Cavan Carruth
Crawfish Hollow Band... -
Louis Michot
Crawfish Hollow Band... -
Andre Michot
Crawfish Hollow Band... -
Lacey Minchew
Crawfish Hollow Bart... -
Dominique DuVernay
Waitress -
Dana Gourrier
Deputy Coroner -
Robert Larriviere
Forensic Scientist -
Don Yesso
St. Charles Bartende... -
Douglas M. Griffin
Baby Jack Lemoyne -
Tiffany Reiff
Tattoo Customer -
Jackson Beals
French Lick Bartende... -
Donna DuPlantier
Newscaster -
Andrea Frankle
Masseuse -
Teri Wyble
Belle -
Don Tai
Kim -
Lin Oeding
Lee -
Milos Milicevic
Tall Goon -
Kara Bowman
Medic
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Bullet to the Head Trailer & Photos
All Critics (132) | Top Critics (31) | Fresh (61) | Rotten (71) | DVD (2)
Hill's eye for back alley scuzz is as strong as ever, but the story, adapted from a French graphic novel by Alexis Nolent, is so die-cut it gives neither him nor Stallone anything to work with.
Top CriticOn its own degenerate terms, the movie works.
It's a series of fight scenes that build to a climax that is surprisingly unsatisfying in the way it ultimately plays out.
Sylvester Stallone shoots people in the face. That's it for subtext in this formula action swill. Why do I sound like I should expect more. Because the credits list the director as Walter Hill.
Bullet to the Head doesn't try to adapt its star to 2013. It just pretends that we're still living in 1986. And for 91 minutes, it just about works.
Stallone can still be entertaining, but here he's got no character to play, nothing fun to say, and the craziest hair/hairpiece/scalp growth this side of John Travolta.
The movie's titled Bullet to the Head, what the heck do you think it's going to be?
It says "revenge never gets old." Yeah, but Sylvester Stallone did. Yikes.
A big, dumb action film that charges forward believing Stallone is charismatic enough to sell even bad writing. He's not.
Walter Hill's Bullet to the Head is a gritty and tough throwback to times when action films were simple, fun and still considered entertaining and worth the money.
As unsubtle as its title, this action film is repetitive and packed with silly cliches that should be put to sleep.
Nothing to write home about, but with some decent fight sequences, good stunts, and amusing banter between Stallone and Kang. No need to rush out to the cineplex, although worthwhile to catch on-demand later this year.
The roar dies into a hollow echo, the growl gets gutturally one-note and the grit becomes B-movie background. Has too scuzzy a heart to pump out a deep throb of action. Peel this one back and you get more pit than pulp.
The film could be summed by its product placement for Bulleit Bourbon, treated like a rare luxury when it's actually $20 a bottle at Trader Joe's; director Walter Hill serves this inexpensive, everyday material with a serious flourish.
At its ridiculous best Bullet reminds us why we liked Stallone in the first place. But time has moved on, for him and for us and there's a point where looking back this way stops being entertaining and starts to become sad.
Walter Hill has lost none of his directorial prowess!
What's it about? Some bad guys. And some other bad guys. And some badder guys. And bullets to the head, as though through repetition of the title in action we're meant to finally understand the platonic ideal of how to murder a person with a gun.
A barely passable, if unmemorable, bit of action-heavy entertainment -- as long as you don't think too hard about the script's eye-rollingly contrived setup.
Look, Stallone has a perky daughter. Will she end up tied to a chair in a disused refinery (or something)? You know it.
... a star vehicle for Stallone first and foremost, giving him a potentially intriguing antihero character surrounded by a story that shoots blanks.
Stallone still mumbles the lines, but his timing is pretty good and the jokes are well done. Violent as the film is, the special effects and stunts are impressive, especially the ax fight at the end.
An okay action movie but sadly Stallone has entered into the "who cares" category.
Stallone and Hill make the often-corny dialogue sound not only plausible but weirdly logical.
With a cracked-asphalt voice, a shaved-wildebeest hide, the veined musculature of Swamp Thing and the apparent flexibility of a tree trunk, the aging Sylvester Stallone remains a commanding, amusing and somewhat awe-inspiring screen presence.
Thanks to Hill's directorial brio and some hot-wired one liners, Stallone can still put bad folks out of their misery real fast.
This is a very violent police action film, and that is all you can expect from it.
Audience Reviews for Bullet to the Head
Super Reviewer
It's one of those "uneasy alliance" films- something Hill is no stranger to. How exactly the plot comes together and why these two team up is a bit of a mess, but that's not the point. The point is to see a veteran action star and a veteran director make an ass-kicking action film.
There is some success in this aim. The film has lots of action, and it is entertaining. But, overall, it's a rather lackluster and generic thriller, and that's a shame. The film is really typical in all the ways you'd suspect (especially the writing), and it really bums me out just how awful of a job the writing and characterization of Kwon was. He's a really dumb, whiny, and ineffectual cop (a lot of the time). I think Kang is fine, and he's just playing the part he was given, but it sucks he couldn't have been given a better part. Maybe they just didn't want someone to outshine Stallone? Yeah, that's probably it.
Stallone is in typical form here, and admittedly some of his banter with Kang is fun, despite being derivative cliche. Christian Slater is okay, but appears all too briefly, which is a real shame. Jason Momoa however, is great as the primary thug, though not chief mastermind antagonist. His axe fight with Stallone is definitely a highlight.
Overall, this is unspectacular stuff. Like I said, I was entertained, and, if you just want some good action and violence, it's here. I'm happy that Hill is still making movies, but I hope that if he makes another one, that it ends up being far better than this one.
Super Reviewer
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- Jimmy Bobo: I know. I've heard the speech. You should have taken him in.
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- Jimmy Bobo: You're starting to sound like a broken record.
- Taylor Kwon: They don't even make records anymore.
- Jimmy Bobo: Right.
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- Taylor Kwon: You don't just kill a guy like that!
- Jimmy Bobo: I just did!
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- James Bonomo: Bang. Down. Owned.
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- James Bonomo: Are you a cop or shrink?
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- Robert Nkomo Morel: In classical literature the hero dies.
Discussion Forum
| Topic | Last Post | Replies |
|---|---|---|
| The most violent film I have ever seen. | 2 months ago | 25 |
| We all know where this movie is heading | 7 months ago | 8 |
| Another Kill Flick with Stallone yeaaaa | 49 days ago | 5 |
| AV Club review | 7 months ago | 2 |
| @RogerMoore | 8 months ago | 0 |
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January 24, 2013:
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June 28, 2011:
Thomas Jane Speculates on the Reasons for His Headshot FiringThe erstwhile Punisher has a few choice words for Walter Hill and Sylvester Stallone.
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Foreign Titles
- Shootout - Keine Gnade (DE)
- Du Plomb dans la tête (FR)
