Bullet to the Head Reviews

Revenge still works and so does this movie. Director, Walter Hill returns in over a decade and delivers one of his best films ever, it delivers his classic trademark of seriousness, action and dark humor that are still a winning combination. A skillfully crafted, stylish, cool and hard-boiled action-thriller. It's tough, intense, at times unsettling and shattering, it dose not forget who these characters are and what they do. And a great set of characters they are, the cast is solid and deliver the goods. Sylvester Stallone is a powerhouse, he gives a strong and terrific performance, he still proves he can do more than most young action heroes can and has a blast doing it. Sung Kang is exceptional. Kang and Stallone have some great chemistry in their scenes. Jason Momoa is excellent. Momoa and Stallone have some great and well-crafted fight scenes. It's an adrenaline-soaked action-packed thrill-ride from start to finish. A heart-pounding, wickedly funny and very entertaining movie. I loved this movie.

This movie thinks we're living in the 1980s and just wants to be a simple, shoot em' up action flick with Stallone. This would be fine, if we weren't living in 2013 where we've seen this film 100 times before. Jason Momoa was good though.

Bullet to the Head is every Sylvester Stallone movie cliche rolled into one, which wouldn't have been a bad thing if the film didn't take itself so seriously. There is no sense of fun here; the tone tries to be gritty and realistic but the script seems like it was written to be over the top formula action.
Seriously, how do you make such a poor excuse for a B-movie with a title like "Bullet to the Head" and with a cast that includes Stallone, Sung Kang, Mr. Eko, and Khal Drogo...I mean, Jason Momoa? How do you set up an axe fight and have it end in a lame lucky shot instead of a beheading? And is dialogue like "I'm going to kill you with a rock" or "If I asked for your opinion, I'd buy you a brain" really the best one-liners that you could come with? This movie is a total bomb. Go see Arnold's new movie, The Last Stand to see a silly B-movie done right.

There's nothing really wrong with Bullet to the Head other than the fact that it's completely forgettable. Nothing original, nothing you'll remember, nothing to set it apart from every generic action movie. On a bored afternoon you can do much worse, but if you buy this on blu-ray, you're making a mistake.

Bullet to the Head is a buddy cop action films that has been better done, tightly written, and more importantly of good quality. This film won't appeal outside of its target demographic, but for those who are the target demographic will see it as a serviceable fun ride.

Bullet to the Head is about a New Orleans hitman and a Washington D.C. detective form an alliance in order to bring down their common enemy. Now the main reason this won't appeal outside of it fan base is it unoriginality and overuse cliches. A fan of the action genre can look past these flaws, but it will still bug fans. Now since this a buddy cop action film there's some good laughs to be had here in the comedy aspect, but Stallone partner in the film almost entirely useless. He helps Stallone once or twice, but most of the time Sung Kang either needs be rescue, does nothing important, or is just their be made off. Plot has ever so rarely been a strong aspect in Stallone action films, but considering what's on his resume (Stop! or My Mom Will Shoot) you could do allot worse.

Now time for the good aspects of the film which includes Sylvester Stallone in the leading role. He's basically here to act tough and kill people on screen which if you enjoy seeing this won't disappoint. It makes good use of its R rating by including a good amount of blood and brutal deaths. What also helps in the action section is Walter Hill direction. While his gun fights are nothing special where the film does shine are in the film fight scenes. Given that Walter Hill also directed "The Warriors" expect some good brutal fights and a terrific ax battle towards the end. The actors that play the heroes were good or at least serviceable at best. Though the actors that played the villains are awful. Not a single actor that played a villain was even close to being average. The worst offender being Jason Momoa who does looks menacing, but when he talks he loses all presence of being a villain.

Bullet to the Head is not going to appeal outside of it fan base for it's unorginal, cliche, and might make some want to put an actual bullet to their head due to amount of stupidity in it. For those who do enjoy Stallone in a leading role killing baddies in a simple to follow plot with good amount of humor and action than this might do trick. Though you might prefer watching the star and director superior previous works instead for quality films.

When hitman Stallone and his partner carry out what they assume to be an everyday hit, unaware that the man they executed was a crooked cop, the victim's partner (Kang) arrives in town to track down his killers. With Stallone's partner murdered by a mercenary (Momoa) in a bar, Kang and Stallone reluctantly team up to find the men responsible for both deaths, employing wildly opposing methods of investigation.
Based on a French comic book, it's fitting that 'Bullet to the Head' be directed by a true auteur like Hill. Directors of his nature sadly don't exist anymore; men whose movies could be enjoyed equally by the film scholar and the Saturday night six-pack guzzler. You can almost imagine Hill initially turning down the job, grunting something along the lines of "I'm too old for this shit", only for the producers to kill his dog and kidnap his daughter, forcing him to direct at gunpoint in chained ankles. Whatever his motivation, he's proved that when it comes to visceral action cinema, there are few better. In a Walter Hill movie, gunshots sound that extra few decibels louder, blood looks slightly more red, and anyone can die at anytime. It's a template he sticks to here, transporting us back to a time before post-modern cynicism and smart-ass genre deconstruction took the fun out of the action movie.
Over the decades, Stallone has been honing his comedic chops but never quite found a fitting role. This is easily the funniest performance he's ever given, playing his character like a cross between John Wayne and a Jewish stand-up. Kang is no great actor but plays the straight man role well enough, basically just there to take insults from Stallone. It's similar to the dynamic of Nolte and Murphy in Hill's '48 Hours', another rare effective blend of comedy and action. There are several nods to 'The Searchers', one of Hill's favorite films, with Stallone even repeating "That'll be the day" at one point. The action icon's age is mocked nicely, the film's eye candy (Shahi) now his daughter rather than a love interest.
Do you like your action movies to consist of two guys bickering in a car between ballistic, bone-crunching set-pieces, eventually climaxing with a girl tied to a chair in a disused power plant while two 'roided up men fight to the death with axes, all in a brisk ninety minutes? If so, this is the film for you.

More of a kick to the head than a shot to the heart, Sylvester Stallone's standalone comeback ends up to be more of a number two with a Bullet. Oh, it starts out well enough, with the once and future Rambo Balboa kicking ass like a well-oiled dependable Expendable. Unfortunately, even under the capable direction of veteran action helmer Walter Hill (The Long Riders, Last Man Standing, 16 Blocks), this formulaic Head-case tends to drag in-between explosively exciting set pieces. Like the misbegotten remake Get Carter, moviegoers will hope for a decent Stallone vehicle out of nostalgia, but it just slowly gives credence to the argument that the Italian Stallion needs to be put out to stud.

In this R-rated actioner based on a French comic book, a DC cop (Sung Kang) and a Crescent City hitman (Stallone) form an alliance after watching their respective partners die at the hands of a common mercenary (Momoa).

It's a shame, really. Grizzled Italian oak-of-a-man Stallone looks amazing and shows better action chops than most younger shoot-'em-up wannabes (John Cena, Liam Hemsworth, etc.). Also, Momoa (Conan the Barbarian, HBO's Game of Thrones) proves to be a worthily villainous opponent as a seemingly modern Viking warrior. Unfortunately, in-between ridiculously quotable bon mots, the patently silly and disbelief-busting script slowly connects the dots toward Cliché - not Crescent - City. Thanks to some fizzled chemistry, the flat buddy cop formlua invites less comparisons to Hill's 48 Hours and more to its anemic sequel, Another 48 Hours. Stallone deserves better...so do action fans, however.

Bottom line: Demolition pan.

Bullet to the Head
Director: Walter Hill
Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Sung Kang, Sarah Shahi, Jason Momoa, Christian Slater
Rated: R
Running Time: 92 Minutes

By all accounts, Walter Hill's New Orleans set buddy-action flick, Bullet to the Head, is not a good movie. For the majority of its running time, it's poorly directed, hopelessly clichéd beyond abandon, features a sleepwalking Stallone as its protagonist, and an unintentionally annoying Sung Kang as the cop accidentally brought into the generic conspiracy located at the film's relentlessly conventional core. Even those interested in trashy, old school thrills will come off disappointed by the sheer lack of personality on display. These harsh critiques mostly apply to the first 80 minutes: A crudely assembled pastiche of 80s and 90s hackneyed plot points, and conversations which follow for of a Mad Libs type structure compared to similar films of its ilk. For an R-rated Sylvester Stallone vehicle directed by former champion of action Walter Hill, including up-and-coming king of carnage Jason Momoa (Conan the Barbarian), the best aspect shouldn't be a cameo by Christian Slater as a flamboyant and corrupt lawyer. This isn't meant as an insult toward Slater, but not having the most memorable part of an action film named Bullet to the Head be a bullet to any part of the anatomy should be a violation of one of the biggest unspoken laws of filmmaking.

Let me stress this again: These harsh critiques only necessarily apply to the first 80 minutes. I say this because Bullet to the Head contains one of the best third act twists in recent memory. After spending almost its entirety following the conventions of 80s and 90s action flicks down to the tee, at the very last few moments Hill and screenwriter Alessandro Camon tear us away from the formula for an incredibly exciting climax. Set in an abandoned firehouse, it takes the traditional trope of the "protagonist has important information/bad guys have hostage who's family to the protagonist" featured in every other action film, and then literally blasts it to smithereens. It's exciting, exhilarating, and almost redeems the film for the monotony which came before it. The dull 80 minutes which proceed this climax actually assist its impact; had they been just as interesting and fun to watch as the last 12, it wouldn't of had the same force. Although it may just be in comparison to what came before it, Hill nearly successfully redeems himself at the end, but there's little else to recommend other than Christian Slater.

He hasn't been in a theatrically released film since Uwe Boll's 2005 financial and critical disaster Alone in the Dark, and has been serving his exile in the direct-to-video bin ever since. Despite Walter Hill not having made a film in over 10 years, and Stallone not carrying a starring role in a wide release, non-franchise film since 2001's Driven, the person most in need of a comeback vehicle is Slater. Hill will always have 48 Hours and The Warriors. Stallone will always have the Rambo and Rocky series, along with the continuing cash cow of The Expendables franchise. But, at the end of the day, it's Christian Slater who really needs the return to the spotlight. He's a fun actor, and proves his comedic timing and excellence in playing smarmy characters here in a tiny role. It's nice to see Stallone carrying a film, even better to have Hill back behind the camera, but putting Slater back on the big screen where he belongs is a decision worth celebrating.

I have to say I am a huge Stallone fan and that is alot of reason why i wanted to see this movie. I think the film feels grity like an old school Stallone flick from the early 90's. I liked it because it had a basic kick ass don't take names action in it unlike so much other shit out these days. the down side of the movie is that it held no real good story and no suprises like at all ... but hey if your a huge stallone fan like myself then it's a much watch

Stallone, you did it again! No seriously, you did the same thing that you do in all your movies, again.

Was a typical Stallone movie with fights and action and a plot interesting enough that you werent bored for the duration but it couldve had a little more action!

Bullet in The Head has some Moments but Overall it's like Watching a Made for Cable-Cinemax Show like Banshee & Strike Back that takes away it's thrills but since The Film was Released a Year Later but It Felt like almost 20 Years since It blended The Storylines of 94's The Specialist & 96's Assassins with some 80's Style of Humor that was Close to Walter Hill's 48 Hours that Walter Hill directed 30 Years Ago.Overall-Bullet is a Good Redbox Rental or a Dollar Cinema Film.

Coming from Walter Hill of The Warriors and co-writer of Alien I should be getting something at least solid, but nope. If not for the violence, this movie is indistinguishable from a bad TV movie. It revels in cliche. Sung Kang's role is also one of the worst cinematic cops in recent memory.

This movie sucked but I had a some what fun time watching it. The action was well done and I guess that's all that matters.

Walter Hill's first film in almost ten years as director doesn't see him in top form. It's more like he is just here to add a little extra grit and bone-crush to the action set pieces and fights. Those scenes are, for sure, the highlights of the movie. When Sylvester Stallone, the current mid 60 Human Growth Hormone Superstar back in cineplexes this week, is beating the crap out of someone it is brutal... that is, when you can see the choreography (which itself is decent and, in the climax, energetic) amid the clusterfuck of edits and dizzying shots. You can hear it as well, which perhaps helps Hill's viscera in here.

But the screenplay stinks. It's almost generous to give it high a rating as it is, though with material like this Stallone is able to bring a couple of guffaws and titters with his (though mostly mean) banter against his 'sidekick', his character being a brutal hitman next to a tough but law-abiding cop (Sung Kang). Clocking in at 91 minutes, including credits, there's not a surprise I could find with this one. The most I could see that Hill brought to the table in terms of filling up the screen with content was a) some good bluesy rock on the soundtrack (RL Burnside even pops up) and sets his story in New Orleans - excuse me, sorry, "Crescent City", of course, how could I mistake it with its creole and crawfish and ragtime street parades. and...

It's all here: the dead partner needing revenging, the boilerplate corrupt city of (most) cops and urban developers (seriously have they learned nothing from Lex Luthor in the Evil Real Estate Development thing?), and the Big Nasty Bad Guy. And while I don't think he's necessarily a 'good' actor, Jason Momoa does carry nasty screen presence, which is fine and serves the character to a point. Hell, so does Stallone, even with his weirdly chiseled body and his face full of botox and god-knows-what. But is this all worth it when, again, the script is just reheated crap from the early 90's that Hill back then might have turned down as being too close to, you know, 48 Hours and Another 48 Hours?

To be fair, he might have looked at this as a way of getting back into doing something honest-to-goodness down and gritty, a no-winking action movie (I will give it this, it's not the Expendables in terms of winking at its audience). But what else is there? I wanted the movie to give me something to work with, especially in the absence of a compelling sidekick - no, Sunk Kang is not it, not even close, and Joel SIlver's decision to drop Thomas Jane from the film was a grave mistake, all that's added to distinguish him from anyone else are a couple of Asian jokes from Sly - and villain who just has a basic snarl (Adabesi from Oz/Mr. Echo from Lost here with an odd physical impairment - why it's there, who cares). I was happy to see Christian Slater for a couple of minutes, perhaps he could have made a more interesting main villain. But instead he's relegated to being the closest thing to 'comic relief' as a stooge lawyer.

Maybe meatheads will eat this up. I was mildly entertained in small doses, bored in larger ones. I might be more forgiving if this was just by another hack-for-hire, or even moreso if it was a young director with something to prove. But I was already impressed last month, thanks to a director who DID have something to prove and did, Jee-Woon Kim, with his Schwarzenegger vehicle The Last Stand. That film didn't take itself seriously, but could still deliver a different, wild action movie amid the genericness. This is just the latter. Skip it for late night Cinemax viewing, maybe with a double with Tango & Cash... no, scratch that, Stallone/Russel beats this by far.

Well, I don't know about you guys but when I hear about a movie being titled Bullet to the Head I would usually think it sounded stupid and dumb. But, the only reason why I gave this movie a chance is because it starred Sylvester Stallone and I'm always up for 80s action stars kicking ass in the 2000s because its been working so far. I'm a huge fan of 80s type action movies so if you get anyone like Schwarzenegger, Stallone, or Willis to star in a film I'll definitely give it a shot. After seeing Bullet to the Head I can say that this movie is really stupid, predictable, and silly but it's still a fun time. Bullet to the Head is about a killer named Jimmy Bobo whose partner was killed at a bar. To get revenge on the guys who killed his partner he must team up with Taylor Kwon, a cop whose partner was also killed. Together these two men go after the group that was responsible for both their partners deaths and take out anyone who gets in they're way. Like I said earlier I only wanted to see this mainly because of Stallone and I'm glad I did because if I would have gone in expecting a great action movie I would have been disappointed. My best advice to anyone who wants to see this movie is go in expecting pure 80s action fun because this is not a well made film. The writing to this movie is bad most of the acting was bad but that's ok because this movie knows what its doing. What makes this movie enjoyable to me is the action and Sylvester Stallone's performance. The action in this movie is done very well in this movie because the choreography to the fight scenes was great and all of the action was shot very well. Another thing that makes the action in this movie so fun to watch is the sound effects, every time someone got hit in this movie it just sounded so real and made you feel like you were right there watching these two men fight. Sylvester Stallone is now 66 and what amazes me is that he still looks like a monster and he can still kick a lot of ass. Watching Stallone in this movie was a lot of fun to watch because its him kicking ass and cracking some jokes here and there. The other performance in this movie that I enjoyed is from Jason Momoa who plays a very menacing villain, I would like to see him play some more villains in the future! As far as directing goes Walter Hill does a decent job, nothing great but it's far from bad. Since this is like a 80s action movie you can expect some clichés and poorly written dialogue but if your a fan of those type of movies that you'll get past that. As far as the rest of that cast goes they weren't that good and not worth talking about. This movie is far from great and very forgettable but I still had fun while watching this movie. I would recommend this to any fan of 80s actions movie or fans of Stallone because I think you'll have fun with this one. I just thought this movie was just trying to be badass by titling it Bullet to the Head but literally everyone who was shot in this film was at least shot in the head one time.

Good old fashioned Stallone. Yet a new unique character creation. Great action, awesome acting by Sly as usual, and a fun spin on replacing the buddy cop action flick with a buddy cop and hitman action flick. I enjoyed the character of Jimmy Bobo as he is very unique from other Stallone characters. Rocky is the loveable, all around hero soaking in wisdom. John Rambo is a quiet, brooding killing machine, Jack Carter is a sauve, yet emotional and obsessive compulsive character, Barney Ross a very smart tactical leader who seems much like Stallone himself as a lead actor and director, and now in Jimmy Bobo Stallone has created a cold calculated, tattooed a-hole who uses excessive force to respond to offending actions, as well as wordshe doesn't appreciate. The comparisons to 80s action movies I think is a bit unfair as that is just a stigma on Sly himself and the tag-line "Revenge Never Gets Old" doesn't really help that stigma disappear very much. Frankly it only makes it worse, but I suppose that's marketing for you, which to me really hurt the film. Bullet to the Head seems to be a box office bomb, but that is because Warner Brothers dropped the ball. The poster speaks volumes on that. The film features a very unique ax fight scene in the climax. Why not feature that on the poster instead of a very generic 80s looking collage design? This film deserved so much more, and could have made much more than it has or will. It's action packed with great fight scenes, and better dialogue. It is something you can really munch on some popcorn to and just have fun at the movies, which seems to be a lost concept outside of anything but Superhero flicks these days. So Go see it! Don't waste your money on stupid garbage like Hansel and Gretel Witch Hunters, see Bullet To the Head instead. You'll be glad you did.

Fairly entertaining - 80(s) action movie, seen one seen them all... so it is predictable. An okay movie for my weekly movie fix.