Bullet to the Head

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Sung Kang, Jason Momoa, Christian Slater, Adewale Akimnuoye-Agbaje
Directed by: Walter Hill
Rating: R
Genre: Action, Thriller
2013

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A hitman (Sylvester Stallone) and a detective (Sung Kang) team up to bring down the criminals responsible for killing both their partners.

Review:

Tim: I'm a bit perplexed that Bullet to the Head wasn't better. I never would have suspected it would be an exceptionally good movie, but the film had a lot going for it. Despite that, the movie is lackluster in every single aspect. It's a generic, run-of-the-mill action movie that will start to leave your memory the second the film is over. It's a forgettable, weak movie, and that's a shame.

Sylvester Stallone is certainly past his heyday, but he made so many good action movies throughout his career, I find it strange that he seems unable to do that recently. He's made a string of mediocre movies, and Bullet to the Head might be one of the worst. It's not that this is a terrible movie, it's just that there is nothing exciting or memorable about any of it. The film is a short 92 minutes, but it feels like a complete rehash- we've been down this road so many times before. We're given a weak script with characters we never fully identify with, so how can we care about anything they do? The story is completely predictable, and the action scenes don't offer anything of real substance or value. The whole film is completely average. This surprises me, to an extent, because Walter Hill has some talent as a director. Sure, he has directed his share of bad movies, but he has some hits as well. Why did this effort fall so flat?

Stallone is fine in this film, but his character is just boring. He's a hitman, but not necessarily a bad guy. How many times have we seen that before? He has a grown daughter, and apparently he has a soft spot. It's a role Stallone has played before, and he seemed like he was just going through the motions. Sung Kang was a nice idea as a different partner opposite Stallone. They had a few good moments together, but their relationship felt quite forced. They didn't have as much chemistry as they needed to have. Jason Momoa was well cast as one of the antagonists. He's such a physical presence on screen, it was fun to see the young, fit Momoa go up against the aging, but legendary Stallone. Their fight was perhaps my favorite scene of the film. I absolutely loved seeing Christian Slater in an actual movie, but he really didn't have much to do and was wasted on screen. I'm a big fan of Adewale Akimnouye-Agbaje, but he did nothing impressive here. The cast was pretty average, overall.

I certainly didn't hate Bullet to the Head, but it did nothing to make me sit up and pay attention. I wasn't very interested in the story or the characters, so I maintained a general sense of boredom and disinterest throughout the entire film. I wasn't entertained much, and I felt a slight sense of happiness when the movie was over. This wasn't the type of film that incensed or angered me, it's just a poor effort from everyone involved. This is a movie that didn't seem to try too hard, and so it's no surprise that it was a failure.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 5.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Expendables, The Last Stand, Last Man Standing, Escape Plan