Blu-ray Review: Sylvester Stallone’s ‘Bullet to the Head’ Misfires

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CHICAGO – “You had me at f**k you.” The gruff, primal tone of a line like that delivered by Sly Stallone and directed by the legendary Walter Hill has an undeniable B-movie kick but there’s not enough of that in “Bullet to the Head,” ceremoniously ignored in theaters and likely to find a bigger audience at home but still a disappointment. Don’t believe the hype that made this flick out to be a total disaster — Hill is too talented for that — but it is a misfire.

Rating: 2.0/5.0

Based on a graphic novel (not exactly the source material one would expect from Hill), “Bullet to the Head” actually gives Sly his best role in years (certainly better than “The Expendables” flicks) as a brute force of nature, a hitman who can just as easily kill you with the guns on his arms as in his holsters. Stallone works in nearly every aspect in “Bullet.”

It’s everything around him that falters. The supporting cast, led by Sung Kang as the cop forced to work with Sly’s hitman, is boring and completely unengaging and to say I didn’t give a damn about the plot would be an understatement. Everything in “Bullet to the Head” that engages happens in a vacuum. Oh, that’s a cool fight scene between Sly and that guy from “Cougar Town.” Why is that happening? Oh, yeah, I don’t care.

Special features on “Bullet” are incredibly slight but that makes sense given the insane nose dive that the movie took in theaters, failing to gross even $10 million to date.

Bullet to the Head was released on Blu-ray and DVD on July 16, 2013
Photo credit: Warner Bros.

Synopsis:
Sylvester Stallone gives a powerful performances in this “lean and mean” (The Hollywood Reporter) white-knuckle thrill-ride. When the partner of aging New Orleans hit man Jimmy Bonomo (Stallone) is murdered, Bonomo vows to take down those responsible. He teams up with a young D.C. cop (Sung Kang), and the unlikely partners are drawn into a tense, dangerous cat-and-mouse game with a ruthless “businessman” (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje).

Special Features:
o Bullet to the Head: Mayhem Inc.

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com