Review
by Bob Ignizio
After
carrying out their latest assignment, veteran assassin Jimmy Bobo
(Sylvester Stallone) and his partner get double-crossed by their
employer, costing Jimmy's partner his life. The man Bobo killed turns
out to have been an ex-Washington D.C. Cop kicked off the force for
corruption. Because of that, the Washington PD sends one of their
own, a young, tech-savvy (and extremely naïve) Detective named Kwan
(Sung Kang) to investigate. That doesn't sit well with the local
Louisiana cops, for more than just territorial reasons. Kwan quickly
figures out that Bobo had to be the assassin and that his former boss
is trying to kill him, but the fact that the local cops are blatantly
corrupt escapes his notice. After Kwan tracks Bobo down the two
grudgingly accept that they have a common enemy and form an unlikely
team. Lots of shooting, punching, knifing, and assorted other acts of
violence ensue.
Although
based on a French graphic novel, BULLET TO THE HEAD
feels an awful lot like an attempt to replicate the formula of
director Walter Hill's 1982 hit 48 HOURS.
Once again we have an old/young, cop/crook odd couple teaming up to
track down the bad guys, all the while fighting with each other at
least as much as with their enemies until finally reaching a sort of
grudging mutual respect. There isn't nearly as much humor without an
Eddie Murphy type as one half of the team, but there's still a fair
amount of attempted comic relief, even if the Asian driver and
“Stallone is so old” jokes are more likely to elicit groans than
laughs.
As
he's proved in a string of recent hits starting with his RAMBO
reboot and continuing through the EXPENDABLES
franchise, Stallone still has what it takes to be a convincing (and
bankable) action hero. Kang has kind of a thankless role here, being
made to look more or less inept when he isn't using his smart phone,
but his innate charisma comes through nonetheless. Main villain Morel
(Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) is just another generic evil businessman
who is apparently smart enough to run a powerful criminal empire, yet
every decision we see him make in this movie is the dumbest one
possible. Fortunately his flunkies are more interesting, with
Christian Slater making for a fine weaselly attorney and Jason Momoa
providing a formidable foe for Sly.
Hill
directs this like the eighties never ended, which is both good and
bad. On the plus side, he still knows how to shoot a good action
scene with a strong sure hand, and although the film does utilize
some fast cutting, it's done in such a way that the viewer is always
able to follow what's going on. On the downside, the casual sexism
the film exudes is the kind of nostalgia most audiences could
probably do without. Every female character we see in the film is a
prostitute with the exception of Bobo's daughter Lisa (Sara Shahi)
who exists only to patch up the wounds of the protagonists and,
later, to be captured by the bad guys. And then there's the mild
racism, like the aforementioned driving jokes. It's not like it feels
meanspirited, but the tired old ethnic jokes here are so stale they
make one wish for boring, uptight political correctness.
All
issues aside, BULLET TO THE HEAD
is an entertaining, if familiar, action flick. It's not likely to
make enough of a lasting impression to warrant a spate of uneven
sequels like some of Stallone's star turns, but neither should it
sink into badfilm infamy alongside turkeys like OVER THE
TOP, DEMOLITION MAN,
and the ever popular STOP OR MY MOM WILL SHOOT.
2 1/2 out of 4 stars.
Same as Arnold's The Last Stand, your review makes it sound like it aint great, but it aint bad either, these two guys need to do one truly bad ass high caliber movie, like the old days.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that's about right. There are some great bits in here, but it still falls short of being something I can fully recommend to anyone other than hardcore Sly/80s action junkies.
ReplyDelete