Bullet to the Head

Walter Hill was a hugely popular director back in the 70's and 80's - The Driver, The Warriors, 48 Hrs., Brewster's Millions, Red Heat - as was also well known for producing Alien and Aliens. He hasn't had a cinematic release in over ten years so Bullet To The Head is being touted as his big return to movie making. In a way, it is a return... to how movies were made back in the 70's and 80's. But audiences have come a long way since then, expecting a little bit of brain with their brawn.

Based on a series of popular graphic novels, the story begins with Jimmy Bobo (Stallone) and his partner assassinating a crooked cop, under contract by the city's big bad guy Morel (Akinnuoye-Agbaje). But Morel has hired a mercenary (Momoa) to kill Bobo and his partner, succeeding only with the latter. When the crooked cop's ex-partner (Kang) shows up, he and Bobo set up an uneasy alliance to bring down the mercenary, the big bad guy, and their sleazy lawyer (Slater). Bobo's ultra-violent way of dealing with the situation clashes with the cop's law-abiding way of life, so even though they team up, they're constantly at loggerheads over their approach to every new bad guy they come across.

Loaded with cheesy one liners and over-the-top violence, Bullet To The Head is a call-back to the type of action movies they just don't make anymore, with good reason. The plot tumbles along with 90 per cent of the dialogue being, literally, plot provided by Google searches, and the other 10 per cent featuring amazing clunkers like "You put one hand on my daughter and I will kill you with a rock." There is quite a bit of fun to be had with Stallone's casual racism, along with some savage shoot-outs and fist-fights, culminating with an axe-scrap with the impressive Momoa, which for film fans amounts to Rambo VS Conan. Fight fight fight! But this film's IQ is barely in the double digits, and it doesn't have the excuse of not knowing any better, unlike the crass 80's action flicks it's clearly trying to imitate.