After the predictable and inevitable letdown of “The Last Stand,” with Arnold Schwarzenegger starring as the leading man, I was highly skeptical to see whether or not another action hero who is well into his 60’s could accomplish what The Terminator failed to. Sylvester Stallone, best known for his iconic roles as Rambo and Rocky Balboa, returns as the leading man in the latest action flick “Bullet to the Head.” Director Walter Hill has some serious credibility, seeing that he’s directed “The Warriors” and has produced all installments of the “Alien” franchise, which gave me some hope before walking into the screening. Others starring in the film include, Sung Kung, Jason Momoa, Sarah Shahi, and Christian Slater.
In “Bullet to the Head”, Stallone plays a hitman who’s criminal record is stacked with arrests and convictions from his past. After being double-crossed by the people who hired him, resulting in the death of his partner, he teams up with a young detective (Kung) to investigate and annihilate the perpetrators. Starting from the bottom of the ladder, the duo climb their way up the ranks busting through one lead to another until they get to the top.
So how did “Bullet to the Head” do in terms of deliverance? As I mentioned before, there was a lot of skepticism directed towards another action flick led by an aged icon, leaving many to wonder if this was just another quick paycheck or if there was something more to the project. “Bullet to the Head” turns out to be a decent action flick, providing some hard hitting scenes and cool dialogue. For a 66-year-old, Stallone still has that smooth deliverance with his dialogue and action sequences. I mentioned in my review for “The Last Stand” that it is important to have a script that meshes well with the star, and in “Bullet to the Head,” that’s exactly what was done. Sung Kung (“Fast & Furious” “Fast Five”), played an excellent opposite to Stallone, both of them balancing each other out and creating hilarious conversations, mostly related to Kung’s race. Huge props go out to “Game of Throne’s” Jason Momoa, who plays the no mercy bad guy with style.
“Bullet to the Head” has its moments and definitely turned out to be better than expected. I’m not going to label this as something more than that, but with the cheeky dialogue and a short run time of 90 minutes, this might be just the thing to check out and enjoy.
Ben Lester (bjams11)
