Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		2.5

Bullet Blu-ray Movie Review

This 'Bullet' bites.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 22, 2014

Danny Trejo hasn’t been shy about sharing his rough and tumble past, a history which seems to have been etched with some kind of experience laser on every ragged crag and crevice in the actor’s unforgettable face. Perhaps that’s one reason Trejo is typically consigned to villain roles, assignments he just as typically pulls off with a certain lo-fi savoir faire. But Bullet, a film with a rather troubled production history which seems to be going straight to video here with a planned theatrical release in the offing for some European markets, posits Trejo as an undercover cop. Way undercover might be a more appropriate description; as the film begins, in what might almost be seen as an homage to Breaking Bad: The Complete Series, Trejo’s Frank “Bullet” Marasco is seen arriving at a trailer parked out in the middle of a desert (sound familiar?) where Frank attempts to complete a drug deal for what looks suspiciously like some of Walter White’s infamous product. Within seconds, a team of cops arrives, and Frank blasts both of them with his gun, completely freaking out the little weasel who’s selling the drugs. Frank then has the weasel sit on gas cans while Frank barely shows the guy what would happen if he were to shoot one of them, insisting that the guy spill the beans on who his supplier is. It’s a fun opening to what turns out to be a train wreck of a film, one hampered by unclear storytelling and what appears to be at least reams of information left on the cutting room floor. Part of this may stem from a well publicized dispute erstwhile writer-director Nick Lyon got into with co-producer Robert Rodgriguez and FUNimation, a company usually known only for releasing copious amounts of anime. Lyon didn’t just have the usually recited “creative differences” with his superiors; according to several news reports he alleged he wasn't being provided his promised share of the proceeds and was also being denied a promised final cut, actually being kept from accessing the film’s raw data files (long gone are the days when someone like Elaine May actually had to hide film cannisters to try to wrest control of the editing process from the suits). While the initial lawsuit made headlines in the trades, probably due to Rodriguez’s involvement, Lyon’s name remains on the film, so evidently things were patched together at some point, though you wouldn’t know it from the final film. (A really funny website which dissects entertainment lawsuits had a classic riposte about the situation, which quoted a news article about the initial lawsuit which had stated “Lyon is now appealing”. The website’s humorous response was, “What was he before, repulsive?”.)

Part of what ails Bullet is that it seemingly wants to traffic in just about every cliché films of this ilk tend to. Hard bitten cop who doesn’t play by the standard rule book? Check. Cop with a past, including substance abuse and (evidently, though it’s never really fully developed) a professional boxing career? Check. Lovely female FBI Special Agent who gets involved in one of the cop's cases and believes the cop may be engaging in illicit activity himself? Check. Vicious crime syndicate boss who kidnaps not one but two relatives of characters in order to blackmail them into doing his bidding? Check and double check. Bullet lurches from predictable setup to predictable setup. It’s admittedly brisk and enjoyably gritty at times, but there’s not an iota of innovative plotting or characterization here.

Bullet has been responsible for putting the son of a vicious crime boss away, and the kid is facing execution, as breathlessly announced by a local television reporter. Meanwhile, three hooded toughs kidnap a beautiful young couple going for a jog in a park, and it turns out the woman is the daughter of the Governor (John Savage). Kane (Jonathan Banks), the crime boss, phones the Governor’s wife and executes the daughter’s boyfriend right then and there, telling the Governor and his distraught spouse their daughter will be next if his son isn’t spared. That might have provided enough drama for the film, but Lyon and his co-writers then add fuel to the fire by having Bullet’s grandson kidnapped to keep Bullet in check. Add in a treacly subplot where both Bullet and his daughter are recovering addicts, and the whole thing starts to teeter precariously toward self parody.

Meanwhile due to the Governor’s machinations, the FBI is on the case of the jailed son of the crime boss, seeing if he was indeed arrested for good reason. That gets a Special Agent (Julia Dietze) involved, and of course there is bad blood between her and Bullet from the get go. The film does at least not indulge in an eventual romance between these two, which is about the only nontraditional beat the screenwriters take. Along the way, the Special Agent and other cops are led to believe that Bullet has “gone bad”, though of course all he’s trying to do is get his grandson and the Governor’s daughter away from harm. It’s silly, rote and by the numbers stuff, punctuated by a number of fairly violent interludes. Banks is the most watchable cast member here, easily usurping the film from Trejo's stolid but kind of blasé grasp.

Bullet has the makings of an agreeable enough crime thriller, but it’s too haphazard and ultimately silly to carry its own weight. What, for example, is up with Bullet’s cage fighting match and a couple of brief pans across an apartment wall that seem to suggest he had a pro fighting background? Is it only to provide grist for the mill in several hand to hand combat scenes where a frankly pretty beefy Trejo improbably takes out a host of younger, fitter nemeses (nemeses who of course fail to use their guns and who come at him one by one)? And the addict subplot is just an unnecessary footnote (replete with a supposed trauma that is overcome just about as soon as it’s introduced). My favorite odd moment comes right at the end of Bullet when (to no one’s surprise) a happy ending has been achieved and Bullet walks the beach with his daughter and grandson. The grandson gets very excited and begins pointing to something lying in the sand, saying how “cool” it is, and calling his mother over. Soon Grandpa Bullet is staring at the sand as well. Lyon never shows us what this enticing item is, and the closing credits roll begins. Maybe the kid found a pile of edits from Bullet that would have made this film more comprehensible.

Bullet Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Bullet is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Giant Ape Media (part of the FUNimation Entertainment Family) with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.34:1. Whatever troubles beset this film in production, very few of them show up in this rather nice looking high definition presentation. A lot of the film takes place in dusty desert locales, and there's a nice golden hued ambience that pops vividly throughout the film. Contrast and color are very solid and consistent, and interior scenes typically have good to very good shadow detail. Fine detail is excellent in close-ups, revealing those famous crags in Trejo's face and also revealing a weird set of blotches on Banks' bald pate. There is some very minor banding evident in a couple of bright outdoor scenes, but otherwise this is a problem free transfer.

Bullet Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Bullet's Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track provides a lot of bombast in the expected moments like Bullet firing, well, bullets into gas cans, making them explode, or the cage fighting match, both of which are early sequences in the film. A number of other fights, some including gunfire or bone crunching hand to hand combat, also make good use of the surround channels and the LFE channel. Dialogue is very cleanly presented on the track, which also boasts excellent forceful fidelity.

Bullet Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The Making of Bullet (1080p; 19:00) contains the requisite interviews and behind the scenes footage.


• U.S. Trailer (1080p; 1:21)

Bullet Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Trejo fans will probably get enough out of this enterprise to warrant checking it out, even with its manifest flaws. The real calling card here, at least from an over the top turn by a villain perspective, is undoubtedly Jonathan Banks, who seems to be having a field day chewing the scenery and then more or less spitting it directly at the audience. Overall, though, Bullet is too resolutely formulaic to ever amount to much. The technical merits of this Blu-ray are outstanding.