6.1 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Cult action hero Danny Trejo is Frank Bullet who takes on a ruthless cartel in a race against time to save his family. The body count just keeps rising in this gritty action film laced with typical Trejo humor. This time they messed with the wrong guy.
Starring: Danny Trejo, Julia Dietze, Torsten Voges, Jonathan Banks, Eve MauroAction | 100% |
Thriller | 76% |
Crime | 46% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.34:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
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?”.)
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'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.
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.
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