6 | / 10 |
Users | 4.5 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.9 |
After watching their respective partners die, a cop and a hitman form an alliance in order to bring down their common enemy.
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Sung Kang, Sarah Shahi, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Jason MomoaAction | 100% |
Thriller | 73% |
Crime | 43% |
Comic book | 14% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English SDH, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
UV digital copy
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Revenge may never get old, but revenge actioners sure do. And Sylvester Stallone has all but made a gruff, bullet-riddled career of them. Director Walter Hill's Bullet to the Head is another slice of big, dumb, revenge-driven fun for Stallone, minus enough Big, Dumb or Fun to make it as entertaining as guilty pleasures like The Expendables and its post-genre ilk. It isn't a bad film as bloody escapism goes. Ignoring the rampant clichés, choppy early '90s editing and wooden character bits, the action is at least fittingly fierce and furious. But for a theatrical release, it feels decidedly direct-to-video; the sort grizzled old action stars churn out by the half-dozen to keep gas in the tank and food in the fridge. Stallone isn't exactly hurting for cash these days, though, so what he's doing here is something of a mystery.
Bullet to the Head is a gritty, grimy actioner and its 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer is no different. Lloyd Ahern's palette is caked in muddy earthtones, colorless hues and grimy skintones, and black levels are all over the place; sometimes satisfying, sometimes weak, sometimes so deep that unforgiving crush renders shadow delineation moot. Contrast is a bit hit or miss too, but intentionally so, and much of the film looks exactly as it should, for better or worse. Detail surges and relents from scene to scene, occasionally shot to shot. Grain is intact but uneven. Closeups are striking while overall clarity dips and dives. Softness is prevalent. Several scenes suffer from suddenly oversaturated colors (Jimmy and Kwon's visit to Lisa's house for one). And fine textures are sometimes undermined by slight, arguably negligible macroblocking. The question then becomes how close to the source is Warner's encode? For the most part, it's dead on. Still, too many issues crop up, relatively minor though each one may be, and the results are more unremarkable than you might expect from a newer theatrical release.
Stealth isn't exactly a quality Bullet to the Head's assassins embrace, and Warner's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track adheres to their philosophy. Loud, unruly and undeniably involving, it's lossless action as lossless action should sound. LFE output is never restrained, the rear speakers dive into the fray every chance they get, and pinpoint directionality and enveloping ambience rounds out the aggressive and explosive experience. Moreover, dialogue is clean, clear and well-prioritized throughout (in spite of a few lines that get dragged beneath the ever-erupting chaos) and Steve Mazzaro's score makes itself right at home in what could have otherwise been an overcrowded soundscape. Bullet to the Head may not be pretty, but as sonic killers go, it delivers.
Bullet to the Head only includes one extra: "Mayhem Inc." (HD, 9 minutes), a much too brief featurette that's more enjoyable than any scene in the film. It also just so happens to be for an action movie that looks way better than the one I just watched, which makes the disappointment sting that much more.
Hill is rusty, Camon's script struggles, Stallone isn't given a lot to work with, and Bullet to the Head looks like it was much more fun to make than it is to watch. Even so, there's enough big, dumb fun here for a decent rainy Friday rental. Just enough, but enough. Warner's Blu-ray release makes for a decent rental too, thanks to a solid video presentation and an explosive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track. Its barely-there supplemental package is a letdown, though, and the film is largely left to stand on its own. Whether or not that saves it from the bargain bin is entirely up to you.
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