20140501: Action Review--Bullet

Bullet

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2014, rated TV-MA, 87 minutes, action, crime, thriller.
2. IMDB: 4.2/10.0 from 741 audience ratings.  Estimated budget, 3 million USD.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 13% on the meter; 50% wanted to see it from 27 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.3/5.0 from 2,289 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Nick Lyon.  Written by Nick Lyon and Ron Peer.
6. Starring: Danny Trejo as Frank 'Bullet' Marasco, Jonathan Banks as Carlito Kane, Julia Dietze as Brooke Madison, Torsten Vorges as Kruger, John Savage as Governor Johnson, Eve Mauro as Samantha, Eric Etebari as Manual Kane, Max Perlich as Leroy, Kyle Villalovos as Mario, Tinsel Korey as Vanessa.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Carlito Kane kidnaps the Governor's daughter and her significant other in order to free Carlito's son Manual Kane.  They kill the young man to show how serious they are.


2. Shortly thereafter, Carlito kidnaps Frank's grandson Mario, then attempts to force Frank to recant his testimony against Manual.  Vanessa (Frank's daughter, Mario's mother) uses the money Frank gave her (which he won from prize fighting) to buy drugs.  After she attempts suicide, Frank takes her to emergency.  In the meantime, the Governor takes Carlito's trumped up evidence to force the Attorney General to have Frank arrested.


3. Frank does get arrested, but he and the cops sort things out.  Frank goes rogue for a while, handing in his badge, even though he does not have to do so.


4. Does Frank get Mario back?  Does the governor's daughter get rescued?


3. Conclusions
1. In some of the shootouts, there were way too many bullets shot versus the number than hit.
2. One line summary: Two good performances did not overcome a bad script.
3. Three stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 7/10 OK, not great.


2. Sound: 6/10 A bit out of control on levels at times.  The actors seemed to be miked OK.


3. Acting: 6/10 Danny Trejo and Jonathan Banks are their usual menacing, intimidating selves.  John Savage gave a sub-par performance, which I did not expect.  The other actors were forgettable, except for the terrible Torsten Vorges.


4. Screenplay: 4/10 Throughout the film, I was confused as to whether Frank ever was a righteous cop.  Early on, he kills a couple of cops, for instance.  I was surprised to see that he had a badge a bit later.  After the large number of felonies that he committed, I did not see how he was not arrested.  When Frank and the kids leave the site of his killing spree, I wondered how many years of therapy those two would need later on.  They leave happy, though.  Sigh.