Review: Bullet Head Explores The Real Monsters
- Jan 30, 2018
- 2 min read
Pitched as Reservoir Dogs by way of Cujo, Bullet Head is quite blatantly neither of these.
Stacy (Adrien Brody), Walker (John Malkovich) and Gage (Rory Culkin) find themselves holed in in a seemingly abandoned warehouse following a botched robbery. While they wait for a way out, it soon becomes they're not alone. DeNiro, a massive fighting dog, is free in the warehouse, and he doesn't intend on taking any prisoners.
Bullet Head is a strange movie. The trailer sets it up as an out and out horror, the director made it out to be a combination of well known films and the movie itself is something completely different. While it certainly has elements of horror and the small space and cast are reminiscent of Tarantino's breakout classic, and there is indeed a large and angry dog, Bullet Head never feels scary and never has that patented Tarantino style. What it does have is a surprisingly well told and emotional story that centres around the idea that our past makes us who we are.
Perhaps what is most surprising is the characters. Brody, Malkovich and Culkin give good performances, as does the villain, played by Antonio Banderas. The standout however, is the dog, or more correctly, dogs. DeNiro is portrayed by no less than 5 different animals which, against all odds, form the emotional centre of the movie. You'll be rooting for him. Not to kill the heroes, they don't deserve it, but to get out, to get away from everything that made him what he is.
Bullet Head isn't one for the dog lovers out there. Much of its subject matter is cruel and disheartening but ultimately it works out, even though it definitely shouldn't. Bullet Head is a surprise in only good ways.
Comments