We've been here before. The
Director
If it gets this director back into the hard-driving action game, then it will have done its duty.
Back when he was hotter, Hill made "The Long Riders" and "48 Hrs." and the undervalued "Geronimo: An American Legend," and he knows a lot about how to film and frame and deliver violence and violent stories on screen. The style here — hairline-to-chin close-ups, nervous, jacked-up editing — isn't Hill at his best. But the movie has a certain grungy panache, "panache" being a French word and "Bullet to the Head" (initially titled
The bare bones of the graphic novel remain, though a key plot element has been foregrounded. The movie wastes no time in bringing together the vicious but honorable hit man played by Stallone and the crusading police detective played by "Fast & Furious" co-star
The plot has something to do with police corruption and skeezy development deals and an incriminating flash drive. Stallone's character, Jimmy Bobo, has a tattoo artist daughter, played by
'Bullet to the Head' -- 2 1/2 stars
MPAA rating: R (for strong violence, bloody images, language, some nudity and brief drug use)
Running time: 1:31
Opens: Friday