Bullet to the Head

Directed by Walter Hill, Bullet to the Head follows a hit man (Sylvester Stallone’s James Bonomo) as he reluctantly teams up with a police officer (Sung Kang’s Taylor Kwon) to take down a well-connected criminal enterprise. It’s familiar subject matter that’s employed to almost watchable yet primarily forgettable effect by Hill, as the filmmaker, armed with Alessandro Camon’s screenplay, delivers a briskly-paced actioner that contains few elements designed to wholeheartedly capture and sustain the viewer’s interest – with the arms-length atmosphere compounded by a pervasively generic narrative that’s rarely, if ever, alleviated by standout sequences and set-pieces. It’s clear, then, that Bullet to the Head‘s proliferation of agreeable elements prevents it from becoming the tedious endeavor one might’ve feared, with, especially, Stallone’s commanding performance going a long way towards generally sustaining the viewer’s interest throughout. (And there’s little doubt, as well, that the picture benefits substantially from Jason Momoa’s scene-stealing, larger-than-life turn as a seemingly unstoppable enforcer.) The relatively exciting climax at least ensures that the whole thing concludes on a better-than-expected note, although it’s not quite enough to compensate for what’s otherwise (and predominantly) a middling genre exercise that squanders its ample talent in front of and behind the camera.

** out of ****