Sylvester Stallone returns to the type of picture that made him a movie star in an exciting and entertaining cops-and-criminals action film that’s as blunt as its title, Bullet to the Head. Looking remarkably chiseled and fit for his old age, Mr. Stallone plays a Louisiana hitman who speaks plainly, knows what he likes and hits his mark every time. He only kills scumbags and malcontents and, when his younger hitman partner gets knocked off, he adds crooked cops and corrupt cronies seeking government favors to the list. Of course, he’s a career criminal, and there’s no sugarcoating that here, so his unlikely pairing with a good cop (Sung Kang) provides the movie’s comic relief and all the best lines. Bullet is Mr. Stallone’s movie, through to the end, and it’s loaded with lots of loud gunplay (nothing gratuitous), plot twists and bare skin, his and hers. The plot and writing are laughable at times, as the young Asian police detective keeps making the same mistake, and this is solid action fare not a character study or a politically correct jerky camera release, so go with low expectations closer to what Mr. Stallone did in Cobra than the taut Cliffhanger. The Noir-ish Bullet to the Head features Christian Slater, who played an earnest New Orleans reporter in Interview with a Vampire, as a sleazy New Orleans lawyer, with TV actor Jason Momoa as a hulk of a rival hitman and others as various thugs, cops and heavies with Sarah Shahi as a tattoo artist who figures into the central conflict. Everything moves along nicely with jazz and blues on the soundtrack and a dry narration by the Stallone character until a showdown pitting good versus evil and cop versus criminal versus avenging criminal literally comes to a battleaxe climax. For what it is, as an old-fashioned action movie, Bullet to the Head plants it right where it belongs.
