"Grace" writer & director Paul Solet's grim, unsavory crime thriller "Bullet Head" is one of those movies where everything happens in one location. In this instance, three professional criminals wind up hiding out in a sprawling, abandoned warehouse in an anonymous American city as they wait for the police to call off their search for them. Originally a quartet of criminals, they crash their Cadillac into the warehouse, and the fourth member of their gang-the driver-dies. Until the heat lets up, Stacy (Adrien Brody of "The Thin Red Line"), Walker (John Malkovich of "Con-Air"), and Gage (Rory Culkin of "Scream 4") cannot really do anything but play the waiting game. Meanwhile, what they don't know is that the warehouse is used as a site for dogfights. Blue (Antonio Banderas of "Expendables 3") wages money on dogfights, but his latest discovery-a pit bull-has finally let him down. The man who handles Blue's fighting dogs (Ori Pfeffer of "Hacksaw Ridge") is about to put the pit down. He attaches jumper cables to the poor, bloody beast as it stands in a cement basin of water. At this point, I should say that sensitive souls and canine lovers specifically may not have what it takes to stomach this tale of poetic justice. Brody, Malkovich, and Culkin are around for the main part of the action, while Banderas shows up at the beginning and returns near the end. Our three criminals have a safe that they need to crack, but they must await their accomplices. The dog handler fails to kill the dog. In fact, the dog miraculously survives this act of utter cruelty and kills the handler. It is about this time that our sort of heroes realize that they are up against a big, mean, son of a brute. One other reviewer accurately described this effort as "Cujo" meets "Reservoir Dogs." Despite its depressing storyline, "Bullet Head" provides us with some interesting characters, some endearing dog scenes, and some disturbing dog scenes. As it turns out, the abandoned warehouse is used as a staging area for dogfights. In one scene, we are shown the corpses of canines stacked up like Holocaust victims. Again, I cannot emphasize enough-if you love dogs, you might find several scenes, if not this entire movie objectionable. Everybody in "Bullet Head" has a dog story, and the two characters that Adrien Brody and John Malkovich play share a charisma that isn't true for their younger accomplice. He has brought what appears to be a sack of narcotics and loves to stick needles into the tattoo of a sledgehammer on his forearm. Gage's tattoo has something to do with a tragic dog story. The biggest problem that "Bullet Head" contends with is the air of predictability that hangs over the action. Credit Solet for adding a twist about an hour into the action involving the relationship between the big, bloody pit bull on Stacy. Lensed on location overseas, "Bullet Head" isn't a top tier tale, but Solet and his "Bad Country" cinematographer Zoran Popovic, who collaborated with him on his horror epic Grace, have gone out of their way to make a serious saga. They rely on special lenses to provide the dog's perspective throughout the action. Solet crafts some genuine suspense as the hound goes after Walker and Stacy in one scene where Brody and Malkovich performed their own stunts. Banderas is clearly cast as a villain, and he receives his just comeuppance at fadeout. As ominous as this movie is, there are some lighter moments-the scene between Walker and Stacy, and there is a scrap of a happy ending. Undoubtedly, the funniest scene has Stacy using a huge poodle to help him with his crimes. Although the director and most of the cast are dog lovers or at least claim to be, "Bullet Head" is still a melodrama that dog lovers should approach with caution.
Review of Bullet Head
