Writer & director Nick Lyon's "Bullet" looks like a Nicolas Cage crime thriller without Nicolas Cage. Instead, producer Robert Rodriguez cast likable veteran character actor Danny Trejo as eponymous LAPD detective Frank 'Bullet' Marasco. Marasco has to rescue his adolescent grandson from a ruthless, trigger-happy, cartel chieftain, Carlito Kane (seasoned heavy Jonathan Banks of "Beverly Hills Cop") and his loquacious Teutonic sidekick Kruger (Torsten Voges of "The Lords of Salem") who like to wave their guns around and threaten our rugged hero. If you have any doubts that Carlito is a hopeless dastard, you won't after he beats a small-time drug dealer to death with a golf club. When our hero isn't struggling to recover his grandson, Mario (Kyle Villalovos) he has to prove to his peers that he did not murder three fellow police officers as well as help his junkie daughter Vanessa (Tinsel Korey) kick a narcotics habit. Ironically enough, the daughter had cleaned up her act and then the villains snatched her son and she reverted to her bad ways. Carlito grabbed Marasco's grandson because it was Marasco's testimony that prompted Manuel's conviction.
Lyon and three co-scribes, Ron Peer of "Goodbye Lover," rookie writers Byron Lester and Matthew Joynes, recycle all the usual clichés in this contrived crime thriller. Our hero turns in his badge, like John Wayne did in "McQ," goes out and gets arms from the underworld type, and metes out vigilante justice that seals the fate of several villains. Nevertheless, despite its low-budget look and formulaic plotting, "Bullet" isn't bad for a bullet-riddled kidnap & extortion thriller. Banks' bald-headed hood orders the abduction of the daughter of California Governor Johnson (John Savage of "The Thin Red Line") so Kane can compel the state's chief executive officer to release his notorious son, Manuel Kane (Eric Etebari of "2 Fast & 2 Furious"), who is scheduled to die by lethal injection. Lyon orchestrates several interesting but obstreperous shootouts and some of the dialogue is actually memorable. The German villain Kruger has some funny lines, too. Mind you, "Bullet" is nothing special, but a robust cast and a trim 87-minute running time compensate for the familiar nature of the plot.
Lyon and three co-scribes, Ron Peer of "Goodbye Lover," rookie writers Byron Lester and Matthew Joynes, recycle all the usual clichés in this contrived crime thriller. Our hero turns in his badge, like John Wayne did in "McQ," goes out and gets arms from the underworld type, and metes out vigilante justice that seals the fate of several villains. Nevertheless, despite its low-budget look and formulaic plotting, "Bullet" isn't bad for a bullet-riddled kidnap & extortion thriller. Banks' bald-headed hood orders the abduction of the daughter of California Governor Johnson (John Savage of "The Thin Red Line") so Kane can compel the state's chief executive officer to release his notorious son, Manuel Kane (Eric Etebari of "2 Fast & 2 Furious"), who is scheduled to die by lethal injection. Lyon orchestrates several interesting but obstreperous shootouts and some of the dialogue is actually memorable. The German villain Kruger has some funny lines, too. Mind you, "Bullet" is nothing special, but a robust cast and a trim 87-minute running time compensate for the familiar nature of the plot.