Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

A Disappointing Continuation

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Bullet is a violent cautionary tale about what it means to live a life of crime in New York City's brutal Hell's Kitchen, to live (and die) with all the baggage and tragedy that comes along with it. Mickey Rourke is excellent as Butch Stein, a pathetic yet somehow endearing Jewish American hoodlum locked in a personal war with local drug dealer and gangster Tank (Tupac Shakur). Butch still lives with his family, and spends his nights slumming about with slick wannabe wiseguy Lester (John Enos III) and his gangly brother Ruby (Adrien Brody). One gets the feeling that all of them are essentially still little kids who never learned to grow up or use their words, but the sandbox they're squabbling in now is a dangerous area of town, and their toys are heavy artillery. Butch has another brother, a reclusive weirdo played phenomenally by Ted Levine. He's distant and strange, but there's breaks of clarity that shine through, and in those moments he's pretty much the voice of reason amongst all the tomfoolery that adds to the mortality rate in their district. Levine is unique and shelters the gold in his work until right at the end, letting off an emotional stinger of a cap to his performance that is yet another testament to his skill. Rourke broods through his work with sombre self loathing and a grim resolve, dead set in his ways, perhaps unable to live his life differently, and feeling helpless at the road he's taken, a dark one that has strayed far from what might have been. Tupac's role is somewhat underwritten, which isn't quite fair to the guy, because he has more acting talent than pretty much any other rapper I've seen in film. Reduced to a mostly a jive talk sterotype gangsta antagonist, I would have liked to see them allow him to level with Rourke in a way that made their locking horns seem a little bit more than just a petty turf war. Director Julien Temple comes from a music video background, and transitions nicely into the world of the urban crime drama, shooting the seedy NYC locales with glittery precision that suggests festering rot below. It's an anti-crime film, and I'm always curious to see if such a sentiment is undone by the glorification of such a lifestyle, intentional or otherwise (it's easy to get caught up in sensation and cinematics, losing sight of what you set out to say in the first place). This one stays true to its word, showing us characters who have irreparably lost their way, and assuring bullet by bullet, death by death, that this isn't any kind of life for anyone. Searing stuff.

I watched Bullet one night expecting to have something to keep me occupied for a little while. With it only being an hour and a half long I figured it would move quick and keep me interested.The plot was predictable and really had no twists to it. It reminded me of King Of New York in a way because we see him leave prison and go right back to doing stupid stuff that almost got him killed before. You know how the movie will end as soon as it starts. Tupac could have killed Bullet multiple times in the movie, but toys with him to "torture" him and get revenge. But at the end he just shoots him and runs away. Nothing clever and nothing unexpected. They attempted to build suspense but it led nowhere.Tupac's performance was not as good as some of his other movies, and it was a really cliché type of character anyway. Adrien Brody was underused. Mickey Rourke was good as usual. He's great at playing the twisted hardass. Ted Levine was also great. Who better to play the paranoid ex-army psycho brother? Also keep an eye out for Donnie Wahlberg playing Big Balls haha.So in general Bullet was OK. If you're bored check it out. You can kill an hour and a half. Wasn't too bad.

I love this movie from the first day it came out I mean I may have been young when I first saw it but Mickey Rourke is so hotttt even as a bad azzzz gangster he is hot. Plus Tupac was in it so that made the movie even hotter.The ending was great I don't want to give it away to anyone who hasn't seen it but it was a perfect ending. I watch this movie whenever it's on even if it's on 3:00 am I have to watch it. I love Adrian Brody I can never get enough of him. This movie reminds me of the dudes where I used to live I mean they came from nice home but they were all messed up in the head and they were definitely ride or die and this movie was definitely a blockbuster. Mickey R. made the movie great, as did Tupac I have to say this movie never gets old.

I'd like to correct some errors stated by others.First off, this film is not well-done. The plot is virtually nonexistent, and at times it looks like it was created by an adolescent, especially at the ending.It is also not "realistic" at all. It plays like some suburban (or European's) vision of the "mean streets", and has no knowledge of the actual grittier side of life.However, it does have some interesting scenes, from where the friend is banging two chicks in the kitchen of the bar, from the fight scenes, to the Vietnam brother's psycho character.In all, it seems like a series of unconnected vignettes, some of which are interesting to watch. Kind of like a college kid's first attempt at film-making.Rourke is indeed an interesting, though flawed actor, and he stays in good shape for an older guy.