Bullet In The Head (1990)

Average rating

(60%)

Starring:	Waise Lee \| Jacky Cheung \| Tony Leung
Director:	John Woo
Studio:	E1 ENTERTAINMENT
Run time:	126 mins
Genres:	Action/Adventure \| Thriller \| World Cinema
Languages:	Cantonese
Dubbed:	English
Subtitles:	English
Released:	July 02, 2004

Not for the faint-hearted, John Woo's unflinching account of individual destinies caught up and mangled by the greater madness of the Vietnam War remains his greatest cinematic achievement to date. More a three-act tragedy of epic proportions than a conventional action film, it follows the fortunes of Ben, Paul and Frank, three Hong Kong youths raised in poverty who have little to depend upon except their unswerving friendship for each other. When Ben kills a local hoodlum in a revenge beating and is forced to flee to Saigon, his two friends come with him, dreaming of the fortune they intend to make together on the Vietnamese black market. What they find instead is a world gone mad, ruled by gangsters, murderous fanatics and rogue soldiers who have taken the law into their own hands.

There's a brutal and compelling grandeur to Woo's vision of Asia in the late 1960s, one that refuses either to take sides or romanticise the past. Whether it involves a crowd of student demonstrators clashing with riot police, a nightclub shootout or a helicopter attack on a Vietcong POW camp, the film's depiction of violence has a mythic intensity which crowds in around the three main protagonists, testing their loyalty to the breaking point.

Tony Leung brings out the vulnerability and drive of the young Ben, while Jacky Cheung gives an electrifying performance as Frank, half-crazed from the bullet lodged in his skull after Paul tries to shoot him in the head. Reduced to carrying out street executions to pay for the morphine he needs to deaden the excruciating pain, his mute agonies hang like a vengeful cloud over the film's closing moments as Ben hunts Paul down, forcing him to atone for his cowardly act of betrayal. Bullet in the Head is harrowing, matchless and unrelenting. --Ken Hollings

Radio Times

One of the more personal films in John Woo's canon and one which combines the highly stylised themes and motifs of his gangster films with a grittier than usual edge. Tony Leung, Jacky Cheung and Lee Waise play a trio of Hong Kong chums who see the chance of a fortune to be made in 1960s Vietnam, but find their friendship pushed to the limit by the war. It's not without its flaws, but the typically bravura direction from Woo carries the day and it provides a fascinating view of a conflict usually seen from a western perspective.

Highest rated reviews

9 out of 10 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 3.0 stars
Woo woo fun!

Darren Oliver from London, 2nd November, 2004

Bullet in the head is a typically John Woo film - lots of action, slow motion shots and a relentless pace. Unfortunately it also contains some other Woo trademarks, namely poor acting and lack of plot.
The film starts with three close friends in 1960s Hong Kong looking to make their way in life. Circumstances means they have to leave quickly and they end up in Vietnam during the height of the war trying to make their fortune. They eventually meet the ex-CIA man Lok and plan to rob a wealthy but dodgy businessman of his gold. Things don't go according to plan and they are pursued through the war torn country trying to free themselves from his men. As they escape the greed of one of the three friends becomes apparent and he eventually betrays them in order to keep the gold, leaving them for dead. The film ends with Bee (Tony Leung) confronting Wing and the evitable finale fight scene entails.
Although this isn't the best John Woo film, its thoroughly watchable although it could do with being 30 mins shorter.

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7 out of 7 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 5.0 stars
Harrowing but Brilliant.

A Customer from Wales, UK, 26th February, 2005

Bullet in the Head is simply one of the greatest war movies ever made. While the likes of Apocalypse Now and Platoon will always be more acclaimed, it's stuff like this and the superb Korean movie 'Taegukgi' that really left me reeling. While quite a chunk of the movie plays more like an action movie than a war film this is to the films credit. John Woo is in his element creating brotherhoods of characters that get you caring about them, and creating jaw dropping action backgrounds. Bullet in this sense has much more in common with the Deer Hunter than the aforementioned war flicks as we meet the group of 'brothers' and their lives before, during and after the war as they are unwittingly caught up in the Vietnam conflict, gun running and captured as POW's. Just like the Deer Hunter, because of this sense of intimacy with the characters when we see their ordeal on screen it makes all the harder to stomach, and the post war fate of the group of friends is heartbreaking. About the only thing that lets this film down is the dodgy and forumalic ending (there is an extremely rare copy supposedly that ends at the perfect moment - the 'boardroom scene', this Hong Kong Legends release was rumoured to be this cut, but sadly it runs the extra 10 minutes). Don't let this put you off what is an extremely powerfull film.

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