Big balls. Big balls. Big balls. Repeat that 100 times.

You're got the gist of Bullet To The Head.

A cop and a violent hired gun buddy up in this action drama, filling the screen with explosive stunts and violence so over-the-top it verges on cartoonish.

Sylvester Stallone stars in Bullet To The Head as an unapologetic killer, a straight-up (albeit somewhat soft-hearted) assassin who shoots first and doesn't bother to ask any questions at all.

As James Bonomo, Stallone is refreshingly brutal, bullheaded and politically incorrect; he kills people who need killing, takes his paycheque and goes home. When someone kills his partner, however, things change. Now vengeance is on the table, a situation that puts an edge into a guy's killing routine.

Sung Kang co-stars here as Taylor Kwon, a detective from Washington who has likewise lost a valued partner. Turns out the good guys and the bad guys are all after the same villain -- a hulking killer named Keegan (Jason Momoa) who, like Stallone's character, takes no prisoners.

Vaguely similar though their characters may be, you can only root for one of them, and it won't be Momoa. (Only Stallone's character draws the line at killing women and children. Awwwww!)

The story sets up a killer vs. killer situation, then ups the ante when Momoa's henchmen kidnap Stallone's daughter (Sarah Shahi). Everyone involved is tough as nails and has too many tattoos, and that includes the girl.

Bullet To The Head is riotous good violent fun, with spectacular explosions, all manner of shootings at close range, garrotting, defenestration and several other creative methods of annihilation.

Briskly directed by action vet Walter Hill, the film is laced with black humour, unlikely characters and dubious plot developments; it's a lot of fun to look at.

To be fair, Bullet To The Head is probably bad for you in some fairly fundamental moral and intellectual way. We'd elaborate, but -- look at that! -- we're all out of space.

liz.braun@sunmedia.ca
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