9 Bullets

Watched this on Hulu last night as I had 90+ minutes to kill. I'd have been better off watching a YouTube video of grass growing. Quite simply nothing at all good about this movie. I gave it 2 stars because the actors themselves weren't bad even if their dialog and plot points were awful.

As many have noted the first thing I thought of with the opening premise was Gloria from the 80s. I haven't seen that in decades and now want to go back to try and scrub this from my brain.

As others have also noted the movie just doesn't know where it wants to go or what it wants to be.

The fact that we're supposed to buy into a relationship between the boy and the woman who have zero connection other than being neighbors is too much to ask. The kid just had his entire family murdered and a few hours later they're laughing and joking about her skirt being too short and PB&Js.

Now it's easy to slice and dice it from a plot/reality point and I wont do that on everything ( there were many ) but there are a few notable things.

Why wouldn't she just bring the kid to the closest non-local ( avoid corruption ) police station ?

Why was she still pretending to have this weird love/hare relationship with a dude that killed an entire family ?

Tie those 2 together and the police put him away for life.

SPOILER-Even in the end he gets away and there's no punishment for him-SPOILER

How/why did Worthington's character get from the cemetery which was seemingly hours away to the airport where his young g/f just happened to be ?

But maybe my biggest problem with it was the fact that Gypsy tells this horrifying story about losing her kid in a car accident and then thinks its OK to let the kid take the steering wheel on a dark road while she's sleepy. And then she does the letting him drive thing a few more times. WTH

Then it's all wrapped up nicely with them going away together and him no longer caring that his parents were murdered.

Just absolute trash. Wish I could unwatch it.

Lena Headey I think is a wonderful actress and can work any role perfectly but she certainly wasn't challenged with this dull script.

I've no idea about anything to do with the young child, Dean Scott Vazquez, who is the basis of the whole story but, he was very good with his delivery, acting style (though his crying in the early film parts is seriously annoying).

Barbara Hershey is like Lena in that she can work a role superbly.

Sam Worthington I have never thought of as a good (though he is not terrible) actor simply because ... 1) ...he always looks like he is half asleep and hasn't quite woken up to his surroundings and always looks like he is not putting any effort/interest into his roles (though not much he could really do with this naff script)... 2) ...plus - IMHO - he just doesn't have that strong screen presence factor, say like Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey Jnr, Gene Hackman etc.

It opens with burlesque dancer Lena on stage and has the camera about 6 feet away from her, so close you cannot see anything; even though she is hardly moving at all...with only slight - and I do mean SLIGHT - hand movements. Totally unimpressive and NOT a good way to immerse you into a film!

The problem with the film was that it was just dreary, dragged along in a dull way (and you knew exactly what was going to be the final outcome). The killers, working for Worthington's character, were just not believable and came across as Red Neck numb-nuts. The entire film draws not one iota of plausible emotional factor from you, as there is nothing to give you shock, humour or excitement feelings. Its purely only bearable because of the presence of Lena Headey and the kid, Dean Scott Vazquez.

I give it a 5 star rating but 4 of them are for Lena and Dean. The other is for the debut directors presentation. Though I think it was poor for me it was - for a first time effort - nicely done; as believe me, I have seen a zillion times worse from newbie directors!

There is gun violence... There is a completely pointless sex scene; Lena is totally nude and shows breasts/nipples...

America's greatest independent writer/director, John Cassavetes, and his wife, the incomparable actress Gina Rowlands, made a great film called "Gloria" in 1980.

It is so well regarded a film that it has been copied no less than five times. Among the copies, are (inverting the genders) Luc Besson's film with Jean Reno and Nathalie Portman "Leon the Professional", "Julia" staring Tilda Swinton.

But "9 Bullets" is a truly junk rip off of Gloria. Tedious, laughable dialogue, lousy acting.

Want to see a similar movie, with a much believable lead female (played with grit and conviction by Rowlands) and supported by a very likeable young boy (played by John Adames)..look for "Gloria of 1980." No nonsense acting delivered by both. This one, however..well, a one time watch just to kill time//

Some child actors will make or break a movie and character development of your main villain is essentially left out of the story.

The film was given a great actress and common premise but had nothing original to offer. We we're left to imagine a backstory and left to nothing on the screen and a sound track that couldn't support the tone of the film consistently. The film isn't worth saying more about.