Bullet Reviews

A grimy slice of Brooklyn life disguised as a crime thriller, BULLET offers Mickey Rourke a good role as a paroled junkie with no intention of changing his ways. Director Julien Temple's efforts to jazz things up can't disguise the aimless, episodic plot, however. Paroled after eight years in prison, Butch "Bullet" Stein (Mickey Rourke) is reunited with his brother Ruby (Adrien Brody) and his best friend Lester (John Enos III). The first thing Butch does is rip off a runner, Flaco (Manny Perez), for his sworn enemy, drug dealer Tank (Tupac Shakur), which not only gets Butch some cash and drugs but also sends a message to Tank. At home, Butch gets grief from his righteous father (Jerry Grayson), who considers all three of his sons losers: Butch for wasting his life on drugs; Ruby for his artistic goals; and mentally disturbed Louis (Ted Levine), a Vietnam veteran. Tank has hated Butch ever since he lost an eye during a prison fight with him; he arranges for Butch to receive a poisoned bag of dope. But the bag is stolen by a thief who dies when he uses it. When his parents' neighbors go on vacation, Butch and Lester rob their house of $25,000 worth of jewelry. Shortly thereafter, Tank hires a big thug, Gates (Ray Mancini), to beat up Butch--slowly and painfully--while he watches, but after the two spar a bit, the thug breaks his hand on Butch. At a local diner, a fight erupts between Tank and local criminal Paddy (Matthew Powers), leaving Tank's men dead. Tank makes plans to ambush Butch at a local club. Since Butch had gone to prison for a crime Paddy had committed, Paddy warns Butch; Butch refuses to run. Tank murders Butch in front of Ruby's eyes. At Butch's funeral, his fence, Frankie Eyelashes (Larry Romano), gives the cash from the jewel heist to Ruby, per Butch's instructions. As Tank arrives home one night, Louis sneaks up behind him and cuts his throat. BULLET was made in 1995 but not released until it went to home video in 1997, which may explain why Shakur, who was murdered in 1996, receives star billing for a fairly minor role. Former music video wunderkind Temple continues to demonstrate that he's a whiz with short segments but unable to construct anything coherent in long form. BULLET has individual sequences that offer everything from gritty drama to absurdist comedy (the scenes involving Louis's plans to raise an invisible army, for example); Rourke even gets to show off his boxing skills. But while all of it is watchable, even amusing, it really doesn't seem to have a point. (Graphic violence, nudity, sexual situations, adult situations, substance abuse, profanity.)