God Is a Bullet

Wow, I didn't expect that. First off, make sure you watch the original version of this movie that was released in theaters. It's 2 hours and 35 minutes. There is a censored version out there that's only 2 hours long. The parts they removed for violence/gore were some of the most shocking (in a good way) moments in the movie. And they remove entire subplots that are important to the story and character decisions. I see a lot of people complaining that it doesn't make sense or is disjointed. That's what happens when you strip away 22% of a movie. God is a Bullet is far from perfect and not everything works. But there is so much that does work. I was fully invested and never bored through this longer runtime. There are multiple jaw-dropping moments and crazy scenes. And it never feels like it's holding back. People who are easily triggered might not be able to handle it, and I don't mean that as an insult. But I like my movies not to have limitations and am annoyed with how often studios play it safe with PG-13 movies. The whole cast does a good job, but Maika Monroe shines. And Jonathan Tucker always has small roles but always kills it. He fully transforms into his character. I had a great time with this movie and would watch it again. It took me on an emotional ride and I wish I chose to see this in theaters. (1 viewing, 7/25/2023)

The filmmaker seemed to enjoy showing one of the bad guys trying to reattach his jaw that was just blown off of his face. I was hoping to watch another great performance from ex Game of Thrones actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, but I was left feeling sorry that I decided to sit through the whole movie. I witnessed multiple women who were violently punched in the face. Scenes of rape. A scene where a woman was shot 20 times in the face. A scene with another woman shot in the head. Another woman was shot in the back multiple times. The violence was taken to the absurd as one of the bad guys repeatedly pounded NCW's arm with a baseball bat as hard as he could after NCW's was just set on fire with a flame thrower. In the next scene NCW was just fine with a small cast on his forearm and a few facial scars that seemed to give his face even more character than his signature broken nose. I thought the story showed some promise at the beginning. I was all in for the road trip. NCW got all tatted up and was traveling with another girl who was abducted 11 years ago by the same cult who took NCW's daughter. After repeated scenes of overly violent gore, I just wanted the movie to end. I found nothing redeeming. There were also multiple plot holes and continuity problems. When the cult leader shot one of the girls 20 times in the head, I thought the filmmaker just enjoyed showing the gore. I wish I would have said enough already and turned it off.

Award winning novel very well adapted. Film conveys saga of complexity and brutality of similar films like American History X. Not at all drawn out, the world building is expansive. S This film is a stunningly well done work based on the ancient theme of descent into the dark world in order to pull a victim back out. It deeply mines themes of revenge and rage. It is quite violent. But none of the violence is actually gratioutious. The villains in this are not cardboard cutouts that most audiences are used to. I don't mean they are good and bad, I mean the amount of raw villainy is intense. How often do you see a hard bitten, jaded urban vice detective, who presumably has seen everything, shaken and shocked?