GOD IS A BULLET -- A Film That Uses Abuse of Women Excessively To Tell Its Story

Review by Dan Skip Allen

I've been watching movies for a long time, so there isn't much I haven't seen regarding blood, violence, or abusive behavior from one character to another. God is a Bullet is one of the most violent and abusive films regarding how one particular character treats others — especially women. I can't stand needless violence toward women, children, and animals.

Detective Bob Hightower (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) is a paper pusher for his local police department. He goes to church on Sunday and is separated from his wife, but still has contact with his daughter. When the unthinkable happens — his ex-wife gets brutally murdered and his daughter gets kidnapped by a satanic tattoo cult — he quits his job at the police department and enlists the help of an ex-member of the cult, Case Hardin (Maika Monroe), to help him find her. 

This film has a big cast of characters. Cyrus (Karl Glusman) is the vicious leader of the cult. The Ferryman (Jamie Foxx) is the tattoo artist that marks up all the member's bodies. Gutter (Ethan Suplee) is one of the members of the cult. Errol Grey (Jonathan Tucker) is an associate of the cult leader. Maureen Bacon (January Jones) and John Lee (Paul Johansson) are people in the detective's personal life who have an unknown connection to the cult leader. This cast is very good, but the movie wastes them.

The director Nick Cassavetes is the son of legendary actor-director John Cassavetes and actress Jenna Rowlands. He has a good lineage. All that lineage is wasted, though, with this film. He uses unnecessary violence toward women — specifically Monroe's character and other members of the cult. I understand he was trying to show what type of man this cult leader was, but there is a time when it goes overboard. It's brutality for the sake of being brutal and for no other reason. Also, the movie is way too long.

Any film involving kidnapping kids already crosses a border, but when it's the way this film does it, it's disgusting and awful. The story has a subplot that involves other characters not in the cult, which plays into why the kidnappings happen. It's ridiculous the lengths this story goes to to tie these stories together. It's the main reason why it's so long. Cassavettes needed some help creating a script that is more sensitive to women and children. This story disgusted me from the beginning to the end.

God Is a Bullet had a good premise with a good cast or mostly supporting actors. Nick Cassavetes isn't a chip off the old block, though. He still has a lot to learn about being a director. Having violent characters and bloody sequences isn't anything new to film — it's how you as a director use that stuff that makes it impactful. Cassevettes uses blood, violence, and abuse toward women, children, and animals to his detriment, and the result is needlessly difficult to watch.

God Is a Bullet hits theaters on June 23.

Rating: 1/5