“Take that 50 Cent you pussy!”
The central conceit of 22 Bullets is that an especially family oriented former ‘businessman’ gets fucked over and decides to kick back. The first scene in the film tries to set the tone, but for mine it ends up giving another message altogether.
In isolation: Dad and young son are enjoying a long drive together, probably to a destination where they can spend several invaluable bonding hours that they will remember fondly the rest of their lives.
The kid has no seatbelt and bounces around the back seat as Dad steers his vehicle at great speed through windy mountainous roads in heavy traffic. Dad sings along to opera, and laughs happily as son attempts to distract him by covering his eyes as he continues his drive through city cobblestone streets as trucks, motorbikes and other cars whiz by. Seven-ish Son spies a street performer surrounded by strange adults, he asks Dad ‘can I get out and look?’ ‘Sure’ says Dad, ‘I’ll just go and park the car, be maybe ten minutes’.
As a parent – wait, no – as an adult I am forced to ask What the Fuck? Parent of the year he is not.
The man is named Charly Mattei (Jean Reno), a formerly feared mafia leader turned retired family man. As luck would have it as Charly exits his parked vehicle to go look for his young son a group of hooded men arrive, seemingly from nowhere, to leave him with more holes than a colander. The film’s title might give a clue as to exactly how many.
But despite the numerous perforations and annoyance suffered by Charly thanks to the apparently unprovoked attack, he lives, pulling through after a lengthy stay in hospital, during which it seems every mob boss pops in to both pay their respects – and take great pains in explaining ‘it wasn’t me’.
Charly himself knows that such incidents are obviously part and parcel of being a leading underworld crime figure. Despite the urgings of many for immediate violent reprisals, he decides ‘Fair Play’ and just wants everyone to move on.
But that’s the funny thing about the mob. They don’t care for a points victory or a TKO, they want Charly dead, and send in still more gunmen to finish the job 22 slugs couldn’t manage.
This unwelcome development alters Charly’s mindset. He laments the ‘new breed’ of organised criminal, with their impersonal and dishonourable tactics. Charly rues the passing of days when stand up guys faced down their foes before filling them with lead. No hoods. No shooting in the back. No cowardly sniping or hit and run stuff.
Charly wants a return to the classic days of visceral personalised violence. And he decides after this latest attack that he is the man to bring them back.
What could become a mere Raw Deal update with subtitles is set apart by two things; the quality of the acting and the bone-jarring violence. The various factions are clearly defined throughout, with family, mafia groups and well meaning but largely helpless cops all featured and given plot lines. Of course Reno is typically excellent, stoic, vulnerable and human, yet capable of amazingly violent acts.
But the bad guys are really bad guys. While the henchmen do some of the more ‘muddy’ work, the mafia leaders aren’t afraid to roll up their sleeves and get wet. In fact in some early sequences they manage to be frighteningly menacing with just a few choice words and cold looks. There is none of the flash, triple flip, double gun crap from Hollywood here, guns go bang and where relevant fists and kicks land against hapless flesh with sickening dull thuds.
Reno’s Charly might be a somewhat reluctant anti-hero, but thanks to his past experiences and single minded drive to protect his family he is eminently capable of carrying out his mission. He might not be the most conscientious Dad, but what he lacks in paternal instincts he makes up for in violent reprisals.
Final Rating – 7.5 / 10. 22 Bullets lacks the spark of your Hollywood revenge film and the stylised violence of the Hong Kong action flicks. This might make it a little less easy to get into, but a great performance by Jean Reno and a believable plotline make it a rewarding watch.
Just don’t watch it for the parenting tips…
