A burlesque dancer runs away with a boy and his dog who are being hunted by her mobster ex-boyfriend. 9 Bullets is a confusing blend of murder, fake love affairs and a painfully stupid road trip. The film’s irrational characters keep running into each other in an ill-conceived game of hunt and seek. It doesn’t create realistic pressure or build the required bond with the leads. Also, it is narratively all over the place too. Protagonist’s actions could have easily taken place in the first act.
9 Bullets starts with a distress call from Santa Clarita, California. A frightened Ralph (Zachary Mooren) orders his eleven-year-old son Sam (Dean Scott Vasquez) to grab his tablet and get out of their house immediately. After this they don’t talk again. Jack (Sam Worthington) does not take kindly to thefts either. His merciless team of hitmen (Martin Sensmeier, Chris Mullinax & Cam Gigandet) do not play games when sent on assignments. Barely escaping death, Sam rushes towards their neighbor.
Gypsy (Lena Headey) stops stripping as a burlesque dancer for good. She would like to write a book and go on a cruise trip instead. She didn’t see herself helping Sam out though she knew that Jack was capable of killing kids because he had threatened enough times before regarding other children she had been involved with; he threatened her daughter once before also). In order for Gypsy to drive Sam halfway across America to live with his uncle she will have to dodge Jack’s goons for whom they were just another ordinary mob family, rekindle her tragic past while opening up her broken heart to a child whose life has got nothing but shattered dreams.
9 Bullets dives right into its plot without much explanation at all: Gypsy takes Sam in within minutes of the first act. We learn from Ralph’s phone call that Jack is the villain and something very valuable was stolen. There is no explanation of how Sam’s family came to live next door to Gypsy. All Ralph did for Jack, who lives hundreds of miles away in a mansion disguised as an evil lair right in the middle of Utah. Why are these characters even together? This completely nonsensical set-up is simply accepted.
Gypsy seems cold to Sam initially. Kid just get over it, your entire family were massacred, life sucks and people die all the time so look on the bright side you ain’t dead yet; he does exactly what one would expect any normal child to do at this point: he cries inconsolably and she holds him until eventually they sleep off their sorrow. These scenes are about Gypsy bonding with him despite her reluctance or reservations shown before about being a protector or mother figure. It has almost zero emotional payoff because of its forced melodramatic nature. To drop Sam off at a police station would have been easier—she could have left him there! She did not care less for him than she did anyone else when she chose to protect his life at the risk of her own; Gypsy’s character by nature is good-hearted; waiting for her to realize this fact takes forever.
9 Bullets goes through an arbitrary meandering road trip. They try to track down where her car went wrong during escape in order catch up with it again though she tries hard not let them achieve this purpose; each time however they end bumping into one another instead yet they can’t find the kid whose supposed father happens live alongside them under such circumstances like either keeping tabs on them discreetly as well as follow covertly without being detected by other guards-for-hire hired specifically kidnap victims which makes these embarrassing moments almost unbearable; hence, missing Clark Kent while having Superman right before you!
Lena Headey is a wonderful actress with a commanding presence. Nevertheless, her skills cannot salvage a weak plot which has poorly developed characters. I really don’t know what Sam Worthington is doing in this movie. The last part goes completely over the top. 9 Bullets misses the mark entirely.
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