BULLETS OF JUSTICE

Directed by: Valeri Milev

Starring: Danny Trejo, Timur Turisbekov, Doroteya Toleva

At the end of World War III, the US military ran experiments to try and create the ultimate "super soldier". Twenty five years later and those experiments have led to the creation of a race of humanoid pig creatures called Muzzies, who have replaced humans at the top of the food chain. In fact, they capture and rear humans for food. Into this hellish landscape comes ex Bounty Hunter Rob Justice, who accepts a mission to seek and destroy the Pig Mother - but he can't do the mission alone, he needs…his sister…

Bullets for Justice has been knocking around the festival circuit for the past year or so and is finally hitting the home media market with a lot of buzz behind it, of the "it needs to be seen to be believed!" variety. This is a film destined to push a lot of people's buttons.

Rob Justice and his sister Nina were children when their father (Danny Trejo in an extended cameo) was murdered, and ever since they have fought a bitter fight for survival in the post-apocalyptic wastelands, taking on ex military marauders and Muzzies alike. Now grown up and drifted apart, Rob works as a bounty hunter while Nina works for the human resistance.

The plot is both threadbare and has an inconsistent, contradictory narrative. Its literally as if its being made up as it goes along, without paying too much attention to details already established. There's a weird sub-plot where Rob keeps flashing back to his time as a catwalk model and his rivalry with another, really really really handsome guy who beats him in  a Butt of the Year competition. When exactly did this happen? After wandering the wastelands with his sister but before becoming  badass bounty hunter, killing Pig mutants? Best not to think to hard about and just enjoy the weirdness.

Bullets for Justice has some very strange sexual politics as well. When a woman tells Rob that she wants to become his new assistant, its an unwritten (or for all we know, written?) rule that he gets to "audition" her with a loud and graphic sex scene. Meanwhile, his sister Nina sports a moustache for which there is no explanation given (when she does prepare to talk about it, the soundtrack drowns her words). This is going to challenge certain people's concept of beauty, because despite the 'tache Nina is a very sexy woman and we get to see a lot of her while she carries on an incestuous relationship with her brother Rob. There are further homoerotic undertones during the fight between Rob and his supermodel rival, which is is like the bastard child of Zoolander and Borat.

Bullets for Justice was filmed in Bulgaria and Kazakhstan and has a very washed out, grimy palette as if everything is coated in a thin layer of fecal matter. The action is very well executed but I wouldn’t expect less from the director of the criminally under appreciated (and under-seen) REKILL. The killer pig with the jetpack is a case in point, an action scene with some epic scope to it. The makeup fx for the Muzzies is done pretty well, and as they are human/pig hybrids it doesn't matter that you can tell their eyes are still human under all the latex. The craziest is reserved for Benedict Asshole, whose face really resembles a butthole.

THE VERDICT

It's fair to say that Bullets for Justice has something for everyone - whether they want it or not. It's a film that takes no prisoners and wears its moustache on its sleeve. Not everything works - the humour is hit and miss, and the  dubbed dialogue reminded me of the film Kung Fury.  But nevertheless its destined for cult status. It’s a transgressive film which will challenge some, lose others and win the hearts of many. I, for one, am a fan…

8 out of 10 (MikeOutWest)