Film Review: BULL (2021): Neil Maskell is Perfect as a Man Out For Revenge in Overly Violent Film

Bull Review

Bull (2021) Film Review, a movie written and directed by Paul Andrew Williams and starring Neil Maskell, Laura McAlpine, Yassine Mkhichen, David Hayman, Jake Davies, David Constant, Chris Coghill, Ajay Chhabra, Lois Brabin-Platt and Adam Xander Angelides.

Paul Andrew Williams’s new film, Bull, doesn’t hide the fact that it is an extremely violent revenge picture. It pretty much is what it is and through much of the plot (which is not told in a linear fashion), we are questioning why the events of the film that propel our main character Bull (Neil Maskell) into action happened as they did. And, we eventually get the answers as to what led Bull on his vicious murderous rampage towards the picture’s conclusion. We’re pretty sure of the fact that Bull’s young son was killed but it’s the how and why that makes the picture hold our attention.

Maskell turns in a ferocious and compelling performance in Bull that makes the film more watchable than it has any right to be. Bull’s former father-in-law, Norm, is also expertly played by David Hayman. These two characters keep the viewer interested in the violence that occurs in the film even when it gets so gruesome, we have to wonder to ourselves if all these people who get knocked off needed to die in order for Bull to have his revenge.

In the early scenes of the film, several images come to mind. One is of a trailer home being burned and as it goes up in flames on a dark evening, there is a certain bit of symbolism the fires can represent besides the fact that what happened that night plays a key role in the movie’s final unveiling. Perhaps, the burning fire represents the hostile and fierce anger that is signified in the way Bull kills off the key characters who he does in the movie. Another memorable image is that of a carnival that Bull goes to which he once attended with his son. This current scene of Bull by himself at the amusement park represents the loss Bull has experienced through the absence of his child.

Bull has disappeared for several years when he joins the main action of the picture. People are surprised to see him and have good reason to be shocked by his presence. What’s disturbing about the movie is how Bull kills a woman early on in the film just as easily as he kills men. He’s an equal opportunity murderer, perhaps, but in all seriousness, the characters he “gets rids of” are shady in many respects making us hard to care about them but the movie does develop Norm quite a bit and we get some interesting backstory regarding Bull’s marriage with his ex-wife (Lois Brabin-Platt) and his relationship with his father-in-law/ex employer.

Paul Andrew Williams makes the film an extremely difficult watch through his rather over-the-top, yet strangely effective, direction which is just as bleak as the main character which it portrays. Neil Maskell is phenomenal in the movie and evokes the loss of all hope through his very powerful turn as Bull. Hayman is perfect as Norm and his character is the reason Bull has gone off the deep end on a road of rampage. There’s no turning back for Bull since he has been wronged in the worst way possible through the loss of the one person he loved more than anyone else in life–his son. Brabin-Platt more than holds her own beside these two great performers and adds surprising depth to her spoiled character in the movie.

Bull is nothing short of a well made action picture that challenges the audience through its intense and extreme plot threads. When a man loses everything he holds onto in life, how far could he go to make the people who wronged him pay? Viewers will experience Bull’s pain and loss throughout thanks to Maskell’s work and, as a result, audiences will find this a quality film. Just note that it is a very violent movie.

Rating: 7/10

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