Film Review: GOD IS A BULLET (2023): Nick Cassavetes’ Latest Film is an Action-Packed, Brutal and Compelling Picture

God Is a Bullet Review

God Is a Bullet (2023) Film Review, a movie directed by Nick Cassavetes, written by Boston Teran and Nick Cassavetes and starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Maika Monroe, Jamie Foxx, Karl Glusman, Ethan Suplee, January Jones, Jonathan Tucker, Garrett Wareing, David Thornton, Paul Johansson, Brendan Sexton III, Tonya Cornelisse, Samantha Lockwood, Robert Craighead, Kola Olasiji, Nancy De Mayo, Chloe Guy and Xavier Declie.

Nick Cassavetes has never been a director who could please everybody. In 1997, he made She’s So Lovely which won critical kudos but was shunned by moviegoers. In 2004, he made The Notebook which audiences loved but critics were divided on. His latest film, God Is a Bullet, is so brutal that it could prompt walkouts but if you stay with it, the movie is ultimately intense, action-packed and powerful. It’s over-the-top, and brutal, to be sure, but the acting is solid and the picture holds your attention throughout.

This film opens with a young girl being abducted in a supermarket parking lot by a van full of crazed, tattooed cult members who aren’t planning to do anything nice with the girl. Shortly after, another young girl (Chloe Guy) is taken away by the cult and her mom is brutally murdered. Detective Bob Hightower (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) is the girl’s dad and he is determined to find his daughter at any cost. Maika Monroe plays Case Hardin, a former member of the twisted cult who escaped from the wrath of the leader, Cyrus (Karl Glusman) but just barely. Hardin is the only one who can help Detective Hightower get to his daughter but it could be too late to save her life. She could have been killed by the vicious cult.

Jamie Foxx is also in the movie as a character with white patches on his skin called The Ferryman who associates with the cult and plays a very central role in helping Hightower when he is bitten by a snake in the front seat of his vehicle which is one of the film’s most disturbing scenes. The action in God Is a Bullet is violent beyond a reasonable doubt. It is disturbing and some of it isn’t acted as well as it could have been. A section with January Jones’s abused character, Maureen Bacon, feels like it comes from a different movie altogether and though there’s nothing wrong with Jones’s performance, the film sometimes plays like left over material from a half-baked television crime show.

The scenes between Coster-Waldau and Monroe are the essence of this picture and make it an overall success. Hardin is hanging on by a thin thread. She’s been chewed up and spit out and keeps fighting because of her involvement with Hightower which could ultimately lead to her spiritual salvation. Hightower is suffering and has nothing left to go on for but fights tooth and nail to find his daughter’s whereabouts. Hightower must get himself tattooed and immerse himself in the disturbing underworld that the movie vividly portrays in harrowing ways. Hardin and Hightower’s on-screen rapport is excellent in a movie that graphically displays violence throughout but has a good story line at its core.

Monroe holds a bullet in her hand as her character helps explain to Hightower the reason why the film is titled as it is. This is a key scene in the picture which is set in a diner and helps unveil the layers to Hardin’s broken character. Monroe has never been better than in her work in this movie and she’s amazingly complex in a performance that may have fallen short in lesser hands.

The supporting cast is solid but some of the characters are unnecessarily useless and make the film’s running time a bit bloated. The movie clocks in over two and a half hours and though it has plenty of things going on, some of these things feel irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. Virginia Cassavetes is excellent, though, in her forceful role here and Foxx maintains integrity with a solid turn within the picture.

This movie belongs to Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, though. Monroe is terrific but if Coster-Waldau’s character didn’t feel authentic, the picture would have lost the rough edge it has which makes it so good. Hightower and Hardin are two completely different characters but Hightower starts developing feelings for Hardin which are believable and well portrayed on screen.

Though, the snake scenes are some of the hardest scenes to watch in this movie, Cassavetes makes up for some of the disturbing images we see with a last half hour or so which includes some of the best action you will see at the movies this summer. A key character hides as Hightower and Hardin go into a blaze of glory with the film’s villains with fireworks flowing in the background beforehand. As trucks of bad guys come in, this key character tells Hightower to kill each and every one of them. You’ll be tensed up watching these riveting scenes hoping he does.

What is an action film without a horrible villain who the audience hates? Karl Glusman is great at playing a lowlife who just wants to secure money and deals as he does with no consideration for preserving human life and he has zero compassion. You won’t believe how good it is to see him face off with Hardin in one of the best scenes late in the movie. Glusman nails this role.

God Is a Bullet is not an easy watch. Not at all. But, it’s a rewarding one. If you can make it through until the end, you’ll be glad you did. Would I sit through it again? Not on a bet but some of the explosive scenes here rank as Cassavetes’ most mature work to date. There are some lame scenes sprinkled in that could have been edited out (the subplots with characters other than the ones I mentioned seem like they could have been cut out) but Cassavetes doesn’t disappoint his fans with the central action scenes he provides here. God Is a Bullet is an intense thrill ride that will get under your skin but after all the violence portrayed on screen, the characters here find some sort of peace in their lives that makes this a worthwhile movie.

Rating: 7/10

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