Bullfighter - Movie Review
Rating: 1.5 out of 5
And here I was, expecting a movie about bullfighting.
This cryptic little indie starts out with the story of a Frenchman (Olivier Martinez) in Mexico, fascinated with bullfighting, indeed. When his cute little girlfriend unleashes a bull on him for some unknown reason, she ends up getting gored. That's bad enough, but her dad turns out to be a major crime boss, and he proceeds to go on a rampage against our poor Frenchman.
Hooking up with Mary (Star Trek: TNG's Michelle Forbes), the duo begin a "fantasy adventure" that transcends any sense of reality, culminating in the birth of a new messiah who is dubbed "Pumpkin."
Bullfighter is ultimately a blatant ripoff of Robert Rodriguez's El Mariachi, made for obviously no money by indie vet L.M. Kit Carson and his crew. Strangely enough, Rodriguez actually has a cameo in this movie, which says to me he's paying off Carson for all his support of indie filmmaking.
And while El Mariachi is a truly great film, Bullfighter is anything but. The story is supposed to be farcical (I think), but it just comes off as stupid and tiresome. The camerawork is bad, the editing is atrocious (each scene transition uses a grating jump-back-and-forth-five-times method which makes you want to kill yourself after 10 minutes of it). The special effects typically involve a strobe light. This is not a good thing.
What is mildly good is Forbes (the only real actor in the picture), and Martinez makes for a curiously understated action hero. If only he didn't mutter all his lines beneath his breath, thus rendering the picture even less comprehensible.
Hit 'im.
Facts and Figures
Year: 2001
Run time: 90 mins
In Theaters: Tuesday 22nd April 2003
Reviews
Contactmusic.com: 1.5 / 5
IMDB: 2.4 / 10
Cast & Crew
Director: Rune Bendixen
Producer: L.M. Kit Carson, Majken Gilmartin, Cynthia Hargrave
Screenwriter: Rune Bendixen, Hunter Carson, L.M. Kit Carson
Starring: Olivier Martinez as Jacques, Willem Dafoe as Father Ramirez, Michelle Forbes as Mary, Assumpta Serna as Ahandra / Allison, Jared Harris as Jones, Donnie Wahlberg as Chollo
Also starring: Michael Parks, Majken Gilmartin, Cynthia Hargrave, Rune Bendixen, Hunter Carson