Verdict
Summary
The movie, while not especially funny, has enough action in it to sustain its very simplistic plot. The leads have some chemistry, but the script is still crummy and blaringly lame. The airplane sequence is the highlight, and while there’s not much else to recommend here (even at less than 90 minutes), the movie should appeal to fans of its stars and for anyone who misses the movies of the ’90s.
Plot:
A cop and a crook team up to bring down a drug lord.
Review:
Archie Moses (Adam Sandler) is a motor mouth small-time crook who has earned his way up the ladder of trust with a very visible public figure (a car salesman who has commercials on TV) named Colton (James Caan) who is actually Los Angeles’ biggest drug kingpin. Archie’s best friend is a streetwise undercover cop named Keats (Damon Wayans) who has kept his identity from Archie a secret for a year, and when Archie tries inducting Keats into Colton’s operations, Colton’s cover is accidentally blown and all hell breaks loose and Colton gets a bullet to the skull as a result … and survives. On the run for months and regretting his life, Archie is eventually arrested, and when he makes a deal to turn state’s evidence against Colton, he has one condition: Keats has to bring him in. After months of rehabilitation, Keats has resentments towards Archie, but when they’re forced to work together to both stay alive as they try to make it back to Los Angeles amidst a legion of hitmen and goons who try to eliminate Archie before he can testify against Colton. This entails a bunch of close calls (including a wild airplane crash in the middle of nowhere) and a slow buildup of trust between these two former buddies who learn to love each other all over again.
When I saw Bulletproof theatrically in ’96, I absolutely hated it for being a lowbrow, profane, and unimaginative half-assed effort in the style of the Lethal Weapons and all the others that came before it, and at the time I wasn’t really (and still aren’t) a fan of Adam Sandler or Damon Wayans, but time has been kind to the film. The movie, while not especially funny, has enough action in it to sustain its very simplistic plot. The leads have some chemistry, but the script is still crummy and blaringly lame. The airplane sequence is the highlight, and while there’s not much else to recommend here (even at less than 90 minutes), the movie should appeal to fans of its stars and for anyone who misses the movies of the ’90s. Ernest Dickerson directed it.
Kino Lorber brings Bulletproof to 4K Ultra HD / Blu-ray in a two-disc combo pack, and the film has never looked or sounded better than it does here (even with all its unleashed profanity). They’ve included two commentaries, deleted scenes, the trailer, an interview with actor Xander Berkley, which is odd considering that he’s not in the film, and a slipcover.
