Bullhead Blu-ray Review

Bullhead Blu-ray Review
SoHood.com Reviewed by: Johnny Pavlik
Movie Rating: 5 out of 5
Extras Rating: 5 out of 5

Overview: In perhaps the year’s most stunning international debut, Michaël R. Roskam’s Bullhead is a harrowing tale of revenge, redemption and fate. Domineering cattle farmer Jacky Vanmarsenille (Mattias Schoenaerts in a ferocious breakout performance), constantly pumped on steroids and hormones following a childhood trauma, initiates a shady deal with a notorious mafioso meat trader. When an investigating federal agent is assassinated and a woman from his horrid past resurfaces, Jacky must confront far-reaching consequences and whether the real meaning of manhood is hormonal or emotional. Acclaimed at festivals worldwide, the award-winning Bullhead is visceral saga bursting with rage that TwitchFilm calls “one of the most original crime films in recent memory.”

Review: The first two minutes into the film Bullhead which quickly pulls the viewer in. When a thirty something stocky male walks up to an old man (who gets startled) demands and threatens the old man to pay up the money that is owe to him. The old man never say a word back, he was just too scared to speak. I then thought to myself — who is this hostile stocky guy? And what does he do for a living? My first thought was he has to be involve in some form of illegal criminal activity. But then, we later learn that the man’s name is Jacky Vanmarsenille (Mattias Schoenaerts),  a cattle farmer.

Viewers are thrust into flashbacks during a traumatic event that took place in Jacky’s childhood in which his old friend Diederik was involved. Both of them seem like they were real close friends as kids. But that friendship is then broken when family loyalty was put to the test. It happened after, Jacky and Diederik saw a girl named Lucia Schepers. Her brother Bruno intervened and started slapping both Jacky and Diederik up side they heads and asking them if they wanted to have sex with her sister. Both Jacky and Diederik were taken aback at her brother’s crazy behavior.

A short time after when that occurred, Jacky And Diederik witnessed Bruno in sexual act. When Bruno caught them looking at him, he ran after them. He eventually caught up to Jacky and dropped him onto ground. What happened next? Well, it had me cringing and holding onto my pair of testicles real tight. I couldn’t believe what Bruno did, let’s just say a concrete brick was involved in a despicable act carried out by him. If I had to quote a music lyric that best described Bruno, it’ll be from a song of the rap group Cypress Hill, “insane in the membrane”

After you watch the flashbacks of Jacky’s childhood, you’ll get better understanding of how Jacky’s manhood was taken away from him. But the reality of what happened thereafter, has left Jacky shooting himself up with testosterone and steroid injections daily and locking himself in the bathroom where he feels safe.

Meanwhile, there’s a subplot side story where a policeman was murdered. Everything seems to involve Jacky’s family one way or the other. For the most part , the entire film is really how much pain and anguish Jacky has gone through without having a relationship with a female. It’s darn right sad and tragic. It’s definitely one of those films that will have you thinking about Mattias Schoenaerts’ character in the film even well after you’ve watched it.

The Good: Amazing cinematography. Also a fantastic acting job by actor Mattias Schoenaerts.

The Bad: Not much to say bad about it at all.

The specific aspects of the Audio and visuals for the Bullhead Blu-ray Disc:

The picture quality on this is Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC. Video resolution: 1080p, Aspect ratio: 2.35:1, Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1 and the Audio on this Blu-ray is DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1.

Commentary: In my opinion, the visuals and cinematography done by Nicolas Karakatsanis made the film stand out. It looked flawless on blu-ray. The audio is fine which I had no issues with. The English subtitles were in synched with the speech on screen, which I liked.

Bullhead Bonus Features On Blu-ray & DVD:

Bullhead – Trailer – Own it on Blu-ray & DVD

About the Film

• Stars: Matthias Schoenaerts, Jeroen Perceval, Jeanne Dandoy, Barbara Sarafian
  
• Language: English
• Number of discs:1
• Studio: Image Entertainment
  
• Blu-ray Release Date: June 26, 2012
  
• Run Time:124 minutes
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