VOD Review: 400 Bullets

When I first heard the title 400 Bullets, it was easily to imagine that the movie was going to be a Spaghetti Western. Turns out the movie is located far away from the Old West or even the rugged plains of Spain and the backlots of Italy. 400 Bullets takes place on the unforgiving terrain of a remote warzone in Afghanistan. Like any good Spaghetti Western film, 400 Bullets doesn’t bog us down with an intricate plot and dazzling dialogue that rattles like a machine gun. It’s all about building up tension, delivering explosion action, pithy lines and providing plot twists that doesn’t need over explanation to keep your attention glued to the screen. 400 Bullets does this while used a bit more than 400 bullets on a cold snowy night that just gets worse for soldier with the overnight observation shift.

A small military convoy makes its way across the countryside in the middle of the night. Noah Brandt (Homeless Ashes‘ Andrew Lee Potts) and his small army crew are escorting a pack of private contractor warriors. They have a seized pile of gold bars and more importantly 4 tactical missiles. While they are being watched from above, they come under fire from Taliban fighters. It’s a bloodbath and Brandt escapes with the firing keys necessary to make the missiles work. He strikes out to find a spartan British operating base that is mostly plywood and shipping containers. There’s only two people watching the place at this time including Rana Rae (Artemis Fowl‘s Jean-Paul Ly). He’s stuck with issues with the satellite internet hook up and the phone is bad too because of the mountains around the base. He’s taken back when Brandt arrive and the two men planning to go track down the Taliban and rescue those ambushed. Except the Taliban track them down at the base. Things get worse when Brandt learns what really went down during the ambush.

400 Bullets doesn’t get too deep into the nature of the Afghanistan war. This is all about kill or be killed. Although in this case it’s Cut Throats or be sliced open. This is a rather intimate military film that is all about fighters with guns, knives and fists in the middle of nowhere. The fights have impact as they bloody up every inch of the small operating base that’s cargo containers and raw lumber. Potts and Ly make a good tag team as they are forced to survive against everything. At only 90 minutes, the film does not drag. Writer-Director Tom Paton and his crew keeps things popping like the automatic rifle fire that dominates the soundtrack.

400 Bullets arrives on a variety of formats on March 2. First there’s a collectible Blu-ray™ and DVD release with special bonus content, including commentary with writer/director Tom Paton and behind-the-scenes featurette. The Blu-ray is for sale at Walmart and other fine online retailers. The movie is also available through OnDemand and Digital on March 2.