Tetsuo: The Bullet Man

There really are only three words to describe “Tetsuo: The Bullet Man” — "total," "mind" and another word I can’t write because there may be children reading. “The Bullet Man” is the third in the Tetsuo series, written and directed by Shinya Tsukamoto, and this movie doesn’t let up from the beginning. It is an extremely dark and gritty tale of love, revenge and humanoid robots: What more could you want?

Tsukamoto does a great job of weaving so many different genres together to create something fun and entertaining. To read about the history of the series is interesting in the fact that it is quite parallel to Sam Raimi’s "Evil Dead" series. “Tetsuo: The Iron Man” was a film student’s labor of love and became a cult classic. Then, a few years later, “Tetsuo” was re-imagined in a semi-sequel and, after gaining a larger fan base, was re-imagined once more in English to expand the story to an American audience.

The story starts off with an American man, Anthony (Eric Bossik), waking up next to his son, Tom (Tiger Charlie Gerhardt), after a horrible dream. This is the morning where we receive our first clue that there is something different about Anthony. While cleaning up some broken glass, Anthony receives a small cut and is oblivious to the steam that rises from the spilled blood. While out for a walk, Tom is run over by a mysterious assailant, sending Anthony into an emotional vacuum. Yuriko (Akiko Mono), Anthony’s wife, leaves on a mission to find her son’s killer after Anthony refuses to do it himself. This is the start of Anthony’s rage-fueled transformation into a walking weapon of mass destruction.

The story heats up when Anthony joins his wife on her mission to avenge their son and, along the way, discovers the reasoning behind his transformation. To make things more difficult, there is a mysterious man that seems interested in fueling Anthony’s transformation and a police task force on Anthony and Yuriko’s tails.

Tsukamoto does a pretty masterful job of crafting an engaging story with really great visuals. The effects in this movie were pretty amazing. “Tetsuo” starts out strong right out of the gate and really hits its stride in the second act. Unfortunately, “Tetsuo” is not without its flaws. Instead of completely re-imagining the original film and introducing the story to a new audience, “Tetsuo” leaves these viewers a bit in the dark. Overall, “Tetsuo” is a great story coupled with gritty visuals. It is a great addition to the series and a great treat for fans of the series.

Film: 3 Yaps