The Bullet Vanishes

Plot

Ding (Liu Kai-chi), the overbearing owner of a bullet factory in Tiancheng County, intimidates his workers to keep them in line, leading to a public Russian roulette "suicide" of a female employee (Xuxu) accused of stealing a box of bullets. A curse relating to a certain "Phantom Bullet" is found written in red on the walls of the factory, though the workers are soon ordered to scrub it off. Subsequent deaths from "phantom bullets" which are never found, seemingly vanishing, suggest that the factory has really been cursed. Song Donglu (Lau Ching-wan), a newly promoted detective with a slightly eccentric personality, is summoned by Tiancheng's police chief Jin (Wu Gang) to assist Guo Zhui (Nicholas Tse), "the fastest gunman in Tiancheng", and novice policeman Xiaowu (Boran Jing) in investigating the peculiar murders.

Cast

• Nicholas Tse as Captain Guo Zhui, a gunman, detective and Song's partner.
• Lau Ching-wan as Inspector Song Donglu, a prison superintendent, forensic investigator and expert in criminal psychology.
• Yang Mi as Little Lark, a fortuneteller.
• Liu Kai-chi as Boss Ding, the owner of a bullet factory in Tiancheng County.
• Boran Jing as Xiaowu, a novice policeman working with Song and Guo.
• Yumiko Cheng as Li Jia, a coroner.
• Wang Ziyi as Wang Hai, an employee at the bullet factory.
• Wu Gang (actor) as Jin, the local police chief of Tiancheng County.
• Xuxu as Yan, the employee at the bullet factory who was forced to commit suicide by Boss Ding.
• Liu Yang as Chen Qi, a foreman of Boss Ding's.
• Jiang Yiyan as Fu Yuan, a woman convicted of killing her husband.
• Chin Kar-lok as Fu Yuan's husband.
• Gao Hu as a high-ranking police officer.
• Johnson Yuen
• Benz Kong
• Lu Kai

Critical reception

As of 23 October 2012, on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film had received a 92% "fresh" rating from 12 reviews, with an average of 6.9/10. On Metacritic, it had an average score of 65 out of 100, based on 4 reviews.

The Bullet Vanishes generally received favourable reviews from contemporary film critics, with Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter commenting that the thriller "boasts a fiendishly clever plot and gorgeous production elements". Chuck Bowen of Slant Magazine praised the film for being "an effective tonic for summer-movie fatigue". Simon Foster of SBS gave The Bullet Vanishes 3 stars, out of 5, praising its engagement. straight.com's Ken Eisner said that it was a "strikingly beautiful detective thriller" and that it hit most of its marks. Robert Abele of the Los Angeles Times was one to give a negative review, concluding that it had "no story but lots of action" and was "visually stunning but emotionally empty", slamming the "over-abundance of visual pizazz". Many critics felt that The Bullet Vanishes had been influenced by the 2009 film Sherlock Holmes directed by Guy Ritchie, in particular the pairing of Song and Guo has been compared with that of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson.

Box office

The Bullet Vanishes earned HK$8,016,951 at the Hong Kong box office.

The Bullet Vanishes was officially released in North America on 31 August 2012. According to Box Office Mojo, The Bullet Vanishes domestically grossed US$43,444 in its opening weekend, and has grossed US$117,629 as of 27 September 2012.

Accolades

References

References

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2. "Bullet Vanishes (2012) International Sales, excluding China". [[Box Office Mojo]].
3. "Bullet Vanishes (2012) Sales, China". [[ENT group]].
4. Liu Shuai. (March 9, 2012). ""Disappeared Bullets" in Post-production Stages". Chinese Films.
5. French Clements. (August 29, 2012). "The Bullet Vanishes". The Village Voice.
6. Buchanan, Jason. "The Bullet Vanishes". Rovi Corporation.
7. Elley, Derek. (December 20, 2012). "The Bullet Vanshes". Film Business Asia.
8. "消失的子弹The Bullet Vanishes (2012)". mtime.
9. Gabriel Chong. "THE BULLET VANISHES (消失的子弹 Xiao shi de zi dan) (2012)". Movieexclusive.com.
10. Daniel Eagan. (August 29, 2012). "Film Review: The Bullet Vanishes". Film Journal.
11. Frank Scheck. (August 30, 2012). "The Bullet Vanishes: Film Review". [[The Hollywood Reporter]].
12. "Weekly box office".
13. Jay Seaver. (August 2, 2012). "Bullet Vanishes, The". efilmcritic.com.
14. (August 30, 2012). "No Bullet, but Plenty of Questions". [[New York Times]].
15. Maggie Lee. (August 30, 2012). "The Bullet Vanishes". [[Variety (magazine).
16. [http://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=15297&display_set=eng The Bullet Vanishes at HKMDB]
17. [http://chinesemov.com/2012/The-Bullet-Vanishes.html The Bullet Vanishes at chinesemov.com]
18. [https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_bullet_vanishes/ The Bullet Vanishes (2012)] ''[[Rotten Tomatoes]]''. Retrieved October 23, 2012.
19. [https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-bullet-vanishes The Bullet Vanishes] ''[[Metacritic]]''. Retrieved October 23, 2012.
20. Chuck Bowen. (August 29, 2012). "The Bullet Vanishes Film Review". [[Slant Magazine]].
21. Simon Foster. (30 August 2012). "Mystical mystery draws on familiar influences: The Bullet Vanishes review". SBS.com.au.
22. Ken Eisner. (August 30, 2012). "The Bullet Vanishes hits most of its marks". [[straight.com]].
23. Abele, Robert. (August 30, 2012). "Review: No story but lots of action in 'The Bullet Vanishes'". [[Los Angeles Times]].
24. (2012-08-22). "The Bullet Vanishes Hong Kong Box Office". HK Neo Reviews.
25. (November 23, 2012). "China's 'Mystery' vies for Golden Horse film award". New York Daily News.
26. (24 November 2012). "Golden Horse Film Awards: Chinese films do well". BBC News.