Metascore

Generally favorable reviews - based on 24 Critics What's this?

User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 27 Ratings

  • Summary: Bullhead is a harrowing tale of revenge, redemption and fate. Domineering cattle farmer Jacky Vanmarsenille, constantly pumped on steroids and hormones, initiates a shady deal with a notorious mafioso meat trader. When an investigating federal agent is assassinated and a woman from his traumatic past resurfaces, Jacky must confront his demons and face the far-reaching consequences of his decisions. (Drafthouse Films) Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 24
  2. Negative: 1 out of 24
  1. Reviewed by: Noel Murray
    Feb 15, 2012
    91
    Bullhead is well-plotted, with a powerful ending, but its most brutal scene comes early, explaining why for Schoenaerts, life has been one long wince.
  2. Reviewed by: Scott Tobias
    Feb 21, 2012
    80
    Writer-director Michael K. Roskam takes his time in revealing why Jacky needs to shoot up, but that LaMotta restlessness is unmistakable - this bull here can rage.
  3. Reviewed by: Mike Scott
    Mar 16, 2012
    60
    Unlike most enforcers in the movies, Jacky isn't just a brainless slab of meat.
  4. Reviewed by: Calum Marsh
    Feb 15, 2012
    38
    What Bullhead ultimately lacks isn't balls but insight and empathy.

See all 24 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 9
  3. Negative: 1 out of 9
  1. 10
    Very good movie. Starts as a rural crime flick then subtly turns into an intense character study. Great performances by the lead actors. Don't miss it, this is what cinema should be: a movie that leaves you thinking for hours about what you just saw. Expand
  2. My final Febiofest screening of this Oscar-nominated Belgian film, a powerfully ravishing drama-crime blends a hidden atrocity in the past. The film owns an entangled and compelling script, sprinkling a few dastardly violence on screen, eliciting a fatalism presentiment and heroism boosting. From the beginning voiceover about the re-surface of some tucked-away secrets, the audience all anticipates the unraveling of the mystery, which turns out to be a frightful child trauma which prompts our protagonistâ Expand
  3. What could have been a very interesting character study on the things that mature us and make us men, is inevitably distracted by a relevant and interesting sub-plot involving treating cattle with illegal growth stimulants in the gangster underworld. The story gets lost in the plot, though the acting is worth the price of admission, and the direction at times is shows an amazing amount of empathy and fear. This good film could have been an instant classic with another script rewrite, but it's still a worthy contender for Best Foreign Language film, though it'll inevitably lose to "A Separation". Expand
  4. Not a good movie. I wish I could summarize my complete hatred toward this film within the confines of a paragraphs length, but alas, I am unable, and unwilling at that. Cliche characters, boring, unoriginal. Expand

See all 9 User Reviews

Trailers