Bullet Points: Bone Cold (2022)

You have to love the randomness of late night Tubi watching. I normally spend far too much time looking for movies to watch without ever watching any of them. When I read the synopsis for Bone Cold, it immediately brought me back to what turned me into an action fan in the first place. Years of watching Predator and all of its lesser knockoffs, the hundreds of times I listened to ‘Long Tall Sally’ and thought about that repel out of the chopper. I just can’t pass up on a movie that sends those vibes.

Synopsis: An experienced Black Ops sniper attempts a nightmarish escape after a failed mission, tracked by enemy soldiers hellbent on revenge, and hunted by something sinister and monstrous, hungry and determined.

• Just another mission: The duo of Jon (Jonathan Stoddard) and Marco (Matt Munroe) are finishing up a mission in the desert. We only catch the tail end of the mission but we see Jon take out the target with one shot. It’s the way of the sniper, no doubt, but we can already see that Jon is having some issues with the job.
• Not just another mission: They are almost immediately thrown into another mission in the Ukraine. A target that has already had one team fail at and one that is putting some intense pressure on the boys from the Agency. This is one that they’re almost forced to take and it’s not one that they feel like they’ve been properly given the intel on.

• The Creature: The target is quickly acquired and taken out. No issues there. The landscape is rough, it’s cold, and Jon keeps seeing some mysterious creature around in the woods. Wait….what? It’s not something that his partner Marco has seen but Jon is convinced that they’re being stalked by some creature.
• Showdown: Unlike the creature, a trio of militiamen are stalking the duo as they make their way out of the target area. It’s clear that Jon and Marco will have to fight their way out and that makes for more entertainment for us.

• Target down: You could probably guess that it wasn’t going to be so easy for Jon and Marco as they’re given a new target. This one is a little more difficult and a shootout ensues. It’s also true that the team has been harassed by the creature and things are finally starting to get dangerous for the snipers.
• Target acquired: When the mission is over, the tension really heats up. The film shifts into another gear moves from a study on combat to one on PTSD and its effects on a family. More information is released about the mission and how much the Agency knew before they sent Jon and Marco in and you can be sure it isn’t taken well.

The Verdict: The synopsis of this film threw me off. I was expecting some version of Predator that I’ve seen a dozen times, with less of a budget and much smaller muscles. What I actually got was a film that took itself more seriously than I ever would have imagined. That isn’t a knock on the film, however, since it takes the characters and their interactions so seriously we’re able to learn about them without it being shoved down our throats. I’d say that the script is a huge success and the limited number of actors in this film handle it so well that found myself nodding along as they talked to each other about families and killing and everything in between. The film does change in the final act and I was a bit unprepared for it, but I wouldn’t say a thing to keep you from watching it. Check it out on Tubi!