Such a performance as this was without question deserving of a "Best Supporting Actor" nomination. In my opinion Ted Levine has always been underrated and underappreciated as a supporting actor. In the end Louis is able to avenge the senseless murder of his brother with the one skill / attribute / vocation he is still fully competent and adept in ~ the art of war. Levine opens a whole new dimension in the movie "Bullet." His genius of being able to completely transform himself into the deeply troubled and complicated mental basket-case ~ "Louis Stein" ~ catapults this movie to stratospheric levels of realism, humor, and believability ~ pure dissipation and recreation. Ted Levine's efforts provide us with almost 100% of the necessary comedic relief that not only rescues the movie but elevates it from a superficial, freak-show spectacle of pure tragedy, violence, sordidness, and hard-core narcotics addiction ~ which admittedly is rarely depicted so graphically and realistically in movies ~ to a well-rounded, highly entertaining, genuinely unique cinematic experience. Psychologically disturbed, deranged, tormented, and pathetic ~ yet intelligent and deeply sensitive ~ Levine's magical, multifaceted, protean portrayal of Louis Stein as the proverbial PTSD "poster child" is poignant, disturbing, hideous, and amusing all at the same ~ a masterpiece of stagecraft. an individual, who after being completely psychologically reprogrammed, brainwashed, and exploited by the military as a special forces "killing machine" is finding it exceedingly difficult to readjust to a civilian lifestyle, to say the least. Levine takes us on an odyssey through a highly complex yet severely unbalanced and convoluted personality ~ in an amusing sort of way ~ who is enigmatic, interesting, bewildering, and unsoluble all at once. a man being completely consumed by the atrocities of war, but fixated upon ~ incessantly fantasizing about ~ reenlisting for yet another tour of duty, when not imagining that he is still in the war. Without question a stellar, show-stealing performance by Ted Levine, as he demonstrates the art of dissolving the experience of the "self" and disappearing into his interpretation of a Vietnam War veteran who is in the process of losing yet another battle within his own mind.
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