This is a 3 out of 10 film if there ever was one. The production is mediocre, sound is clear and audible, lighting is professional, not TV quality nor cinema quality, but TV film quality, the acting is what it is and the story is garbage.There is no point in this film.Things just happen. There are so many sides to the story but we never know what their motivations are. People just do things because. Lots of weird things. Bulgarian Turks understand Arabic for some reason (so they speak Bulgarian, Turkish and Arabic, from Indo-European, Turkic and Semitic, three completely different language trees. They're that good, but they choose to spend their intelligence smoking hookah, watching bellydancers and drinking tea.) Oh, and not one of them says "I didn't get it. Could someone translate?" Then Robert (main character) speaks Bulgarian also, he just chooses not to speak it. They ask him in Bulgarian, he answers back in English. I guess the Bulgarians speak English too, but they also choose not to speak it.I don't know how Robert learned Bulgarian so fast (a matter of days?), but I'm Russian and even I needed subtitles because I understood nothing.He understood everything, but he did not dare say one word in Bulgarian. It's not just these inconsistencies, but this is just proof of poor writing and poor understanding of geopolitics.There are random scenes of bellydancing to really stretch out the runtime. Is there a point to this?Islam is the flavor of the decade, so Bulgaria decided to jump on board.The sad thing is that Bulgaria has a lot more interesting stories to tell. The attempted assassination of the Pope is still not understood, a conspiracy that theorists link to the USSR, the KGB, Bulgarian secret service, The Turkish Grey Wolves, East German police, an inside job (Vatican) and so many more. Create a new story like this with new actors, the FSB, Putin, CIA, multinational corporations, etc. instead of the boring topic of Islamic terror which has flooded cinema, TV and now TV movies.Finally, if anyone is interested in some serious Bulgarian TV, watch Pod Prikritie (Undercover). Sofia or whatever they call this film is just crap.

A short time ago, I was given a box of DVD's, some of which I have never even heard of. I have made a point not to be influenced by reviews, so made it a specific task of mine not to go on to IMDb until I have finished watching the movie. Sofia (or Assassins Bullet) was certainly a movie that I'd never heard of and, being a sucker for most movies filmed in continental Europe, thought I'd give it a view. When finishing the film, I have to admit to being surprised at the average rating on IMDb and the poor reviews. At the end of the day, it wasn't as bad as all that. I found it very intriguing and have to admit, without giving too much away, didn't suss about the belly dancer straight away. Elika Portnoy certainly turns in a very good performance as the female lead. It was good see Christian Slater as it seemed ages since I'd seen him and Donald Sutherland was what Donald Sutherland has become of late in his movies.......sly, artful, deceiptful. Is he one of the good guys...or is he bad. I think we all know which is favourite!! My main fault with the movie though is that there were certain areas where I actually worked out certain situations after I'd finished watching it.....important things that were never fully explained but needed to be. This is quite difficult to describe without giving plot spoilers, so I will stop there. Sofia was filmed in Bulgaria by a mostly Bulgarian crew. It certainly opened my eyes as to what a fascinating multi cultural country it is. I never realised...but given it's proximity to Turkey, i suppose I should have known better. Anyway, Sofia is certainly not the best film ever made and contrary to other reviews, it's definitely not the worst. This intriguing little thriller is definitely not a one star movie.

This was painful to watch, I sat through 42 minutes of this film and then gave up. The acting was horrible, the camera work was bad, and several things didn't even make sense. This is one of those films where you know the actors took their roles just to pay the bills, which is sad because I normally enjoy Christian Slater and Donald Sutherland. Also I really hate having to read subtitles, if you can speak English just do it, it's easier on the viewer! **SPOILER** Just one example of how stupid this film was, in the first 20 minutes of this film, a VHS tape is thrown into a post of boiling water and the tape catches on fire... that's how this movie works. Don't waste your time on this stinker.

Bulgaria: Christian and Muslim, modern but also with horse-drawn carts, belly dancing and computers.Slater's character Robert works at the US embassy in Sofia on educational programs. He's a big tipper, and gives money and food to the unfortunate. He drinks a lot. His friend Kahn recommends therapy, but Robert would rather just avoid.He's former FBI; his wife was eastern European, but she was killed in New York. So he's staying away from New York, and being altruistic.Threads: Ashdown wants Robert to come out of retirement and hunt down some local thug. Kahn wants Robert to get on with his life. Elika wants to kill all the people who wronged her as a child. Robert works with Elika on a literacy project. Dr. Kahn treats Elika for her blackouts or syncope (wikipedia...'a transient loss of consciousness and postural tone, characterized by rapid onset, short duration, and spontaneous recovery...'). Robert starts working with Bulgarian police in Sofia, as arranged through Ashdown. Robert and one of the belly dancers become friendly.Robert and the police start with the killing of a Muslim Jihadist. Robert shows some police work. The film shows some crooked cops.Dr. Kahn gets Elika to let certain memories surface, such as her time in an insane asylum, and her recruitment and training into a group of assassins. She later visits the doctor dressed as her assassin persona. We get to see the sepia footage (again, again, again...I lost count) of her parents just before they were murdered.Kahn advises Robert to be careful, in case the belly dancer is just in love with his passport. The belly dancer dramatically drives a dagger into the seat cushion next to Robert's head, then runs off into the night. Robert follows, then catches up with her. She asks for a meeting later.Robert starts to put the pieces together. Does he ever make a difference? Sadly, no.----Scores-----Cinematography: 6/10 Tends to be dark and blurred out.Sound: 8/10 No particular problems; just a bit boring.Acting: 4/10 Veterans Slater, Sutherland, and Spall were OK, given the weak screenplay. Portnoy was amateurish. Many of the supporting players were just terrible.Screenplay: 0/10 Fails as a thriller, since suspense was not sustained. Fails as a mystery, since the main character's problems were telegraphed from the beginning. Fails as an action-adventure film, since most of the combat is sniper action, or just unbelievable. As a psychological drama, it is poorly done. The endless repeats of the childhood trauma were not good exposition; they were just irritating. The interactions of Dr. Kahn might have been much better if the actor playing the psycho were better.