The whole focus of watching an axe blade split a bullet in two in super slow motion is never explained but it’s kind of cool to watch. The distance to the axe blade isn’t much, only about 7 yards, roughly 21 feet, but it should be enough to avoid a nasty ricochet. Plus, given the pistol being used you wouldn’t think it would shatter the blade unless the axe has some serious flaws in it, which it obviously doesn’t since the first bullet just glances off and keeps going. The second bullet however hits the edge and splits in two, leaving both halves to go sailing off into the distance while the axe blade wobbles from the impact. How many times have you seen a solid axe blade wobble?
There’s a similar scene to this in the movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine, when Wade Wilson is in the process of taking down an entire group of armed African gunmen that are attempting to shoot him down in a deadly crossfire. This being a comic book movie however Wade is simply too fast and the twin katanas in his hands are merely blurs as he goes zipping around the room, deflecting shots with his blade until the scene goes to slo mo and shows the image of one the gunmen in the reflection of the blade. Because obviously Wade can see this while he’s in the middle of battle he manages to turn and cleave the incoming bullet in two, allowing the separate halves to go flying behind him where they connect perfectly with two other gunmen, killing them instantly. Hurray for movies.
So yes, that would never happen in real life for a couple of reasons. One is that a blade like that might break if it wasn’t somehow fortified enough to withstand such a hit. Two is that human reaction times are nowhere near as fast on average as they’d need to be to deflect a shot in that manner, much less cleave a bullet in two. You saw the axe blade wobble? Think of what the force would feel like while it was in your hand. It might not rip the weapon out of your hand but if the impossible did happen and the new vector of each fragment wasn’t wide enough you’d still end up taking the bullet, but in two spots instead of one. Keep in mind that’s a guess, not a fact, but it seems plausible enough.
Lead is a soft enough metal that when it meets with another metal that’s harder and more durable it will lose the fight and go to pieces or crumple. In this case upon meeting the unforgiving edge of the axe blade it split, the metal jacket that was holding it offered no protection at such close range and flew apart just as easily. That’s a solid axe blade though, meaning that it would take something a lot more forceful than a bullet from a 1911 .45 Auto to do any serious damage to it. Something bigger and more powerful might, at that range, provide a much more powerful punch.
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