MOVIE OF THE WEEK (3/13/20): BLOODSHOT
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| "If you see me running like this, you know someone is about need a stuntman to fight my stuntman!" Ray Garrison (Vin Diesel) rushes into battle in a scene from BLOODSHOT. Credit: Graham Bartholomew © 2020 CTMG, Inc. All rights reserved. |
KEY CAST MEMBERS: Vin Diesel, Guy Pearce, Eiza Gonazalez, Sam Heughan, Toby Kebbell, Siddarth Dhananjay, Alex Hernandez, Talulah Riley and Lamorne Morris
DIRECTOR(S): David S.F. Wilson
DIRECTOR(S): David S.F. Wilson
WEB SITE: http://www.bloodshot.movie/
THE BACK STORY: Ray Garrison (Vin Diesel) was a dedicated U.S. soldier who had a loving wife (Talulah Riley) waiting for him at home. Then he got killed in the line of duty. But thanks to RST Technologies head Dr. Emil Harting (Guy Pearce), his main coder (Siddarth Dhananjay) and former soldiers-turned-assistants KT (Eiza Gonzalez), Jimmy Dalton (Sam Heughan) and Tibbs (Alex Hernandez), Garrison has been rebuilt into a super soldier with nanites inside his body that work to repair and heal him.
But as Garrison starts out on a path to eliminate the man (Toby Kebbell) that took his life and more from him, he starts to have interferences in his memory that cause him to realize all may not be as it seems. And once he finds out he may not be in control of his own mind let alone his actions, Garrison seeks to find out what's real and what's not – no matter how many bodies he may potentially leave behind in his wake.
But as Garrison starts out on a path to eliminate the man (Toby Kebbell) that took his life and more from him, he starts to have interferences in his memory that cause him to realize all may not be as it seems. And once he finds out he may not be in control of his own mind let alone his actions, Garrison seeks to find out what's real and what's not – no matter how many bodies he may potentially leave behind in his wake.
THE REVIEW: Bloodshot is based on a series of comics of the same name published by Valiant Comics. As the titular character, Diesel is pretty much what you would expect from start to finish: Bruising physically, always trying to show his depth as actor emotionally given his character's backstory with his wife but never quite achieving it ... But able to take the role a quarter mile a time like Dominic Tor, er, when he is at his best. Likewise, Pearce delivers a scaled-down carbon copy version of his Iron Man 3 performance with Gonzalez serving as the film's femme fatale du jour, complete with one (albeit brief) dynamic sequence of her own.
That being said, Bloodshot can be summed up in one sentence: It's Universal Soldier for an audience too young to know 1992's original with Jean Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren or those old enough that enjoyed it. That's really it – save for a smaller body count, better special effects and a role that could have easily went to Dwayne Johnson if he likely had wanted it. If you're unfamiliar with Universal Soldier, imagine a video game where you get to play with a super soldier who is eventually going to find out things aren't as they seem and then try to take revenge on those trying to manipulate him. Now, having never read the comic book series, I can't say if there is more to the source material or not; having seen Bloodshot the film, however, I can say there is not.
Bloodshot is a perfect temporary distraction movie. It's not great, it's not bad. Lamorne Morris adds an effective dose of humor into his role and Diesel does what he needs to do effectively enough to make the movie work, no more and no less. Director David S.F. Wilson isn't trying to break any molds and he follows the previous super soldier movie ones that came before him well enough to make it work.
In short, Bloodshot is a fine distraction from the current craziness of the world. If you have a movie theater open near you where you're pretty certain you won't catch anything than the flick itself, you could do worse than Diesel's latest muscle-bound opus. One day, outside of his Fast & Furious work, though, it would be nice to see him do better.
That being said, Bloodshot can be summed up in one sentence: It's Universal Soldier for an audience too young to know 1992's original with Jean Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren or those old enough that enjoyed it. That's really it – save for a smaller body count, better special effects and a role that could have easily went to Dwayne Johnson if he likely had wanted it. If you're unfamiliar with Universal Soldier, imagine a video game where you get to play with a super soldier who is eventually going to find out things aren't as they seem and then try to take revenge on those trying to manipulate him. Now, having never read the comic book series, I can't say if there is more to the source material or not; having seen Bloodshot the film, however, I can say there is not.
Bloodshot is a perfect temporary distraction movie. It's not great, it's not bad. Lamorne Morris adds an effective dose of humor into his role and Diesel does what he needs to do effectively enough to make the movie work, no more and no less. Director David S.F. Wilson isn't trying to break any molds and he follows the previous super soldier movie ones that came before him well enough to make it work.
In short, Bloodshot is a fine distraction from the current craziness of the world. If you have a movie theater open near you where you're pretty certain you won't catch anything than the flick itself, you could do worse than Diesel's latest muscle-bound opus. One day, outside of his Fast & Furious work, though, it would be nice to see him do better.
OVERALL RATING (OUT OF FOUR POSSIBLE BUCKETS OF POPCORN):
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