Bloodshot review

BLOODSHOT:

ASIDE FROM A FEW INTERESTING IDEAS AND FUN MOMENTS, THIS VIN DIESEL “UPGRADE” FEELS MORE LIKE A DOWNGRADE! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: ** out of 4

COLUMBIA PICTURES

Vin Diesel, Eiza González, and Guy Pearce in Bloodshot

            Vin Diesel (Fast & Furious franchise, XXX, Marvel Cinematic Universe) gets a genetically enhanced upgrade in Bloodshot, a new superhero action film based on the Valiant Comics series of the same name and the first in a supposed cinematic universe. The film is directed by David S. F. Wilson in his directorial debut, produced by Neal H. Moritz (Fast & Furious franchise, 21/22 Jump Street, Sonic the Hedgehog) who had previously worked with Diesel on the Fast & Furious franchise and XXX, and adapted from a screenplay by Jeff Wadlow (Kick-Ass 2, Truth or Dare?, Fantasy Island). 

            Let me make this perfectly clear, I have not read any of the comics nor do I know anything about Bloodshot so I will be judging this film on its own. If anyone wants to educate me on the source material, then please feel free to leave a comment under this review. 

            Anyway, despite the trailer pretty much giving away the entire plot of the movie, I thought Bloodshot looked like it could be a dumb, fun action movie. Granted, the idea of a person getting superhuman enhancements is nothing new, in fact if you want the movie that pretty much perfected that concept then go watch 2018’s Upgrade, it is fantastic. 

            Still, the movie looked like it could be a fun time, but then a serious red flag began to show, rated PG-13 despite the trailers showing some pretty bloody and intense imagery. Yeah, a dark comic book movie released by Sony and given a PG-13 rating, that has never happened before in the history of filmmaking. 

            Okay, it’s not as bad as that film but unfortunately while there are a few interesting ideas being explored as well as some exciting action sequences, Bloodshot is a dull, predictable mess with an inconsistent tone and uninspired narrative that heavily recycles from other, better sci-fi films. It’s not Babylon A.D. bad but this is definitely one of Vin Diesel’s weakest action movie outings in recent years. 

            The film follows Ray Garrison (Diesel), a marine who is suddenly killed-in-action along with his wife and is brought back to life by a group of scientists from a mysterious facility. Ray discovers that he has been enhanced by nanotechnology with the ability to repair human tissue and give him extraordinary powers, but memories from his past are a bit shady. 

            However, when his memories start flooding back and remembers the man who killed him and his wife, he escapes the facility hellbent on revenge, and goes on an all-out manhunt. But he soon discovers that everything he thought he knew may not be as it seems. 

            The film also stars Eiza González (Baby Driver, Alita: Battle Angel, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw) as Katie, Sam Heughan (Doctors, Outlander, The Spy Who Dumped Me) as Jimmy Dalton, Toby Kebbell (War Horse, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, A Monster Calls) as Martin Axe, Guy Pearce (Memento, Prometheus, Iron Man 3) as Dr. Emil Harting, Lamorne Morris (New Girl, Barbershop: The Next Cut, Game Night) as Wilfred Wigans, Talulah Riley (Pride & Prejudice, Inception, Westworld) as Gina Garrison, and Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson (Noah, Atomic Blonde, Alpha) as Nick Baris. 

            Overall, Bloodshot has glimpses of a cheesy action movie that can be enjoyed from a guilty pleasure perspective, but the predictable story and exposition being delivered to the audience like they’re brain-dead makes it a slog to get through. If you’ve seen the trailer or any other movie with this kind or premise, then you can literally pinpoint every single thing that is going to happen in the story, and the film thinks it’s being clever with such laziness. 

            The action sequences at times can be entertaining, but mostly they’re either shot in the dark or bombarded with shaky cams making it very difficult to know what’s going on. Oh, do you want to play the Bloodshot Drinking Game? Take a shot every time it goes slow-motion during an action sequence, you’ll be dead before you know it. 

            Even Vin Diesel’s performance is bad in this movie, and I usually enjoy him as an action star as well as the voice and motion-capture for Groot in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Here, he’s as dull as a rock and is delivering his lines quietly sometimes while other times shouting them in an angry outburst, and none of it feels believable, it makes his performance in The Pacifier look like Daniel Day-Lewis by comparison, hopefully F9 will make up for this. 

             Aside from Diesel, the character development is almost non-existent in this movie and the motives of some of the side characters seem to come in at random. One moment Diesel is making small talk with a guy with mechanical prosthetic legs running on a treadmill, the next that same character is altering Diesel’s memories to turn him into a killing machine right out of nowhere. 

            Also, the death of the wife character is very poorly handled, and I guess it’s tragic for Vin Diesel’s character, but aside from that she’s literally just a plot device to get the story rolling. Had the movie took its time to give her more of a character so we could get attached to her and Vin Diesel before the tragic death, this probably would have been a lot stronger, but as is the film needed to constantly remind the viewer that he had a wife because of how lazy this script is. 

            The majority of the film’s narrative, science, and concepts are all recycled from other, better sci-fi films. Upgrade as previously mentioned but also the deceased man brought back to life through science but suffers from memory loss and is being controlled by an evil corporation ripped straight out of RoboCop, and bending reality and fantasy like in The Matrix or Total Recall, if a movie is so lazy and unimaginative that it needs to constantly rehash ideas from all of these movies at the exact same time then what’s even the point of watching it, just marathon every single movie I just listed and I guarantee you’ll have a much better time. 

            Bloodshot had potential but ultimately fell short due to lazy storytelling, dull characters, and a tone that doesn’t know whether it wants to be an edgy R-rated gore-fest, which honestly would have been the better option or your basic run of the mill PG-13 comic book movie with nothing new or interesting. My advice is to save your comic book entertainment until Black Widow and Wonder Woman 1984, at least those movies look like they have a lot more thought and passion put into them than this cheap, bland, studio-assembled mess.