At its best, this adaptation of the Valiant Comics source material manages to steer clear of sinking into the depths of the worst of comic book adaptations. Still, in its weakest, Bloodshot is likely to remind you of much better films. That is what it did for me. Movies like Robocop, Total Recall, The Matrix, The Bourne Identity, and Edge of Tomorrow instantly spring to mind. Not that Bloodshot is guilty of being the first film to take a cue from more durable films (nor is it the past ), but regrettably, there isn’t anything particularly striking about the execution, performances, or visual consequences, either.
Bloodshot includes Vin Diesel as Ray Garrison, a tough-as-nails soldier who, after a botched assignment, finds himself back from the dead. Further, he has been blessed with the power of self-healing that was accelerated and superhuman strength. In short, he’s virtually unstoppable. But why and how? The answers he attempts may lie inside Dr Emil Harting (Guy Pearce) and also a group of mystical underground mercenaries he’s been stationed with. As Garrison (aka, Bloodshot) tries to piece together what the hell is happening with his new life, increasingly odd notions, which could best be described as deja vu in nature, just further complicate an already ultra strange set of circumstances. This improved badass lays out on an assignment; One which opens his eyes into the truth behind his existence.
For all its uptempo action and effects, this film as a whole is the last thing that I wanted it to be, although a lot is going on inside this superhero opus. Boring! Convoluted, too. Director Dave Wilson, who also compile a short for its Netflix series Love and Creator, which makes his feature directorial debut here and if he keeps things moving at a brisk enough pace, there is not anything particularly dynamic concerning the action set pieces. What’s more, I did find myself rooting in any way that is meaningful –Although something happens to him early on And that’s a big-time difficulty given that he is the protagonist of the film.
Speaking of the protagonist, Diesel leads the fee and while he could be an effective actor and action star (view his outstanding work in Saving Private Ryan, Boiler Room, the Riddick series and yes…even the Quick saga), he participates as a small blank here. He is epic, and he comes across more one-note and charismatic and intimidating. For whatever reason, he generated more personality in The Iron Giant and Guardians of the Galaxy than he does as Garrison. If you’ve seen those particular movies, you know that he does not have many lines to talk of. Hard to say what went wrong here, because again, it’s not like the guy is a poor actor. Perhaps it’s all about the substance.
Elsewhere, Pearce (so good in early career attempts like Priscilla Queen of the Desert and L.A. Confidential) almost sleepwalks through this thing as a guy who might or might not have the replies to Garrison’s questions. Of the cast, it is Eiza Gonzalez (bringing energy into the role of KT, a woman who helps Garrison transition into a new way of life) and Toby Kebbell (as Martin Axe, among a handful of thorns in Garrison’s quick-healing facet ) who leave the most powerful feelings.
On a technical level, even the effects work comes up short in Bloodshot. It’s cartoony to the point of distracting. Look no further than a climactic (and undeniably bombastic) set-piece between a tall building and plummeting elevators. It is just not very entertaining. With all of its defects, even Ruben Fleischer’s relentlessly silly (and cluttered ) Venom functioned to more powerful effect mostly because, at the very least, that film was fueled by a dedicated, bonkers, go-for-broke functionality by Tom Hardy. No such luck for Bloodshot. It is not Batman and Robin or Cat Woman poor, but it will be best displayed in a double bill with the likes of last year’s misguided Hellboy redo.