Ray Garrison, Vin Diesel’s character in”Bloodshot,” could be a distant relative of the Terminators. A deceased soldier returned to existence, and Ray has a new bloodstream composed of”nanites,” insect-like robots that instantly heal his wounds. He can punch through concrete. He could have his face blown apart and keep shooting while it reassembles. He’s – this might not be the technical term – Wi-Fi-enabled, meaning he could immediately consume and digest a piloting guide, the same as in”The Matrix.”
So what does Ray have? The movie, based on a comic by the independent writer Valiant Entertainment, has interesting posing that question, in addition to upending its clichés, in ways which make it prone to spoilers. Ray awakes from his retrofitting with amnesia, but one memory comes back: He saw his wife implemented while her murderer played”Psycho Killer” from the background.
Diesel strikes the ideal balance of contemplation and meatheadedness. Guy Pearce attracts more certainty than is vital to a scientist who crows about how Ray is his”billion-dollar prototype” Of the Pearce nature’s other cyborgs – again, not the technical term – K.T. (Eiza González) is the only person of indirect interest.
“Bloodshot” runs out of meta tricks before it’s over, and David S.F. Wilson that borrows his visual vocabulary from Tony Scott and Michael Bay provides action sequences with this kind of choppy continuity that audiences may be as perplexed as to Ray. He deserves bonus points, nevertheless, for adopting silliness: One automobile crash entails a truck.
