Title: Bloodshot
Film Release Date: March 13th, 2020
Studio: Original Film, Columbia Pictures
Director: Dave Wilson
Release Format: Theatrical
Bloodshot is a film with a cool premise that has many of the pieces in place, but they never quite connect in a completely satisfying way.
Vin Diesel plays a soldier who was killed and brought back as a virtually unstoppable killing death machine. His deadly hands are set to beat the life out of those who wronged him.
If Diesel isn’t with the family, it seems as if he forgot how to act like a deer in headlights. The acting and script are some major issues with the film; however, all of a sudden, Bloodshot then gets fun, making me wonder if the “bleh” first act was worth the swerve. If one thing is for sure, no cemetery hasn’t amassed the body count Vin does in this one.
A Whole Lot of Red and Blue
The film doesn’t know whether it wants to be tongue in cheek or a serious revenge tale. When it plays up to the stupidity of the plot, it charmingly works. When it tries to go the serious Batman v Superman route, things die harder than Martha did.
This plot is the equivalent to Uncle from Jackie Chan Adventures the way it keeps going “one more thing” with nonsensical plot reveals. I had to laugh at some points and throw my hands up like “sure, go for it.” I swear that braids don’t have as many twists this story does.
Diesel is so bland here, he could have murdered my whole family in front of me, took a selfie on my phone, and I still couldn’t call him out in a police lineup. I am going to have to tell my ghost family, they’ll have to get a raincheck on that avenging until Diesel’s character gets a personality.
Bloodshot made my eyes bloodshot with how long it can feel. The runtime isn’t even that long sitting at an hour and forty-nine minutes; it’s just how they used those minutes. This stretches things out like it is getting paid by the minute and not by the price of admission.
The action is generic and hard to tell what’s going on a lot of the time. However, it does have cool moments and sequences spread throughout that made me scream inside,” why can’t you do this the whole time?” There are also some creative designs such as a blind soldier that uses cameras around his body to fight. Bloodshot shines when it comes to this area.
A major problem, though, is that there is no threat to Diesel. He is that overpowered character your friend picks in fighting games because its a guaranteed win. The plot even ignores his supposed “weakness” to the point I rooted for the bad guys due to these unfair fights.
Teamwork is Key
This movie is devoid of any meaningful characters until later on, which wouldn’t be a problem if Diesel’s character didn’t have the charisma of a rock. He is so forgettable that I just googled his name and forgot what it was as I typed this.
There are other faces that bring a great dynamic to Bloodshot. Winston (Lamorne Morris) is a guy that brightened up the film the minute he appears. He was a major personality that was missing early on as the tech guy whose mouth runs a mile a minute.
Eiza Gonzalez, as K.T, had this “it factor” that often helped carry Bloodshot. She does a lot a reaction that can stare a hole through you and pulls off some cringy dialogue that some of her costars couldn’t. K.T is apart of Diesel’s black ops unit, and her special tech allows her to breathe underwater or in any environment.
Seeing Guy Pearce in the credits, you can bet your house if he is playing a good or bad guy. That’s all I say on that, but I will say that I like his interactions with a lot of the cast, especially Eric, the IT guy. Their back and forth provides some welcomed laughs in the movie while they support Diesel from the lab.
Blood Is Not Thicker Than A Good Script
Verdict: Bloodshot is a film with so much potential that it is bogged down by sloppy writing and execution. By the end, I still genuinely wanted to see another adventure featuring the heroes and what other cool sci-fi elements they play with next.
While I won’t encourage you to hit a theatre to catch this, I will say this is best experienced with a group of friends. There is so much stupidy and insanity, you will either be tickled or ticked off when leaving the building. If it becomes the latter, just don’t hunt me down like Vin Diesel since I did warn you.
What did you think of Bloodshot? Any action movies you’ve seen that fell short of their potential? Leave a comment!
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