Bloodshot (2020)

Movie Info

Have you ever had anyone trick you into thinking your past was a lie and turn you into a killer over and over again…you have? Ok…sorry.

Ray Garrison (Vin Diesel) had everything taken from him.  After a covert mission, he was captured and his wife Gina (Talulah Riley) is gunned down right in from of him before his own murder.  Now, Rising Spirit Tech has revived Ray and replaced his blood with nanotech which can repair and allow him to communicate with computers.  With Dr. Emil Harting (Guy Pearce) as a guide and a team behind, Ray has the opportunity for revenge…but not everything is as it seems.

Directed by Davis S. F. Wilson, Bloodshot is a Valiant Comics action-adventure superhero film.  The first adaptation of a Valiant brand, the film was released on March 13, 2020 just as the COVID-19 epidemic took root.  The film was quickly released on digital and received a mixed review with so-so box-office returns.

When Bloodshot rolled out in the 1990s, he seemed like Valiant Comics’ Punisher knock off.  When I finally read Bloodshot, I thought he had an interesting path and direction for his character, and some of the recent Bloodshot series were very good.  The Bloodshot movie really was damned by a poorly timed release and probably would have done better.  Due to aspects of the story, a ******spoiler alert****** is in effect for the rest of the review.

More of this, please

I didn’t love Bloodshot, but I give Bloodshot props for attempting to be a bit different than Marvel or DC movies.  The film has Bloodshot being sent out over and over again as a “test soldier” for a product which allows the programming of soldiers as assassins.  He thinks he’s avenging his wife’s death, but it is all a lie.  It is done with little humor and played as straight action, but in a way, it is also pretty obvious.  Despite having a bit of a twist, it was an obvious twist it felt like much of the action and events of the film were predictable right before they occurred.

Vin Diesel has the right look for Bloodshot, but with many of these type films, I wish they had sacrificed a “name” for a younger actor with a longer shelf life (which also frees up even more for special effects).  Diesel is joined by Guy Pierce (Pierce replaced Michael Sheen) as the “villain” of the film, but this is also odd in that the movie resembles Memento a lot and Pierce was the star of Memento.  Instead of being an homage with his inclusion, it feels like a constant reminder of the film having a story that resembles a Memento rip off.

Just let me compose myself a bit…

The special effects are good, and the action is what you would hope for.  I wish there had been more “Bloodshot with chalk white skin” to resemble his comic book appearance, but there were some looks of it near the end.  With Bloodshot “rebooted” again at the end, I thought it would have been a good time to transition him into the ghost like killer that he generally appears as (and in that sense the film would have served as almost an origin movie to set-up another film).

I feel kind of bad for Bloodshot.  There are a lot worse action-adventure movies out there and there are worse comic book movies.  Bloodshot (like a lot of movies in 2020) got a raw deal, but being at the cusp of the pandemic made it even worse.  Despite the ho-hum reception, Bloodshot is scheduled to get a second chance with a sequel announced in late 2020.