Bloodshot

Starring: Vin Diesel, Eiza Gonzalez, Sam Heughan, Toby Kebbell, Guy Pearce, Talulah Riley, Lamorne Morris, Johannes Haukur Johannesson, Alex Hernandez, Siddharth Dhananjay
Directed by: Dave Wilson
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Science Fiction
2020

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A soldier (Vin Diesel) is brought back from the dead and given greatly enhanced abilities.

Review:

Tim: It's a bit frustrating that we haven't had more of these lower-tier comic book characters really break out on the big screen. The films often feel too small, too badly constructed to really succeed. To some extent, that happens with Bloodshot. I wasn't familiar with the Valiant Comics character, but it was obvious Vin Diesel felt passion about this project. I wanted to like the movie because of that. Ultimately, I couldn't quite get there. This film has some legitimate strengths, but the movie is only decent (and heavily flawed). It's another non-Marvel or DC superhero who shows up a bit D.O.A.

The character itself is fine. It's an interesting story, although not an original one. A deceased soldier is brought back to life and given superpowers. We've seen variations on this story many times before. The approach is a solid one here, though- it's legitimately fun to see the character learn about his powers and try to make sense of the world he finds himself awakened in. I wouldn't say there's anything special about the character, but it works.

The story itself is decent. It hits a lot of the familiar tropes and for a bit, I wondered if the whole thing was going to be utterly predictable. Thankfully, that's not the case. There's a few interesting twists and turns, which really helps elevate the story. We might not emotionally care much about what's happening, but it holds our attention. The origin story elements definitely take up a large percentage of the film, but there's some solid action sequences throughout. The movie does a lot at the end to set up the character (I imagine) to resemble the one from the comics. Not being familiar with the character, this didn't do much for me. I did understand what they were trying to accomplish, though.

Vin Diesel might not be great in the lead role, but it's the kind of role that's firmly in his wheelhouse. He seemed to relish being able to bring this character to life. It'll never have the impact of great characters like Dominic Toretto or Riddick, but Diesel brings that same energy to the character. It's infectious and it helps you root for him, even when the movie itself doesn't live up to expectations. Make no mistake, Diesel's involvement is what saves this movie. I always love seeing Guy Pearce and while it definitely feels like he's slumming it here, his presence was welcome. Pearce absolutely makes this a better movie with his performance. I like Eiza Gonzalez, but I didn't think she was great here. She's slightly better than average, but it felt like she was never fully comfortable with her character or the material. It was nice seeing Toby Kebbell, but his role is far too small. And then, we get to Lamorne Morris. Morris is undoubtedly the MVP of the film. Having a wisecracking sidekick is definitely a cliche, but Morris turns it into a work of art. His performance is so funny, so energetic, so charismatic that he greatly elevates the entire film. I had a blast watching his character and I think he was the most interesting part of the entire film. I liked this movie more than I should have and Morris is a big reason why.

So, despite having serious strengths, Bloodshot still isn't a good movie. It executes a few things well, but the broader movie gives us things we've seen dozens of times before and most of them have been done better than here. There's so little new here, so little that doesn't feel repetitive and derivative. Bloodshot could be any number of heroes, there's nothing unique or special about him. The entire movie feels too small. The visual effects aren't bad, but there's no scope to them. The fight scenes are all close up and quick cuts, I'm sure it saved a good deal of money. The destruction is clearly CGI. The characters feel two-dimensional. Yes, the story throws some interesting curves our way- that makes the movie watchable, but not exactly good.

While definitely flawed, I still think Bloodshot is a decent movie, which surprised me. The performances of Diesel, Pearce, and especially Morris, help. The effort put into the movie is obvious and while it fails to meet expectations, it gets closer than I would have expected. The film doesn't have the staying power it needed, but it's slightly better than it had any reason to be. This is Dave Wilson's feature film directorial debut and to some extent, that inexperience shows. However, he also managed to avoid this movie being a major disappointment. It's a decent movie and it makes me interested to see what he can do with more experience. There's a lot of bad things happening in 2020 and thankfully, Bloodshot isn't one of them (although it's not exactly good, either).

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



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