With recent box office and critical successes coming from Marvel and DC Comics, it wouldn’t be to anyone’s surprise that eventually, some other comic book property would have their turn to bring their respective worlds and characters to the big screen. What is surprising, however, is that it’s taken this long for one such company, Valiant Comics, to take a chance at film stardom, starting first with Bloodshot, which has proven to be one of the company’s most popular series/characters. With Vin Diesel at the helm as the titular Ray Garrison and the film potentially laying the groundwork for a new cinematic universe, it’s no secret the film wants to be something worthwhile and meaningful as well as an action extravaganza that would please any and all Diesel and comic book fans alike.
But the film proves to be far less than what it set out to be, and if anything contradicts itself by letting us know it’s meant to be fresh and forward-thinking, but instead falls back on the very story it’s trying to avoid. Vin Diesel is charming as always and it’s easy to root for someone of his caliber, especially in the action genre, but he’s just incapable of doing something more with an admittedly interesting and fascinating story in the character of Bloodshot. Outside of that, the film attempts to upend the origin story with a clever twist of the traditional structure, but then sinks back into something that, while all-around entertaining and somewhat fun, feels like a missed opportunity for something wholesomely unique.
Ray Garrison (Vin Diesel) is a deceased US soldier who wakes up in a strange laboratory of some kind. In it, he finds himself face-to-face with Dr. Emil Harling (Guy Pearce), who has successfully resurrected him with state-of-the-art nanotechnology. Said technology takes the form of nanites, microscopic robots infused into Ray’s blood that is capable of effectively and swiftly regenerating any and all injuries whilst also bestowing upon him enhanced durability and strength. With his newfound abilities, Ray enacts a one-man agenda of vengeance against the man who murdered his wife. But everything is not what it seems and everything Ray believes will be upended and tested as truths are revealed and lies are exposed, launching Ray into a state of survival.
Bloodshot’s blatant commitment to what we’ve seen before with other origin stories is made clear within the first 20-30 minutes, where we’re introduced to the inciting incident, then the hero gets powers, and then he begins his quest for vengeance. It’s a rough patch to get through especially since the writers practically gloss over the entire setup for the technology behind Ray’s powers and who each character is in rapid succession. There’s no consistent flow in the exposition and how the story progresses. It’s basically a Wikipedia-esque summary of what every revenge-based origin story is like.
However, it’s at this point where it’s safe to say the marketing wasn’t on the film’s side this time around. If you haven’t seen the trailers, I recommend you refrain from looking into them because to be quite frank, they give away what may have been the film’s greatest strength. Having seen the trailers myself, I knew what to expect, and because of that, my interest in the movie didn’t peak as much as I wanted. The script basically utilizes a really clever twist on the traditional origin story and admittedly it’s a swing one should appreciate the filmmakers for taking. But even with that change of pace and writing, the film nonetheless resorts to remaining within the boundaries of the cliched, predictable comic book origin story we’ve seen take fold for many years now. Nothing is all that surprising and nothing new is ever added.
Vin Diesel is a mixed bag to say the least in this movie. It’s not that he’s a terrible actor. Now, he’s not amazing by any stretch, but he gets the job done and he’s a very likable and charming guy who can do no wrong. He’s very easy to follow and support, and that’s why he’s the face of the Fast and Furious franchise. In Bloodshot, however, many of his strengths and weaknesses are presented. On the one hand, he excels in giving the audience enough charm and likability to keep us rooting for him. But on the other hand, his stilted performance doesn’t help sell anything he says in the movie. He’s meant to be a man of righteous withheld fury and anger as he searches for vengeance while enacting plenty of carnage along the way, but he can never add anything to the writing or dialogue he’s giving. You just can’t buy any of it at all.
The rest of the supporting cast don’t fare much better. None of them are bad, for the record. Eiza González gives a commendable performance as Katie/KT, while Lamorne Morris steals the whole movie with his bumbling yet intelligent and sarcastically witty Wilfred Wigans. Both of them do enough to get you interested in them and root for them, but neither of them are given much depth to add anything beyond them being caricatures, of sorts. The rest of the cast basically consists of the main villains of the movie, and the film, unfortunately, is never afraid to show you just how evil or devilish they are.
But what was surprising about the movie is how, despite all the issues there were with the story and characters, the biggest disappointment was, strangely enough, the action sequences themselves. It’s disheartening because you can feel the ferocity and brutality of the action itself. The use of sound design and some impeccable visual effects give a great sense of the brutality of the fight scenes. However, the questionable use of shaky cam and the horrendous editing techniques give little to no spatial and visual context of what is transpiring. They make the action jarring, incoherent, and inexplicably hard to follow. It’s sad because you can tell there’s an incredible fight scene in each one, that there’s excitement hiding in plain sight. But there are so many external factors that keep us audiences from seeing what could’ve been amazing.
Even with all this new potential you have with a brand new comic book company and property, the story feels small, and not in a “grounded in reality, easy to follow” kind of manner. I mean it feels as though something is confining the story within a claustrophobic narrative bubble, keeping all the intrigue, world-building, and storytelling to a minimum, vouching instead for a very simplistic, straightforward revenge-thriller. While that may often be beneficial since it can keep the story focused and centered, it hinders what could’ve been fascinating explorations of the origin story and what could come about from what Valiant Comics has to offer. For the record, this is all coming from a guy who has never read a single page from anything published by Valiant.
Bloodshot is a middle-of-the-road action flick that could’ve done a lot more with what it was given. It’s clever storytelling twists and fresh world-building material are sadly overshadowed by the persistent use of clichés and predictability. The rather questionable handling of the action also doesn’t lend any favors to the movie and Vin Diesel, in many respects, doesn’t seem fit for the role. But I was never bored with what was happening, and again, Vin Diesel is charming in these kinds of movies so it was easy to follow along his journey. The performances are all commendable and the action sometimes has something to offer. I guess what I’m saying is that there’s a great, unique, and fresh origin story hiding within the cracks of this mediocre action flick, and that’s what kept me interested, for the most part. I just wish there wasn’t so much negative baggage laying atop it, because then this new cinematic universe would’ve gotten off on the right foot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOUVVDWdXbo&t=1s&w=585