Review by Justin Waldman for Mr. Will Wong
I am going to preface this with the fact that I have never read a single issue of Valiant Comics’ Bloodshot, however its movie adaptation is exactly what I expected. It is a big, boisterous action movie with the right leading man. Jeff Waldow and Eric Heisserer co-wrote the Movie and Director Dave Wilson helms his first Feature, bringing to the big screen a visual spectacle based on a widely-popular series. The Movie itself is a feast for the eyes, with some Terminator-esque action. Brace yourselves for a movie that while light on logic, is heavy on fun.
The Movie focuses on Ray Garrison (Vin Diesel) who is a top-tier soldier. He is taken hostage by Martin Axe (Toby Kebbell), who kills his wife Gina (Talulah) right in front of Ray, before killing Ray too. Doctor Emil Harting (Guy Pearce) acquires Ray’s body from the military to turn him into a super soldier for his company RST (Rising Spirit Technologies) with Nanobots, but instead makes him an invincible killing machine. On Harting’s team of super soldiers is KT (Eiza Gonzalez), Dalton (Sam Heughan) and Tibbs (Alex Hernandez). The only one on this superhuman team aside from Ray, who is still human at their core, is KT. It later is revealed that not everything adds-up to what it is supposed to and then chaos ensues.
What makes Bloodshot work, aside from a story that takes several twists with blink-and-miss critical moments, is the hyper-stylized over-the-top action sequences. Wilson is responsible for some of the VFX we saw in Age of Ultron and high-profile Video Games such as Halo Wars, Mass Effect 2 and a slew of Star Wars games. It is no mystery why Bloodshot looks so great and audiences should be pleased.
The performances in Bloodshot are what we would expect. Diesel delivers the ferocity that fans have come to love of the car-chasing, t-shirt-wearing madman. Gonzalez delivers a great performance that brings heart and some great action sequences as well. Pearce is transitioning into a “go-to bad guy”, and it is suiting him rather well.
Bloodshot not only is action-packed, but has a great fueled story that fires!
Sony Pictures Canada release BLOODSHOT Friday, March 13, 2020.
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