There is a part of me that wishes I had gone in to watching “Bloodshot” without having seen any trailers or commercials, which I actually tend to do. The basic premise deals with Ray Garrison, a decorated soldier who loses his life (and that of his wife) after a deadly mission, but due to the use of technology from a mysterious company known as RST, he is brought back to life as a one-man killing machine. After he gets revenge on the man who killed him, he finds out that everything he knows may not really be what he knows due to the technology that brought him back to life.
This is effects expert David S. F. Wilson’s directorial debut, and what a start this is! Based on the most popular series in the history of Valiant Comics, he takes on the challenge of taking a comic to the big screen while still keeping the spirit of its source material (like Warren Beatty’s “Dick Tracy”) while keeping up with the action (like the Christopher Reeve “Superman” films). In doing so, Wilson was able to pull together a bit of both in a way I have not experienced before, like a a fight scene that takes place in a tunnel with flares providing red light and flour having been spilled that simply reminded me of a panel-by-panel fight as opposed to live action. The fight choreography is strong however, but some of the speeding up of the action weighed it down a bit for me. With this being my only gripe, that is not necessarily something that would ruin it for me.
Vin Diesel brings his military-trained-brooding-male like no other current actor, and given what I know of the character I am not sure anyone else could have done Ray Garrison justice. Eliza Gonzalez co-stars as KT, who follows the current trend of strong women who is equal in the fight, shown specifically in a beautifully shot scene with her in a pool. Also here is Sam Heughan (Outlander), who shows a very different side to his skills I am not used to seeing through pure male ego with coming out on top being his character’s only goal.
With all of the advances in technology CGI, the use of it in “Bloodshot” is almost seamless. The only reason I knew where it was being used was in scenes where my brain knew there is no way to accomplish what was on the screen without it. Make no mistake: this is an action-adventure, so there are no real life lessons, romance, or tug-at-the-heartstrings to speak of here, but this is still a good film with lots of enjoyable moments with little nuggets of humor throughout (even one to “Coming to America”), so take a moment to escape from reality and enjoy yourself!
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