The coronavirus may do damage to the box office of Bloodshot since it’s being released right when everyone is starting to panic. Then again, the box office results probably weren’t going to be all that great to begin with when everything is taken into account. A part of the problem would be the low expectations that most will probably have going into it. However, if you ever choose to watch this at some point in the future, you may find it to be moderately entertaining.
Vin Diesel stars as Ray Garrison, a soldier who was killed in action and brought to life thanks to the handiwork of the RST Corporation. With an army of nanotechnology in his veins, he’s been rebuilt to be more than a soldier. He appears to be an unstoppable force with the kind of power and abilities that no human has ever had before. The only thing missing is his memory. He doesn’t fully know who he used to be or what’s going on behind the scenes, but he’s determined to find out.
There’s a good chance that you’ll likely be familiar with much of what Bloodshot has to offer even if you know nothing about the comics that it’s loosely based on. That’s because it’s mostly a blend of Memento (which also stars Guy Pearce) and Universal Soldier. There’s also a touch of Terminator in this as well. I’m usually against something being this obvious when it comes to borrowing from what came before, but I didn’t mind much here.
Borrowing heavily from these specific movies helps in building the type of story that would allow the action we get to happen. Plus, blending it all together in today’s cinematic world actually makes it stand out a little bit more. With that being the case, the only thing that prevents it from being a better film than it is comes from some of the acting. I’m mostly speaking of Sam Heughan and Vin Diesel. While Heughan doesn’t have as big of a role as Diesel, his presence is here enough to hurt the film at times.
As for Diesel, he does the most damage to the movie simply because he’s the lead. You don’t expect a lot from the characters he plays, but I think an actor with more range could have turned the person he’s portraying into someone more engaging. The weaknesses of Diesel are mostly seen during the opening act since he’s required to do more than he’s probably capable of. There are also periods later on where they ask him to show more emotion than usual. Predictably, those didn’t go all that well either.
When he isn’t asked to stretch himself beyond his capabilities, the movie works better than I could have anticipated. It’s nothing special, but there’s some legitimate effort put into it. For the most part, I found myself appreciating the ideas they had. And yes, a great deal of it is predictable (especially the twists), but some of it manages to be amusing enough at times.
If you go into Bloodshot with low expectations while also realizing that you’re not going to get an amazing work of art, you might like some of what you get here. Ultimately, it’s attempting to be a crowd-pleaser that will allow a good percentage of those interested to leave happy with much of what they get. I think they were able to accomplish that for the most part. Once again, I doubt it will make anything at the box office, but maybe some will find it later on after it leaves theaters.
Rating: PG-13
Director: David S. F. Wilson
Screenwriters:
Jeff Wadlow
Eric Heisserer
Cast:
Vin Diesel
Eiza Gonzalez
Sam Heughan
Toby Kebbell
Guy Pearce
Lamorne Morris
Alex Hernandez
Talulah Riley
Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson
Film Length: 110 Minutes
Release Date: March 13, 2020
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
