Bloodshot: Clichéd Superhero Actioner Opens ‘New Cinematic Universe’ With a Whimper

By Kim Hughes

Rating: C

It would be swell if there was a way of describing Bloodshot that unscrambled its plot while making it sound staggeringly cool but… well, we can’t all be superheroes. Neat effects though, which maybe are the most important thing in a sci-fi actioner? As always, managed expectations are the best defence against ghastly disappointment.

Based on the 90s-era comic about a fallen solider scientifically reanimated as a conflicted and reluctant crusader —like Robocop but less multidimensional — Bloodshot stars man-of-few-words Vin Diesel as Ray Garrison, the namesake solider with thighs for forearms, a glistening dome, and a hard love for his wife.

No spoiler here (it’s in the trailer): both Mr. and Mrs. Garrison are killed early on. Garrison is subsequently scooped up by the cutting-edge, covert RST lab and turned out as a masterful specimen of malevolence able to take on any nefarious thing with absolute physical impunity thanks to what looks like grasshoppers in his bloodstream that make him strong and able to spontaneously heal. (Don’t let the folks at the local blood bank know about this. Or the pest control guys).

So explains the seemingly helpful but scheming Dr. Emil Harting (Guy Pearce) who speaks in dizzying techno-jargon familiar to fans of the genre and parroted by a pair of geeks playing on opposite sides of righteousness. Garrison is hell-bent on avenging his wife’s death but soon learns that what he thinks is truth may not be truth, and that Dr. Harting is using Garrison/Bloodshot as a pawn to further his own agenda. White-knuckle action sequences, slow-mo fight scenes, and general carnage ensue.

The idea of a repurposed military man caught in a conspiracy and used as a weapon for evil genius is solid enough, and there are redemptive touches, notably embodied by the character of KT (Mexican actor Eiza González), a similarly retrofitted human blackmailed by Dr. Harting into manipulating Bloodshot, who functions as the story’s conscience as well as its must-have foxy female.

Indeed, a whole coterie of Franken-badasses created by Harting offer a somewhat novel perspective on the superhero template. But the whole thing is — to borrow from my wise colleague Liam Lacey — rather on-the-nose and shot through with winking clichés that land like anvils. A psycho killer dances to the Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer” before killing psychotically? Er, thanks boss.

The film also fails to inspire the kind of emotional investment required to sustain an ongoing franchise — sorry, launching of new cinematic universe, to use contemporary parlance — of the sort Bloodshot aspires to be. But did we mention its neat effects?

Bloodshot. Directed by Dave Wilson. Starring Vin Diesel, Eiza González, and Guy Pearce. Opens wide March 13.