BLOODSHOT -- A Lackluster Comic Book Origin Story

Review by Dan Skip Allen

Bloodshot (Vin Diesel) and Dalton (Sam Heughan) in Columbia Pictures’ BLOODSHOT.

Bloodshot is based on the Valiant comic book character of the same name. Even though Sony has the rights to Spider-Man and his Rogues Gallery, it seems like they still wanted to create their own cinematic universe like Marvel/Disney. However, the problem with that is that Valiant comics aren't as well known as Marvel or DC comics. It's going to be a hard task for Sony. First out is the most popular of their characters: Bloodshot. 

Vin Diesel is known pretty well for doing franchises, his most popular movies like XXX, Pitch Black, and the most popular of them all — The Fast Saga — having sequels. Additionally, in Guardians of the Galaxy and its sequel, he voiced the lovable walking tree, Groot. He rarely does standalone films. If Bloodshot is successful it could spawn a sequel, but for now, it's a standalone film... and it may stay that way.

Ray Garrison (Vin Diesel) is a US soldier who leads a special ops team. He gets too confident and someone takes him by surprise and takes his life. Unbeknownst to him, the US Government gives his dead body to a doctor named Emil Harting (Guy Pierce) who helps save damaged ex-soldiers. With Ray, he used an experimental nanite program to bring him back to life. Bloodshot's story was interesting as a comic book, but as translated into a movie, it's not that original or fascinating.

Ray Garrison (Vin Diesel) fights the mercenaries in the tunnel attack during a high-speed car chase in an underground tunnel in Columbia Pictures’ BLOODSHOT.

Dave Wilson is a relatively new director, because he is primarily known as a visual effects director. He has done numerous video games such as Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and Star Wars: The Old Republic. He has also done visual effects for Avengers: Age of Ultron and his own animated short on Love, Death & Robots. Bloodshot is his first full-length feature film. It is undeniable — the visual effects are the best part of the film. The things that Ray has to go through trigger his nanites are all visual effects that were very interesting and exciting.​

The problems with Bloodshot aren't the special effects — they are the script and the story. It's a pretty bland story with a new twist. You can't do a new character like this with a story and bland writing we've seen so many times before. A decent cast of supporting actors like Eliza Gonzalez, Sam Heughan, Toby Kebbell & Lamorne Morris does the best they can to keep this train from going off of the rails. Even they can't save this film. Sony better stick with their Marvel agreement for Spider-Man and his supporting characters. That might be the only chance at a shared cinematic universe for them.

Bloodshot is now playing in theaters.

Rating: 2/5