FOR those expecting an adaptation of the comic book with the same name, it is best to abandon all hope.
Bloodshot is loosely based on its source material, with most of the film and storytelling being relegated to generic superhero action movie level.
Vin Diesel plays Ray Garrison, a soldier who is killed following a mission.
Revived by Dr Emil Harting (Guy Pearce) as a superhuman soldier injected with cutting edge nanotechnology, the amnesiac Garrison has to uncover the mystery behind the memories that seems to be bleeding into his conscious mind.
This is not a good film by any stretch of the imagination, but even the worst of films are often entertaining, like The Fast and Furious franchise that Diesel also leads, however Bloodshot fails there too.
Diesel plays Garrison the same way he has played most of the characters in his career and with the same amount of charisma; as an uncooked potato. Where the supporting cast in his more entertaining films have helped elevate his performance, none are present in Bloodshot.
There are fights. There are certainly explosions. But it is nothing we haven’t seen before in better movies. The fights are cut fast, probably to mask the fact that we’re watching a 52-year-old Vin Diesel pretend like he knows his way around fisticuffs.
Bloodshot – like most superhero movies – then climaxes in an inundating spectacle of cheap CGI.
As Fake Play-Doh Vin Diesel pummels Fake Play-Doh Enemies in a blatantly VFX-heavy setpiece, it’s hard to feel as though the film itself is not punching the viewer’s eyeballs into becoming bloodshot.
Maybe that is where the title comes from, because it certainly does not follow the comic book character’s aesthetic of red eyes (and pale white skin), an aspect that Diesel’s Garrison only gets for roughly one minute in the film.
There are probably better films out in the cinemas that would be worth watching.
