By: Keaton Marcus

DISCLAIMER: IF YOU ARE UNDER THE AGE OF 13, YOU MUST ASK YOUR PARENTS IF YOU ARE ALLOWED, IF THEY SAY NO, IT MEANS NO!

ca-times.brightspotcdn-3.jpg — 42/100 “sour”

It's director David S.F. Wilson and Vin Diesel here attempting to adapt a Valiant Comics superhero with the recent feature film Bloodshot. What's the deal, well it's pretty standard stuff, with Diesel going through his usual formula and Wilson throwing sanitized PG-13 violence around whenever he feels like it. Sure, there are a few redeeming factors, but those greatly struggle to outweigh the many flaws, which include the iffy screenplay. Massive fans of Diesel's traditional actioner routine should find some deep satisfaction but non-fan boys won't receive much other than another schlocky movie. Audiences would be able to argue that this production is marginally better than some real turkeys, but this goes without saying that Bloodshot is the first real mishap of 2020. It's still safe to say that Marvel and DC are the leading brands in both comic books and their film adaptations. To others outside of those two universes, don't mess with them.

The film is about Ray Garrison (Diesel) who after seeing his wife being killed and then himself, wakes up with superpowers in a mysterious lab. The one responsible for his powers is Dr. Emil Harting (Guy Ritchie) who is a brilliant scientist who has brought back many soldiers from death and enhanced them. Ray is first extremely grateful but after the memory of Martin Axe (Toby Kebbell) killing his wife, he seeks out revenge. Then he realizes that Emil is totally in control of him, tweaking his memories and watching his every move. Ray teams up with another enhanced soldier, KT (Eiza Gonzalez) and a genius coder named Wilfred Wigans (Lamorne Morris) to stand up against his control. The premise, at least, is solidly intriguing, but Wilson's execution overshadows an interesting idea with tone-deaf destruction.

The performances, which aren't exactly terrible, still don't shine bright in the film. Vin Diesel, whose two biggest franchises are Fast & Furious and XxX, made him the big action star he is today. Clearly, this sci-fi/superhero mash-up was trying to start a cinematic universe, but after underperforming in the box office, its a non-starter. Diesel brings his popular, gravelly voice and lots of punches, but without a solid enough script or plot as a hand to hold, he's left to flail within the action. Surprisingly, he wasn't as horrible as Tom Cruise in The Mummy, but he's no Robert Downey Jr. in the MCU. The supporting cast, led by veteran Guy Ritchie, is considerably decent as well, with Ritchie bringing reasonable charisma to his important role. Gonzalez is another female action star on the rise, but her badassery was wasted in this film. The one notable performance in this film was Lamorne Morris, who brought some much-needed humor into the grim picture.

One thing that's missing from this comic-book adaptation is the money spent on the special effects. In the monster franchises like the MCU or DCEU, the studio spends 100-200 million on average per movie, sometimes much more. In Bloodshot, Sony decided to keep it cheap, spending just 45 million on the budget. This could have been a big benefit for its box office if the Coronavirus didn't break out, but with the virus affecting the film industry, the perk didn't come to them either way. You know what did happen, though, was the heavy amount of CGI looking more artificial than usual. When visual effects look affordable in a film like this, viewers will know something's wrong, and it won't be pretty when they do. This gives me chills, but not in a good way and is a flawless example of pure mediocrity.

The final opinion is: Bloodshot gives star Vin Diesel yet another chance for some old-school action that may satisfy fans, but others will only find mind-numbing violence on top of a subpar screenplay...$KIP IT

Buy for $14.99 in SD and HD on Prime Video