Bloodshot threw me off with its tagline “Heroes are getting an upgrade” as I went in expecting a weird dark superhero movie. What the movie winds up being is a dumb fun sci-fi action movie, so going in with those standards will definitely change your experience.
Vin Diesel plays Ray Garrison, a US Marine who is holidaying with his wife when they are kidnapped and both killed. Ray is brought back to life thanks to nanites which allow him to be super strong and super regenerative. He winds up being one super… man I guess.
The problem is he decides to take out the killer of his wife instead of a requested target and the plot thickens… slightly. Basically without spoiling it there are some shenanigans involving memory replacement and things go tits up for everybody involved.
Throughout the whole movie I was reminded of ideas from many other sci-fi films, and it doesn’t introduce any new ideas. Despite this it is actually a fun ride. Every movie doesn’t have to break new ground, sometimes turning off your brain and relaxing is what I want to do at the end of a hard week. Bloodshot absolutely satisfied that.
Now to be fair, Bloodshot is a comic, and this is the planned start to the Valiant Comics shared universe. On top of that Iron Man was also a fun sci-fi movie and became more of a superhero flick once the surrounding movies became involved. So depending on how Harbinger goes, assuming it comes out, I may eat those words.
The acting in the movie is exactly what I expect from my action movies. Vin Diesel does his Vin Diesel thing, and the supporting cast is exactly what I would expect from a decent action flick. Winston from New Girl rocking an English accent was new; Though I was waiting for him to put on a bird shirt.
The Bluray comes with a decent selection of features, but best of all it comes with an alternative ending. Even with unfinished CGI they definitely went with the better option for the movie but it is always interesting to see different ways the filmmakers envisioned it.
It is unfortunate that I got so annoyingly hung up on the tagline. Once I sat back and let the movie be what it is I couldn’t have been happier. It isn’t going to revolutionise cinema, but it is a fun ride while it lasts.