Bloodshot

Starring: Vin Diesel, Guy Pearce, Eiza González, Lamorne Morris, Sam Heughan, Toby Kebbell, Talulah Riley
Director: Dave Wilson
Based on the Valiant Comic Book "Bloodshot" by Kevin VanHook, Bob Layton and Don Perlin
Soldier Ray Garrison (Vin Diesel) has just returned home from the Middle East to his wife Gina (Talulah Riley) after a successfully diffusing a hostage situation. Their time together is cut short as Ray is attacked by Martin Axe (Toby Kebbell) and Gina is kidnapped and killed. Ray awakens in a lab, without any memory of what happened before, being looked over by KT (Eiza González) and her boss Dr Emil Harting (Guy Pearce). Together they work at Rising Spirit Technologies, or RST, which gives wounded soldiers a second chance by healing them and whatever injuries they suffered during their service. Nanites have been inserted into Ray's blood, allowing him to heal and become an un-killable force, healing almost instantly. As Ray begins to come to terms with his new abilities, his memories begin to come back and he remembers what Martin did and looks to exact revenge. All isn't as it appears at RST, as Ray wakes up again in the lab, this time with memories of a different person that murdered his wife. When he goes to take out this new target, he is stopped and captured by tech genius Wilfred Wiggins (Lamorne Morris), who helps Ray discover Dr. Hastings true intentions and save Ray from his cyclical fate.
It's very clear Valiant is hoping this will start a new comic franchise, in a post Endgame moviescape, headlined by Vin Diesel. Even though this ends leaving room to do so, it's hard to see anywhere interesting for a potential franchise to go.
First and foremost, this movie really shows Vin Diesel's limitations as an actor. He definitely has a hulking presence as Riddick or as Dom Toretto but him in the lead role here really works to the films detriment. Diesel growls his lines like expected but really suffers when it comes to the emotional beats of the story. The film unintentionally slips into comedy and that’s definitely not what you want for this type of film.
Diesel's inclusion and performance is unfortunate, because this actually has some cool ideas and while the action scenes have been edited to the point of incomprehension, the film could have benefitted from a more capable performer. Eiza Gonzalez and Lamorne Morris (sporting a British accent) run away with the film, her as a badass and him as the comic relief. Gonzalez in particular gets to shine as the most developed character and gets the most redeeming arc.
The special effects are nothing to write home about but that’s ok. It gives the movie a 90's feel that isn’t necessarily out of place. The action could have been exciting if it weren't for the previously mentioned atrocious editing. There are so many unnecessary quick cuts, it seriously felt like the editor drank 10 Red Bulls before editing each action scene. It’s incoherent and unfortunate and so annoying I felt the need to bring it up twice.
I have a big issue with the marketing for the film, which gives up the gimmick that Ray is being used over and over to do Hartings bidding. While the villain wouldn’t have been difficult to piece together from the very limited number of characters, this reveal doesn’t happen until about halfway through the film. It would have been cool to discover it with Diesel’s character instead of having it ruined in the marketing.
While not the worst use of a couple hours on a rainy Monday, Bloodshot suffers from a blatant miscasting of its lead star and chaotic over-editing. Eiza Gonzalez is great and I hope she gets better projects because she's a very capable actress who deserves better.
C-