Format:	Movie
By:	Dave Wilson (Director) Jeff Wadlow, Eric Heisserer (Writers)
Genre:	Comic Book Action
Released:	March 13, 2020
Review Date:	March 12, 2020
Audience Rating:	PG-13
RevSF Rating:	7/10 (What Is This?)

Way back in the 90s, there were (mainly) two companies that started up and were a serious challenge to the Marvel/DC comics paradigm. Both were populated by young, hotshot artists and writers, and had characters that were “edgy” and “XTREME!!!”. A good selection of them were usually some kind of ex-military (which meant they knew how to “take care of business“, unlike those other goody-goody heroes, who let people live), with cybernetic or nanite-based powers. Both of which were used in the same way that “radiation” was, as the catch all origin for comics characters in the 60s.

Anyway, both companies started strong. One continues to be a major player, and has had several adaptations of their characters to TV and movies. The other has, well, not. Which is a shame, as they have some very interesting characters, driven by some pretty solid creatives, but just can’t seem to become one of the big boys. The first company, obviously, is Image, home of Spawn, The Walking Dead, WildC.A.T.S., and the like. The other is Valiant, home of Bloodshot, the first of what could become the VCU.

Well, maybe.

Of all the characters to kick off a movie series with, Bloodshot’s not really too bad of a choice. His backstory is pretty simple; his powers are easy to get, and there’s plenty of room for growth if this movie does well. Sure, he’s kind of a perfect storm of the previously mentioned 90’s comics/action cliches, he’s a soldier with a tragic backstory; he’s powered by tech that might as well be magic; and he’s got all the emotional range of a decent action figure. But again, as a square one, it’s not a bad place to begin.

There’s not really a whole lot more to say about the movie past all that. Vin Disel plays Ray Garrison, aka Bloodshot (though they never do call him that in the movie), the soldier who is willing to go it alone and take out the bad guy, despite being told to wait for backup. After this successful mission, while on downtime in Italy with his wife, they’re both captured by a bad guy who worked with the dead bad guy, and when Ray doesn’t give him the answers the bad guy is looking for, Ray and his wife are killed.

The end.

Or, at least, it would be, if not for Dr. Emil Harting (Guy Pearce) and RST (Rising Spirit Tech), his tech company that started off by making cybernetic replacement / enhancements for the military. Ray is their current top project, where they took his corpse, replaced all of his blood with nanites that can heal any wound, let him hack into computers, and all kinds of other cool tech things that the plot demands. The only side effect is that the nanites can be burned out if he takes too much damage, and he has no real memory of his past.

As he’s brought up to speed, he’s introduced to the rest of his team, KT (Eiza González) a former Navy lady who had her trachea replaced with a filter that lets her be immune to any kind of airborne attack; Tibbs (Alex Hernandez) who was blinded, but now has cameras on an exo-suit that are plugged into his brain so he can see “everything”, and Jimmy Dalton (Sam Heughan) who has cybernetic feet after an IED destroyed his legs. Jimmy’s also a world-class prick, but I don’t think that was implanted into him, he just started out that way.

Anyway, as Ray is adjusting to his new life, and bonding with KT, he just happens to hear the song that was playing when he and his wife were killed. This triggers his memories of what happened, and he sets out for bloody revenge. This leads to a great action scene, and after that, comes the big twist, which, sadly, is given away in the trailers. Personally, I think the movie would be more enjoyable if you didn’t know what was coming here, so if you are unaware, skip the next three paragraphs.

So it turns out that all of Ray’s memories about his actions saving people, killing the bad guy, then getting killed with his wife are all bullpucky. Dr. Harting is manipulating Ray’s memories, editing them, and then setting Ray lose after whoever he needs killed, as vengeance is a great motivator. It’s a nice twist. It’s not original (see Memento, with Mr. Pearce), but it’s solid. And the twist explains all the nagging questions you have as Ray goes out for bloody vengeance, like “how is he able to get away from RST so easily? How is he able to use the nanites to hack computers so easily? Why isn’t Dr. Harting freaking out more about his multi-million dollar science project going rogue?” and a few others.

As this unfurls, we also find out that KT feels bad about how they’re manipulating Ray, and that Jimmy, for some reason, hates Ray. He even screws with him, telling him everything just to upset Ray, just before they reset his nanites and mind-wipe him again for the next go-round. Maybe it’s professional jealousy, maybe he’s just an assbutt. Who can say, as the movie doesn’t really give us any motivation for him. It just needs us to hate him so we look forward to Vin kicking his ass.

Dr. Harting sends Ray out after his next target, which is where we meet Wilfred Wigans (Lamorne Morris), another tech guru that almost ended up working for Dr. Harting. He ends up being the key to Ray getting free of RST, and getting his real revenge against the people who have been screwing with Ray’s memories.

Overall, Bloodshot is fine. It has some fun action scenes, some very cool effects, and decent, if not very deep characters. Vin has enough charm to carry the lead, Eiza is good as KT, Pearce is solid as always, Morris practically steals the movie as Wigans, and Heughan is good as a complete jackass antagonist, very different from his character on Outlander.

As I mentioned before, this isn’t a bad starting place for the start of a Valiant Cinematic Universe, especially as they avoid the mistake that almost every other company has made in trying to become the next Marvel Studios. They made one movie, and focused on telling its story, without stuffing in all kinds of plot points that are there just to set up the franchise, and end up detracting from the movie (hey there, Dark Universe).

Hell, Bloodshot has less “larger universe” setup than even Iron Man did, where they mentioned S.H.I.E.L.D., and had Fury in the post-credits stinger. Bloodshot doesn’t do any of that. I kept waiting for someone to mention Toyo Harada, psiots, the Harbinger Foundation, or something along those lines, but nope. In fact, there’s not even a stinger at all, so you’re free to head home when the credits roll.

So while it may not be the most original of comic-book inspired movies, it’s also not terrible. I had an enjoyable time watching, and if you enjoy action movies, you should have a decent enough time with it as well.

Besides, it’s mid-March, and there aren’t a whole lot of other action movies out right now. Being average and not terrible is about the best we can usually hope for this time of year.

Gary Mitchel writes his reviews a quarter-inch at a time.