BLOODSHOT (2020)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *sociological*

I may have read one or two of the 1990s BLOODSHOT comics from the Valiant stable, but if so nothing stuck with me. I saw this 2020 film months ago and had little to say about it. Then, a little after reviewing KICK ASS 2, I looked over the credits of that film's writer-director Jeff Wadlow and noticed that Wadlow co-wrote this film-- and that gave me the impetus to see if I detected any interesting Wadlow-isms.

My conclusion is that in a proportional sense BLOODSHOT the movie is probably better than the comic, just as the KICK ASS 2 movie is better than the comic. However, BLOODSHOT-- which I keep wanting to call "Bloodspot" due to the circular red bullseye on the hero's chest-- is still pretty ordinary.

While Golden Age comics are replete with soldiers. living or dead, who are given super-powers, the nineties UNIVERSAL SOLDIER series is probably the proximate influence on subsequent stories about bringing dead military men back to life with enhanced abilities. As the film opens, we seem to see the evolution of one such soldier, U.S. Marine Ray Garrison (Vin Diesel) into the experimental entity Bloodshot. After demonstrating his skill in the field by defusing a terrorist threat, he goes on leave with his wife Gina. A mercenary gang captures both of them, and after failing to get vital information from Ray, kills them both. 

Ray is brought back to life by a military facility, RST, and is told that he's one of their few successes in total resuscitation of a dead man. Project director Harting (Guy Pearce) introduces Ray to other "wounded warriors" at the facility, particularly therapist KT (Eiza Gonzalez), and they begin examining the various powers Ray has gained via his transformation: primarily super-strength and the ability to regenerate his organs. Then Bloodshot (not sure he's ever called that in the script) gains intel on the man who killed him and his wife, so he's off on the vengeance trail.

However, it's all a shadow-show. Bloodshot has experienced numerous "deaths" before this, always in order to motivate him to use his skills in killing off various targets, whom Harting wants dead. Only this time, KT helps Bloodshot break his customary programming, and then the hero is loaded for bear against his real enemy.

There are one or two humorous moments that reminded me of KICK ASS 2, and a few lines in which Harting argues that Ray ought to accept his authority because that's what good soldiers do. But all of the characters are too thin to sustain any meaningful sociological dialogue about the dynamic between generals and grunts, so most of the character interactions are forgettable. The action-scenes are well done, and Vin Diesel gives a solid performance. However, it's hard to know if this first live-action outing of a Valiant Comics character would have succeeded at the box office on its modest merits, since it debuted during the first year of the pandemic.

To date there have been no announcements of further Valiant live-action projects.