After watching Bloodshot, the film adaptation of the Valiant comic of the same name, I could see various angles and things to poke the film with. There is how the film is steeped in a layered articulation of genre, even if the film isn’t as clever as it thinks it is. On a formal level Bloodshot is in line with 80s action movies and that templates notions masculinity which leads to some potentially interesting ideas about how the film presents the cybernetically augmented body of Vin Diesel in relation to his body overall. Through another generic lens there is the consideration of how it fits within the superhero adaptation and related multimedia business model. How the film was theatrically released on March 13, 2020 and digitally re-released less than two weeks later on March 24, 2020.

None of these ideas really deal with Bloodshot as a film or fit within the confines of a traditional film review. When taken as a film, the David Wilson directed feature is a benign entry. It is never offensively bad but it is never breathtaking either. It hums along with a novel-nostalgic energy that makes it feel like a film out of a superhero genre time capsule from between 2000-2008 that reminds me why the vast majority of those films not related to the X-Men or Spider-man properties are largely discarded. Bloodshot is a genre movie through and through with a self-satisfied reflexive streak that still manages to fall into the trap of being generic in the unremarkable sense, never establishing an identity for itself as a film or Diesel’s Ray Garrison.

The opening sequence of Bloodshot is its most interesting because it is the most generic, both unremarkable and constructed with the signifiers of genre. The sequence nominally takes place in Mombasa, Kenya but could easily be read for generic Middle Eastern or North African city if you took out the title card. Vin Diesel is Ray Garrison a marine taking part in a hostage rescue before returning to the loving-domesticating-blonde embrace of his wife Gina. Vin Diesel is almost unrecognizable as he preforms the one man raid. His legibility isn’t because the film fails to treat him as a star or the point of focus, but because his actions feel rote. Audiences have seen this type of sequence before and done better. Audiences have also seen the charismatic psychotic torturer with an ironic sense of music before to in better films (Reservoir Dogs.) These recognizable but unremarkable elements make the “twist” that these are a false consciousness implanted by Rising Spirit Tech CEO Dr. Emil Harting(Guy Pierce) the most effective dramatic moment in the film. I say “twist” since this false consciousness is both core to the comic book property and given away in the trailers. After the curtain is pulled back Bloodshot fails to take the next step the comics and litany of other films it pays homage to (Robocop, Total Recall, Universal Soldier, etc.) and use it for something besides banal third act motivation. It replaces commentary with a couple of self-satisfied reflexive digs at how the basis for Ray’s motivation really is cliché. Where more interesting narratives would use this as a space for commentary on the role memory and narrative play in identity formation, how genre functions, etc. Bloodshot plays everything straight forward with little consideration for what any of it means or could be.

To some degree Bloodshot protests its genre too much as it wraps itself in an aesthetic of action films. The structure of the film feels closer to the rape revenge film. Dr. Harting is fascinated that revenge is such a powerful driving factor for Ray. Unlike rape revenge films, Bloodshot is entirely male dominated. To say women don’t have much of a role is an understatement. Gina is a phantasm of an idea. Eiza González as KT is given nothing to do except be the underwritten coded love interest for Ray with a fetishized chest that is never shown but always exposed and emphasized through her costuming. At least she didn’t have to take part in a Fast & Furious gratuitous slow motion butt shot.

When Vin Diesel was announced to play Ray Garrison aka Bloodshot it didn’t thrill me, but the thought process was clear. The film was setup by Fast & Furious producer Neil Moritz, who helped move the Valiant library sans Bloodshot from Sony to Paramount soon after production wrapped. Diesel was also the only real choice as an action star that was built in that throwback large body mode. Size isn’t the key to male action hero success these days, the large body has been replaced size with cut muscle definition, and Diesel through his “friendly” rivalry with the Dwayne Johnson is clearly associated with size. Size isn’t the key to Vin Diesel’s appeal; it is his ability to fuse size with the acting ability to land Patrick Swayze-esque monologue in between the mayhem and be a philosopher body man that makes Diesel intriguing. Bloodshot gives Diesel a single line of that sort as he argues with Dr. Emil Harting about his creators defining his best self not himself. Jeff Wadlow’s screenplay, rewritten from one by Eric Heisserer, fails to articulate the semblance of the Bloodshot from the comics, a conflicted man trying to find himself and overwrite his violent urges, or develop a new character to replace it with for this film version. Maybe it did, but it was just all cut out as the film is edited down to a sleek hour and fifty minutes, running 6 minutes longer than the theatrical cut of Daredevil(2003), resulting in a film that emphasizes generic action at the expense of character.

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In terms of action sequences Bloodshot is boringly competent with a couple of interesting ideas that never flourish into something more. The first real sequence of the film as Toby Kebbell’s character is hunted down is the film’s most successful overall both visually and in representing what Ray’s particular powerset can bring to cinematic action. The action does feel constrained by the PG-13 rating as Ray kills 12 mostly masked henchmen in ways audiences don’t really see in a largely bloodless affair. To get around this the film does try to create moody lighting and texture when possible. When Valiant relaunched and started publishing “Bloodshot”(2012), primarily written by Duane Swierczynski, the book was a modern action book that mixed that aesthetic of excess with Deadpool-esque body horror or comedy. The treatment of the body in Deadpool 2, a film that shows Wade Wilson’s regularly punctured and ripped apart is fairly close to “Bloodshot”(2012). The film rarely gives audiences a look at Garrison’s Terminator like determination and resilience, it is instead content to tell us about it after the fact through dialog and the bullet holes that litter Diesel’s clothing. There are a couple of slow motion body rebuilding moments that never seem to land with the awe factor the producers intended given their presentation. Bloodshot fails to present a sequence that is memorable or one I’d like to watch on YouTube from time to time. Between that lack and the failure of character it shows the disastrous consequences of featuring OK action without dramatic buy-in by the audience.

The prospect of being able to rent or buy major studio films while they are still in theaters has been an alternative business model that has been kicked around for years. Getting to see it in action, however, it makes me reconsider the value of the theatrical exhibition. If this film was still being shown in theaters, if things in the world were more normal in general, I would have less of a hard time recommending this film. Movie ticket prices are expensive, in my area they were $10-15, but you can find deals to make them less so. As a digital release Bloodshot retails for $19.99 and given the extreme likelihood that you are unable to get a group of friends together to share in that cost the film fails to live up to sale price. I can find something useful in Bloodshot, because I’m a grad student whose area of interest is the systematic study of the superhero as a cultural figure, their multimedia adaptations, and how they enact gender. As a film it is largely uninteresting built on a foundation of more interesting films. The kind of films you can easily view through a variety of services or watch entirely different ones as other major studio films shift to digital releases.