Bloodshot is a Vin Diesel movie with Vin Diesel playing a superhero! The character is a part of the Valiant Universe and first appeared in Eternal Warrior #4 (1992). Angelo Mortelli, this is a very Vin Diesel character name, was working for the Cianelli crime family, but was killed until revived by science. It is in part a Frankenstein story (revived from the dead), in a sense like Robocop (1987), but with almost Wolverine-like abilities. The character was first played in live action by Jason Frank in the web series, Ninjak vs. the Valiant Universe (2018).
Valiant characters do go beyond similar characters with twists and a great world building, Bloodshot enables Diesel to fully develop a character beyond his other action movies. This is the first film for director Dave Wilson who has worked in visual effects and directing an episode of Love, Death & Robots. The story and co-written screenplay is by Jeff Wadlow who wrote the screenplay for this year’s Fantasy Island and Kick-Ass 2 (2013). The other screenwriter is Eric Heisserer who also wrote last year’s hit, Bird Box (2018) and Arrival (2016). The movie doesn’t have specific ties to the rest of the Valiant Universe or characters, but has potential.
Valiant characters do go beyond similar characters with twists and a great world building, Bloodshot enables Diesel to fully develop a character beyond his other action movies. This is the first film for director Dave Wilson who has worked in visual effects and directing an episode of Love, Death & Robots. The story and co-written screenplay is by Jeff Wadlow who wrote the screenplay for this year’s Fantasy Island and Kick-Ass 2 (2013). The other screenwriter is Eric Heisserer who also wrote last year’s hit, Bird Box (2018) and Arrival (2016). The movie doesn’t have specific ties to the rest of the Valiant Universe or characters, but has potential.
The movie begins with a military operation in Mombasa, Kenya. A soldier, Ray Garrison (Diesel), is scouting the area on his own. Ray Garrison is the name of the hero that came with the second series released by Acclaim Comics written by Len Kaminski. I prefer Angelo Mortalli, but the character's first name that may hint at the hero from the year 4001, Rai, a legacy hero that follows in the footsteps of Bloodshot. Garrison single handedly takes on gunmen which is not how soldiers work especially in other countries. Still, it is very Vin Diesel with Garrison slamming two gunmen into walls at the same time. This sort of act could make sense when he becomes Bloodshot, but as a regular soldier it felt like he was already a super hero.
He finds a hostage with a shotgun held to his head. Garrison is of course too clever and manages to save the hostage which was the point of the mission. He reaches the base in Aviano, Italy and finds his wife, Gina (Talulah Riley). She has appeared in a cameo role in Thor: The Dark World (2013) and was in the thriller, Submerged (2016). The character showed up in the Acclaim Comics Bloodshot #2 (1997) in flashback. They spend some time at a seaside town in Italy, she sees the scars on his back, and Garrison says, “I always come back home.” She leaves to get groceries and Garrison is ambushed, but of course Vin Diesel can take any attack.
He finds a hostage with a shotgun held to his head. Garrison is of course too clever and manages to save the hostage which was the point of the mission. He reaches the base in Aviano, Italy and finds his wife, Gina (Talulah Riley). She has appeared in a cameo role in Thor: The Dark World (2013) and was in the thriller, Submerged (2016). The character showed up in the Acclaim Comics Bloodshot #2 (1997) in flashback. They spend some time at a seaside town in Italy, she sees the scars on his back, and Garrison says, “I always come back home.” She leaves to get groceries and Garrison is ambushed, but of course Vin Diesel can take any attack.
Still, he gets a secret injection by a mysterious man played by Toby Kebbell and collapses. Kebbel was Dr. Doom in Fantastic Four (2015) and Koba in War for the Planet of the Apes (2017). He wakens in a room bound to a chair with the man, introducing himself as Martin Axe, and dancing to Talking Heads’ “Psychokiller.” He is a new character, but other sites claim he is connected to a comics character, it would only be incidentally through the Axe name. It is a bit confusing how Axe tracked down Garrison and for what reason.
Martin Axe interrogates Garrison and then brings out Gina cutting her part to a cameo. He then puts a gun to Garrison’s head and pulls the trigger. His story of course hasn’t come to an end with a dark sequence with voices. He revives and meets Dr. Emil Harting played by Guy Pearce. He was Alrich Killian in Iron Man 3 (2013) and also Leonard in Memento (2000) which bears some plot points of this film. There is also KT, her initials, played by Eiza Gonzalez who was in Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019) and Baby Driver (2017). Her character is an ex-Navy diver, but now needs a device to breathe.
Martin Axe interrogates Garrison and then brings out Gina cutting her part to a cameo. He then puts a gun to Garrison’s head and pulls the trigger. His story of course hasn’t come to an end with a dark sequence with voices. He revives and meets Dr. Emil Harting played by Guy Pearce. He was Alrich Killian in Iron Man 3 (2013) and also Leonard in Memento (2000) which bears some plot points of this film. There is also KT, her initials, played by Eiza Gonzalez who was in Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019) and Baby Driver (2017). Her character is an ex-Navy diver, but now needs a device to breathe.
Harting is the head of Rising Spirit Technologies (RST). The original head of Project Rising Spirit was Hideyoshi Iwatsu though this has changed with the reboots of the character. The location of the RST building is not identified, but apparently it is in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He shows Garrison, who has no memory, about the nannies in his blood that can heal almost any wound. The nanites would need to be charged up at RST. In a sense, Bloodshot is the ultimate soldier in the mold of Captain America, and sort of like the sci fi movie Universal Soldier (1992) mixed with Frankenstein.
Harting shows Garrison around the facility, including two mercenaries. There is Jimmy Dalton (Sam Heughan) and Tibbs (Alex Hernandez). Heughan is known for playing Jamie Fraser in Outlander and Hernandez has been in the supernatural series, Hemlock Grove. Garrison is shaken by nightmares and goes to work out finding that he has the strength to shatter a concrete pillar. He also finds that KT is swimming and practices martial arts underwater, a very fascinating scene. She later gives him a drink at a bar and this sets off memories of his last moment alive. This immediately sets him off to hunt down Martin Axe.
Harting shows Garrison around the facility, including two mercenaries. There is Jimmy Dalton (Sam Heughan) and Tibbs (Alex Hernandez). Heughan is known for playing Jamie Fraser in Outlander and Hernandez has been in the supernatural series, Hemlock Grove. Garrison is shaken by nightmares and goes to work out finding that he has the strength to shatter a concrete pillar. He also finds that KT is swimming and practices martial arts underwater, a very fascinating scene. She later gives him a drink at a bar and this sets off memories of his last moment alive. This immediately sets him off to hunt down Martin Axe.
Bloodshot uses his nanites to access RST computers to track down Martin Axe. Harting tries to recall Bloodshot and tries to have his IT guy, Eric (Siddharth Dhananjay) track him. Eric brings a little comedy into the story. There is a convoy in Budapest that is trapped by Bloodshot using a truck. Martin panics and tries to contact the bearded Nick Baris (Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson). The actor was in The Good Liar (2019) and Atomic Blonde (2017). Bloodshot basically walks into bullets, which lowers his nanite levels, he seems to remove all of his soldier training.
Yes, he is single minded in fighting for revenge, but it seems more sensible to be more strategic. Also, the comic character is pale, the nanites don’t work to get the Vin Diesel complexion, I like the deathly pallor that reminds everyone that he was basically dead. We find out that RST has been manipulating Bloodshot’s memory to use him as an assassin. I would imagine that all of Harting’s associates killed in the same way would make some organization suspicious. Bloodshot later allies with Wilfred Wigans (Lamorne Morris) who is much needed earlier in the film, as a master coder and funny guy. Morris was in the comedy show, New Girl. Bloodshot can set up the Valiant Universe for films and is good as a comic book film.
Yes, he is single minded in fighting for revenge, but it seems more sensible to be more strategic. Also, the comic character is pale, the nanites don’t work to get the Vin Diesel complexion, I like the deathly pallor that reminds everyone that he was basically dead. We find out that RST has been manipulating Bloodshot’s memory to use him as an assassin. I would imagine that all of Harting’s associates killed in the same way would make some organization suspicious. Bloodshot later allies with Wilfred Wigans (Lamorne Morris) who is much needed earlier in the film, as a master coder and funny guy. Morris was in the comedy show, New Girl. Bloodshot can set up the Valiant Universe for films and is good as a comic book film.
Three and a half Nanites out of Five!
#Bloodshot, #DaveWilson, #VinDiesel, #EizaGonzalez, #GuyPearce
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