Review of Bloodshot (2020) by Keithdow — 13 Mar 2020

One must assume that while the world is at the mercy of a global pandemic and every other high profile film release on record is being delayed, the producers behind Vin Diesel’s ‘Bloodshot’ simply decided to say “ahh the heck with it, just put the movie out and maybe we’ll get a bump in market share.”.

What’s the worst that can happen? The film opens poorly, just as everyone already suspected it would?

The problem with ‘Bloodshot’ is that there’s nothing we haven’t seen plenty of times before. Vin Diesel in a white tank top? Check. Man gets killed, brought back to life using cutting-edge technology making him stronger, faster, and more resilient? Check. Man uses newfound abilities to go on a revenge spree and avenge the murder of his wife? Check.

Perhaps we should be lauding Vin Diesel for getting paid millions of dollars to play the same character for twenty years. The only problem is that him doing so forces film critics like me to watch his movies. Ray, his character in ‘Bloodshot,’ isn’t interesting at all—either before or after his transformation. It’s just Vin with a different three letter name, like a dozen other characters he’s played recently, featuring the same brooding look and tough-guy mannerisms.

Instead of going to the movie theater and potentially catching coronavirus—or worse, having to sit through ‘Bloodshot’—stream some other similar (and better) flicks instead, such as ‘Hardcore Henry’ or ‘Upgrade.