Bloodshot

Through several decades, we have seen many superhero movies through companies such as Marvel, DC Comics and certain films based on graphic novels. Now there's a new company to add to that ever growing list which is Valiant Comics that "Bloodshot" is based on. Like with the other companies, will Valiant spawn even more films than just "Bloodshot"?

Based on the bestselling Valiant comic book, Vin Diesel stars as Ray Garrison, a soldier recently killed in action and brought back to life as the superhero Bloodshot by the RST corporation headed up by Dr. Emil Harting (Guy Pearce). With an army of nanotechnology in his veins, he is an unstoppable force--stronger than ever and able to heal instantly. But in controlling his body, the company, including KT (Eiza Gonzalez), Jimmy Dalton (Sam Heughan) and Barris Merc (Alex Anlos) has swayed his mind and memories, too. Now, Ray doesn't know what's real and what's not--but he's on a mission to find out. Will he find the truth or be continually misguided in a myriad of lies and confusion?

Others to round out the cast are Toby Kebbell as Martin Axe, Talulah Riley as Gina Garrison, Ray's wife, Lamorne Morris as Wilfred Wigans, Siddarth Dhananjay as Eric and Johannes Haukur Johannesson as Nick Barris.

This was rivetingly directed by a newbie to feature films David S.F. Wilson (TV series short). Considering this filmmaker's limited experience in directing, this definitely kept its audience on the edge of their seats. Wilson has a ton of experience in visual effects and shorts, so his ability to helm a film simply made it easier for him to implement. It was interestingly written by Jeff Wadlow ("Cry Wolf" '05, "Prey" '07, "Kick Ass 2" '13, "True Memoirs of an International Assassin" '16, "Blumhouse's Truth or Dare" '18, "Fantasy Island" '20) plus shorts and TV, and Eric Heisserer ("A Nightmare on Elm Street" '16, "Final Destination 5" '11, "The Thing" '11, "Hours" '13, "Lights Out" '16, "Arrival" '16, "Extinction" '18, "Bird Box" '18) plus TV, based on a story by Wadlow which is based on the Valiant comic book by Kevin VanHook, Bob Layton and Don Perkin. One would think that with the combined experience of these two writers that this screenplay would've been more cohesive and not as confusing. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a total wash, but it became difficult what was really happening as opposed to what was going on in Ray's mind. When it comes to melding these two aspects, a story can become convoluted, however considering the experience here, it could've been a more polished script. It did obtain some awesome stunts predominantly by J.J. Perry and the visual effects predominantly designed by Method Sudios were amazing, but even these were not enough to save this script which actually had a very interesting premise. Bad day at the laptop? Not sure, but it needed more cohesiveness.

If you're into comic book movies about superheros, no matter how the writing is, you'll love this. It definitely gave us some very believable characters and actors in this with amazing effects, but it simply needed more to grip us. If you want to see it up close and personal, it's presented in a nifty IMAX and 4DX format as well.

Out of 4 Stars: 2.5                                     Rated: PG-13                                           107mins.