Vin Diesel probably never rests, how it is possible for one actor to appear in multiple action franchises as well standalone films in a year? It’s quite another matter that he is not really required to act, and his dialogue is usually a few words or grunts; never mind that the elaborate set pieces in all his movies are interchangeable. But all that action, even with CGI enhancements must take a toll.
With Bloodshot, first-time director Dave Wilson launches yet another tech-enhanced superhero from the Valiant Comics series. Diesel plays a dead soldier, Ray Garrison, brought to life by Dr Emil Harding (Guy Pearce), a modern-day Frankenstein, who does some sci-fi mumbo-jumbo and makes an indestructible killing machine out of Ray, with every part of him programmable, and his blood replaced by “nanicles” that instantly heal wounds.
In Harting’s gleaming Rising Spirit Technologies facility, there are other “broken” people, who have been mended to augment their powers, but not for any altruistic purpose; Harting uses them for his own devious aim. There is a clever plot twist where Ray is concerned — the only interesting thing about this boilerplate mayhem thriller.
Soon enough, Ray’s blinking memory returns and he realises just what Harting is up to. Sticking with the formula, there is a female KT (Eiza González) in Harting’s bionic army, whose conscience awakens and she decides to help Ray, also providing the mandatory love interest. On Pearce’s side are an ex-Seal (Sam Heughan) with mechanical limbs and a blinded ex-armyman (Alex Hernandez) fitted with “ocular prosthetics.” They were all supposedly “donated” to Pearce by the US Army for these experiments in creating super soldiers.
As Harting’s Indian-origin geek (Siddharth Dhananjay) tears his hair out, Ray goes rogue, with the help of superior coder Wigans (Lamorne Morris), who is chucked in to double up as comic relief. Sadly, he raises not even a mild titter. (Among the producers of Bloodshot is a Dinesh Shamdasani, is that why an Indian actor gets a long-ish speaking part?)
For no discernible reason, the film trots to Hungary, Kenya, Italy, England and so on, when the real action takes place in a lab.
Vin Diesel has his fans, so Bloodshot might just work for them, in spite of its lack of originality or purpose.