**Spoilers for Bloodshot within but if you’ve seen the MCU, you … get it.**
Bloodshot is a comic that follows Ray Garrison (Vin Diesel, in the film), a former soldier who is injected with nanites, which help him heal quickly. Able to withstand bullets, bombs, and more, Ray is basically indestructible—except for in the movie, where he has to charge up (a.k.a. get his memory wiped, but we’ll get to that).
Before I get into my actual review of the movie itself, I would like to point out that part of why I liked this movie is because it reminds me of three of my favorite movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Is that a good thing? Not entirely, because a movie should be able to stand on its own, but also … why not?
I like to refer to this movie as if you put Captain America: Winter Soldier, Spider-Man: Far From Home, and Iron Man 3 into one movie and just made it cheesy. Let me explain by breaking down how it is all these films, and then maybe you’ll understand the appeal of Bloodshot. It starts with Guy Pearce (a.k.a. the MCU’s Aldrich Killian … you know … Extremis man) being a scientist (again, Iron Man 3) who replaces all of Ray’s blood with nanobots that glow when they’re trying to repair. AGAIN, EXTREMIS.
And, much like Killian, we learn that Pearce’s Dr. Emil Harting is, in fact, a bad man who wants to take over the Army with his glowing nanites. (Can I stop saying Iron Man 3 now? You get it. He also “fixes” what he deems broken soldiers and gives them new parts.)
But you’re probably wondering “Where does Winter Soldier and Far From Home come in, then?” which … get ready! So for Far From Home, Harting loves the dramatics—you know, like a master of mystery … get it? Quentin Beck loved to put on a show, using his drones to make Mysterio a reality. The way Harting gets Ray to kill people for him is to literally create dream movies to convince Ray to murder who he wants.
There is also straight up a point where Ray and Harting are talking, and Ray is like, “I’m going to find you,” and Harting shuts off his projected drone image of himself and says, “No you won’t.” So, you know, he’s literally Mysterio and Killian.
ANYWAY, moving on to Winter Soldier.
Remember the iconic elevator scene between Captain America and Hydra? Throw that on TOP of an elevator, and you get a very long fight scene in Bloodshot—plus, lots of metal arms in this movie. Lots. So, that’s how this movie is literally three iconic movies from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but why, then, is it so appealing to see? Maybe because it’s just fun.
Bloodshot revolves around everyone using Ray for their own benefit, and while the movie does not even begin to touch on the ramifications of using people without their consent, the movie features Ray trying to break free of Harting’s hold on him with the help of those around him. (Kind of. Everyone is also all in it for themselves, so … who really knows what the messaging of this film is.)
While rated PG-13, I found it more violent than the entirety of Birds of Prey fight, but also I guess there wasn’t any blood, so … our rating system is great! Basically, what Bloodshot comes down to is that it’s a fun action movie and as a few cool sequences. There isn’t much memorable about it outside of the connections to other comic book movies, but there’s a very long fight sequence in flour that’s exciting.
Want a movie to just escape and watch fights? Great, Bloodshot is the movie for you. It’s cheesy, explains why it is cheesy, goes back to being cheesy without the explanation making sense, and then we get to see Guy Pearce with fun glasses so, a win for me!
(image: Sony)
Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site!
—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—
