“Bloodshot” is directed by David S.F. Wilson in his directorial debut and is based on the Valiant Comics character of the same name. The film stars Vin Diesel, Eiza Gonzalez, Lamorne Morris, Sam Heughan, Alex Hernandez, Toby Kebell, Talulah Riley and Guy Pierce. The film began development back in 2012 but it wasn’t until 2017 when Jared Leto was cast as the main character, that the film was green lit. By 2018, Leto was out and replaced by Diesel and filming began in August of that year.

After a successful military operation in Mombasa, U.S. Marine Ray Garrison (Diesel) and his wife Gina (Riley) go off on vacation to Italy. There, they kidnapped by a group of guys led by Martin Axe (Kebell) who claims to be out for revenge after Mombasa. Axe kills Gina and leaves Ray for dead. Ray awakens in laboratory with Dr. Emil Harting (Pierce) who’s background is in military rescue research and cybernetic enhancing. With no memory of his murder, Ray’s body was destroyed by Axe but Dr. Harting has reengineered his blood with nanotechnology to make him the ultimate soldier. Ray is to join Harting’s team of other individuals with the same military background yet different enhancements. U.S. Navy woman “KT” (Gonzalez) and 2 former Army Rangers, Dalton (Heughen) and Tibbs (Hernandez). However, when programs begin to glitch, Ray begins remembering his previous life with Gina and begins his quest for revenge. But upon this quest his meets of computer hacker (Morne) who gives him information about his enhancement that alters his mindset and questions his trust and relationship with Dr. Harting.

This movie was mediocre at best. I mean if you’ve seen “Robocop”, “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” or even “Total Recall” then you’ve seen this or know how this movie is going to play out. Vin Diesel plays a stereotypical action hero and Guy Pierce is the generic scientist turned movie villain. The acting is over the top. It works for a cheesy action movie but the action here doesn’t support the overacting. Vin Diesel is pretty much the anchor of the movie that barely holds it all together. Guy Pierce’s performance is solid but not necessarily convincing. The rest of a cast is pretty much a run of mill cast for a typical action.

Overall, Vin Diesel has gone from 2015’s “The Last Witch Hunter” to this film to escape the “Fast & Furious” fame. I understand wanting to break away to try something new but sometimes it doesn’t always work. Just ask Robert Downey Jr., after leaving the Marvel Cinematic Universe and going in to the disappointment that was 2020’s “Dolittle”. This movie wasn’t terrible by any means, just something generic & nothing new or anything we haven’t seen before. Vin Diesel is definitely an action star but despite the overwhelming success from the “Fast” franchise, when he does try step away from it, doesn’t always work.