Vin Diesel's new superhero movie Bloodshot arrives in theaters this weekend, but unfortunately it has attracted mostly negative reviews. Based on Valiant Comics character, the movie stars Diesel as former Marine Ray Garrison, now a nanotech enhanced assassin code-named Bloodshot. As the movie progresses, Garrison begins to uncover more of his past and gradually discovers how (and why) he was transformed into a superhuman warrior.
Vin Diesel's close association with the Fast and Furious movies (not to mention voicing Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy) make him a natural fit for an action-packed superhero movie based on a more under-the-radar comic book title. Diesel has expressed fairly grand ambitions for the property, stating his hope that it could serve as the starting point of a shared universe of Valiant Comics characters. It certainly would do much to diversify the marketplace of comic book movies beyond the well-known Marvel and DC stables, but that of course depends on how well Bloodshot performs at the box office.
Unfortunately, Bloodshot is off to a rough start when it comes to early reviews. The movie currently holds a 31% rating on review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes. While many praise the movie for its energy and action sequences, most reviewers also feel that Bloodshot ultimately falls short of its aim as a comic book movie. Here are what some of Bloodshot's negative reviews are saying.
Frantically overcooked, bursting with headache-inducing, rapid-cut action sequences and only half as clever as it fancies itself, “Bloodshot” is an ambitious and intermittently entertaining minor-league superhero film, with Vin Diesel grunting and grimacing his way through the title role while the supporting players around him are saddled with playing overly familiar, cliché-riddled stock types.
Overall, Bloodshot exists somewhere within the realm of B-movie action and video game fare. Much of the cast is likable enough, and the humor successfully goes far in engendering the audience to the film. The superhero origin story has become stale by this point, though, and [Dave] Wilson and the screenwriters present nothing new.
Clearly intended to jumpstart a new superhero franchise, Bloodshot frequently feels like a holdover of a bygone era – the type of superhero movie they were making around the time of Ben Affleck’s Daredevil, or Nicolas Cage’s Ghost Rider.
Based on the popular Valiant Comics character, Bloodshot’s origin story represents Sony’s attempt to stake a claim to a cinematic universe that could become a competitive superhero franchise, but this initial installment consistently struggles to deliver the goods.
Screen Rant's own Molly Freeman also found Bloodshot to be a rather middling comic book movie, stating:
It's not an exceptional superhero movie, but it's not terrible either; it falls somewhere in the middle. Whether that's good enough to launch the Valiant Comics shared universe Sony and Diesel were clearly hoping to kickstart with Bloodshot, however, remains to be seen.
While many of Bloodshot's negative reviews do offer a degree of praise for it as a fun popcorn flick, the general consensus is that it adds little new material to the superhero genre. Critics also describe Diesel's performance as committed but unremarkable. However, the movie has also received some more positive (if not outright laudatory) reviews that praise it as an action movie.
IGN:
Bloodshot is unapologetically a popcorn movie of the switch-off-your-brain-and-kick-back variety. Diesel and company soldier through a wonky plot to deliver glowers, superhero poses, and loads of action. Director Wilson brings the heat with solid visual effects and a relentless pace.
“Bloodshot” is a trash compactor of a comic-book film, but it’s smart trash, an action matrix that’s fun to plug into.
With reviews not widely singing rapturous praises for the film, how the moviegoing public will respond to Bloodshot remains to be seen. Reviews do at least point to the movie as offering escapist entertainment, which many people are surely going to be eager to find amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. For the time being, Bloodshot is the only game in town for action and superhero movies, so it still has a chance to win general audiences over.