One of the biggest things we learn from this trailer about Bloodshot is that he’s virtually unstoppable until he’s shut down remotely, and at that point it becomes a giant test run each time he’s woken up and aimed at another target. It’s also very likely that the movie is going to go through this torturous routine a time or two, which is already making me groan since no matter how many times each waking moment might differ from the one that comes after it this idea has been played out before and with Guy Pearce in the movie it’s even funnier since it’s almost like a militarized version of Memento in a way, as Kirsten Howard of Den of Geek! mentions as well. Seriously, the main character is trying to find who killed his wife and at the same time has to piece his memory back together again and again, so tell me once more how it’s not the same. In a big way it’s a hero, or antihero movie that has more to do with finding oneself and getting revenge on who wronged them than it is about the emergence of another super-powered individual.
Pray that I’m wrong, hope that I’m wrong, and tell me I’m wrong all you want, but from this trailer it really seems as though we’re seeing some of the best parts already and that Vin Diesel is signing up for another action movie that could possibly look great but turn out to be something that’s not going to light up the box office in a big way. Those that know about the hero can obviously argue until they’re blue in the face and they’d be right to do so since Bloodshot, oy what a name, is his own character and despite having elements that many characters have used over, and over, and over, he does deserve a chance. But heroes and villains that are taken from the comics have thus far been given the Disney treatment or have thankfully been kept as rated R figures and the result is too often the same since it comes down to realizing that the representation they gain in the comics is not always going to translate as well to the big screen since some elements are going to change, be omitted, or in some way be accepted and somehow bungled to the point where they’re hard for even the fans to recognize. Despite how this might sound I don’t want to be critical of this movie but we’ve seen the like too many times and we’ve seen the story played out so often that we can follow the steps without missing a beat. Originality is taking another big hit since despite there being so many different stories that come from the comics we seem to see the studios focus and fixate on some of those that are still safe and don’t seem to challenge us as viewers all that often.
If you’re wondering what I mean, think of it this way. The eternal struggle between good and evil is always good for the box office since it means that the audience will either leave the theater feeling charged and ready to speak highly of the movie, or it will at least get them in the seat and count the cost of their ticket towards the desired numbers that each and every movie needs to survive. But regardless of whether a person likes the movie or not, we’ve seen the same narrative over and over. The good guys get in there and beat up the bad guys, even if the roles aren’t clear from the start. The good guys will then go on their way, either triumphant and content or saddened and destined to walk a long road alone and searching for something they can’t find. The comic book adaptations go from one extreme to the other and movies in general seem to favor a happy ending even if it’s not a complete one. Bloodshot already looks as though it will be a movie in which the main character will gain his freedom eventually but will be tortured throughout the entire time and will possibly continue to be tortured when the movie is over. His power set and his abilities are nothing new really since he’s a soldier that’s been given a tremendous healing factor and the kind of strength that can allow him to break through concrete with his bare fists. In short, Bloodshot is nothing new, even if people want to dispute this.
Sigh, originality is the one thing we ask for from Hollywood and unfortunately we’re not getting it, though the infamous cookie cutter that keeps churning out ‘new’ material continues to operate unabated even if it’s reshaped now and again to make us think that there’s still a great deal of innovation left in show business. Hopefully I’m wrong about this, but don’t go holding your breath just yet. Rich Sands of SyFy Wire seems to think that the movie might be more hopeful than some are letting on, but we’ll see.
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