The first trailer for Bloodshot is here, kicking off a new superhero movie franchise based on the Valiant Comics universe. Vin Diesel stars as the title character, a supersoldier with advanced combat skills and super strength. So, not exactly an artistic stretch for Mr. Diesel.
As you can probably tell from the title, this is an action-packed blockbuster with less plot or world-building than your average Marvel film. Bloodshot’s origin story is a riff on the “man avenges his dead wife” trope, an idea that’s arguably overdone at this point but is presented with an interesting twist here. It’s also the feature film debut of director Dave Wilson, a visual effects artist whose only previous directorial experience was an episode of Netflix‘s adult animation anthology Love, Death and Robots. Make of that what you will.
Bloodshot is one of the better-known characters from Valiant Comics, and he’s a safe choice for Sony to launch the franchise. Unfortunately, some behind-the-scenes issues have already put that franchise in jeopardy. While there’s a solo film in the works for plus-size superheroine Faith, and a crossover movie for Valiant’s Harbinger team, they’re now happening at Paramount instead of Sony. So Vin Diesel’s Bloodshot franchise may begin and end here, unless Sony and Paramount can come to an agreement like Sony and Disney did with Spider-Man.
Bloodshot comes out on Feb 21.
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