Sean’s movie thoughts

 I do not quite get the Fast and Furrious movies. F9 is out, I liked it well enough. It was nice to see Vin Diesel and John Cena punch each other. (His star seems to be on the rise. Dave Bautista is still better.) The plot makes no sense, I won’t try to explain it, and after 8 films Dom suddenly has a brother (this never came up in the previous films somehow).  Charlize Theron returns as villain Cipher and Helen Mirren has a cameo. I would say that it is a pointless cameo but it was kind of fun. (How her character knows Dom is not explained.) Han is back, maybe that would been had nicer if it was not revealed in the trailer/marketing, and he has an adopted daughter.  I like the fights more than the car stunts.

xXx was a movie trying to portray the James Bond movie franchise as old fashioned. Vin Diesel stars as Xander Cage, an extreme sports star who is pressed into service as a secret agent after a stunt where he stole a politician's car. (I did not get this bit, it seemed like that was a felony that he was broadcasting to the world.) Samuel L Jackson stars as the agent who recruited Cage. The villains in this movie are not interesting. It is a little long too, I think that a lot of movies are a little long though. Sometimes I watch a pre-1990 movie and it seems like on average movies were shorter then. I will probably watch the sequel with Ice Cube sometime in June. xXx is not terrible and the third one in this series years later was kind of fun. Donnie Yen being in the third movie probably helped a lot. I don't recommend this.

Bloodshot is not terrible. Vin Diesel stars as a soldier, Ray, resurrected and given super powers. He is never called Bloodshot in the film and he lacks the special look of the comic book hero. Maybe they tried the look and thought it might not work or come across well in live action. Guy Pierce stars as the head of the company that brought Diesel back. It is nice to see him. Diesel might not be a great actor but he fills this role well. Eiza Gonzalez needed a bit more to do but the supporting cast is pretty good. The action sequences are fine and I liked the use of Ray’s non-physical powers. Maybe I am being a bit generous but I might watch this again.

Valiant Comics is partnering with a studio to bring some of their characters to the big screen. The first one up is their super-soldier Bloodshot.(Valiant is not a huge publisher but they have some good comics.) Bloodshot, for those unfamiliar with the character, has chalk white skin and nanites in his blood. His powers include increased strength and healing abilities. In some ways his power levels might be close to Captain America's or Wolverine's. Vin Diesel is going to play Bloodshot. I am not sure he's the best choice but maybe it could work. No offense but sometimes his level of stardom surprises me. Other actors are being hired including Toby Kebbel. (He was Doom in the recent Fantastic Four.) I think the release date is not set but it might be coming out in simmer 2019; Of course if this movie is successful, other Valiant characters will make their way to movie theaters.