March 13, 2020: a date that will live in infamy. That became the day that the US essentially “shut down” due to COVID-19.

Of course, that didn’t hold completely true, but it became the last day society worked in a semi-normal fashion. It also turned out to be the final time Hollywood would put a new movie into wide release for many months.

The sacrificial lamb? Bloodshot, a sci-fi/action flick that mustered a mere $9 million in the US for its opening weekend.

Actually, that figure seems higher than I expected, but cinemas didn’t close en masse until the weekdays after Bloodshot’s opening weekend. Still, the viral writing was on the wall, and audiences avoided multiplexes pretty strongly.

Marine Ray Garrison (Vin Diesel) operates as a highly skilled soldier. However, his talents can’t save him when an unknown party murders him and his wife Gina (Talulah Riley).

Ray’s demise proves temporary, as scientists bring him back to life – and with new powers, as nano-technology turns Ray into a true super soldier. Initially he recalls nothing of his prior life, but his memories slowly return, and those prompt him to seek revenge.

Here’s where I’d make a crack about how I liked Bloodshot better when it was called Universal Soldier - except I never liked Universal Soldier. Still, the two share undeniable similarities, and those make Bloodshot seem less inventive than otherwise might be the case.

Not that Bloodshot would come across as original anyway, as plenty of other resurrection stories like this exist. Heck, Universal Soldier borrowed heavily from Robocop, so Bloodshot can feel like a copy of a copy.

As I often state, originality doesn’t ensure success, and derivative films can still offer entertainment. Its lack of fresh subject matter doesn’t doom Bloodshot.

Indeed, Bloodshot manages to overcome these weaknesses – somewhat. While it never threatens to turn into a great film, the movie tosses out enough action and twists to entertain.

Though my plot synopsis implies a fairly straightforward tale, Bloodshot brings some curveballs. Of course, I’ll keep these secret due to their spoiler nature, but the flick finds intriguing ways to change its seemingly predictable course

These become enough to make Bloodshot reasonably compelling – along with a tongue in cheek tone. The filmmakers understand that the movie comes with a slew of genre clichés, so they revel in that.

This doesn’t mean Bloodshot winks at the audience, but it does present self-awareness that allows it to semi-negate some of its potential issues. Rather than provide the meatheaded action tale I expected, it includes enough wit to allow it to work fairly well.

Speaking of meatheaded, I’ve come to like Diesel less and less over the years, as his performances became more one-dimensional over time. While he doesn’t deviate too much from the norm with Bloodshot, he seems more invested than usual. I’m not sure he was actually awake for the last couple of Fast and Furious movies, so it’s good to see him look engaged again.

I don’t want to overpraise Bloodshot, for even with its strengths, it never develops into a really strong cinematic experience. Still, it does more right than wrong and offers a semi-clever twist on the genre.

Bloodshot appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.39:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This became a satisfying image.

Overall sharpness seemed good. A few interiors felt a little soft, but the majority of the flick came across as accurate and well-defined.

I noticed no jaggies or moiré effects, and edge enhancement never manifested itself. In addition, the film failed to display any print defects.

Like most action thrillers of this sort, Bloodshot went with a stylized palette. Blue, green, yellow and amber dominated – unsurprisingly. Cliché as the choices seemed the disc presented them well.

Blacks seemed deep and tight, while shadows appeared smooth and concise. This wound up as an appealing presentation.

I also thought the DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack of Bloodshot worked fine. Various action scenes dominated and proved exciting and involving and exciting. The track exhibited a high level of activity that made it a nearly constant kick.

Audio quality pleased. Speech was concise and natural, without edginess or other issues. Music showed good range and vivacity, while effects worked nicely.

Those elements came across as accurate and full, with solid low-end response and positive definition. This was a consistently strong soundtrack that made it to “A-“ level.

A few extras complete the disc, and Initiate Sequence runs nine minutes, 16 seconds. It provides comments from producers Dinesh Shamdasani and Toby Jaffe, director David SF Wilson, visual effects supervisor Chris Harvey, and actors Vin Diesel, Guy Pearce, Eiza Gonzalez, and Sam Heughan.

“Sequence” looks at the source and its adaptation, story/characters, visual design and effects, research and scientific elements, sets and locations. Despite some of the usual happy talk, “Sequence” becomes a fairly informative piece.

Forgotten Soldiers lasts 11 minutes, 13 seconds and includes notes from Diesel, Wilson, Gonzalez, Heughan, Shamdasani, Pearce, producer Neal H. Moritz, and actors Siddharth Dhananjay and Lamorne Morris.

“Soldiers” discusses cast, characters and performances. Despite a few good insights, this mostly turns into a puff piece.

Four Deleted & Extended Scenes fill a total of eight minutes, one second. We find “This Is What We Fight For” (1:22), “Why Can’t I Remember Anything” (2:50), “Eric Evacuates” (0:31) and “Alternate Ending” (3:18)

“Fight” and “Remember” simply offer minor additions to existing sequences, while “Evacuates” brings a little comedy from a supporting role. The “Ending” kills off a villain in a different way. He dies in both versions, to the alternate doesn’t change anything in terms of story.

We can also view the “Ending” with an introduction from Wilson and Shamdasani. The disc describes this as “commentary” but instead, just provides a few pre-scene remarks from those two. They don’t tell us much about the sequence.

An Outtakes/Blooper Reel spans one minutes, 59 seconds and delivers the standard silliness. While noting exciting, at least it’s brief.

The disc opens with ads for Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Bad Boys For Life, Greyhound, The Grudge (2020) and Morbius. No trailer for Bloodshot appears here.

Despite its embrace of various cinematic clichés, Bloodshot manages to find good twists. It throws out just enough action and cleverness to become a mostly enjoyable flick. The Blu-ray boasts strong picture and audio as well as a few bonus materials. Bloodshot fares better than expected.