FIRST BLOOD SHOT

The nanite-injected super-ex-soldier has a score to settle in BLOODSHOT, so STARBURST takes a look at what memories are made of…

- Jack Bottomley

Memories. They can be a real bitch. Dragging us kicking and screaming back into the worst days of our lives, tragic events, a past we’d rather forget or just an embarrassing moment in time. Yes indeed, memories are made of this, but without them, we would not only have any of the good times saved into our psyche, but we would also have no handle on who we even are. Movies have toyed with this simple idea over and over, be it a Memento, a Finding Nemo (or rather more appropriately - regarding its much-loved memory-scattered character - Finding Dory), an Unknown or one of the Bourne series. Memory, the loss of it and how it punctures our identity is one of cinema’s many enduring stories and in Bloodshot, it’s Vin Diesel’s turn to have his frontal lobes challenged.

“And initiate sequence...”

Bloodshot is the film adaptation of the Valiant Comics antihero of the same name. Since his cameo debut in Eternal Warrior #4 in 1992, before his first full appearance a week later, the character has hit readers with notable impact. In fact, so heavy was the demand for Kevin VanHook, Don Perlin, and Bob Layton’s character that, in 1993, he received his own comic book and over the course of his on-page history has gone on to sell nearly seven million copies for Valiant. A former soldier turned naniteinjected super-human, Bloodshot (real name Raymond Garrison) has developed a loyal following, and it seems like forever since we first heard he’d be bringing his regenerative ass to the big screen when the rights were acquired by Columbia Pictures back in 2012.