6.9 | / 10 |
Users | 2.8 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 2.8 |
An ex-con reunites with his estranged wayward 16-year old daughter to protect her from drug dealers who are trying to kill her.
Starring: Mel Gibson, Erin Moriarty, Diego Luna, Michael Parks, William H. MacyHeist | 100% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Crime | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English, English SDH, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
UV digital copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Maybe Mel Gibson should make a film with Woody Allen, just so that once and for all those of us with any “meta” issues with regard to either of these icons of contemporary cinema might have the opportunity to see if their collaboration helped to cancel out each other’s various scandals. It’s become hard at times to watch Allen’s films, especially those with now troubling seeming jokes about sexual improprieties, without almost automatically being forced to think about all the “baggage” that has accrued around Allen. There’s something at least a little similar going on in Blood Father, where one of the first dialogue scenes features ex-con John Link (Mel Gibson) more or less directly delivering a “twelve step” update directly to the camera, as if Gibson himself were apologizing for, or at least owning up to, past improprieties. That scene comes after a brief look at a “missing child” poster which of course turns out to be John’s long lost daugher Lydia (Erin Moriarty). Lydia’s predicament informs the bulk of Blood Father, for the film quickly segues to a horrifying sequence that finds Lydia buying an incredible amount of 9mm ammunition at a local store (in a no doubt intentionally ironic interchange, the clerk demands her ID, not for the ammunition purchase, but for the cigarettes she also wants). Lydia is picked up by a gaggle of gang members, one of whom is evidently her seemingly abusive boyfriend. They all travel quickly to a house where some sort of revenge scenario is plotted, and Lydia’s boyfriend gives her a quick snort of cocaine to bolster her courage in acting as lookout at the home’s back door, replete with loaded gun. Things of course do not go as planned, especially after Lydia wanders into a backyard play scene with what are evidently kids who live at the home in question. With several dead bodies and surviving gang members not especially in “friendly” mode as the after effects of this interchange, Lydia is in exile and fearing for her own life. Suddenly her long estranged Dad seems to be a safety net, and she reaches out to him.
Blood Father is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. Once again the IMDb has no technical data to offer on this shoot, and even a rigorous internet search didn't turn up much in the way of verifiable information, but the sleek, sharp look of the film argues for digital capture. Close-ups offer at times astounding levels of fine detail, with almost topographical accounts of the crags of Gibson's face, and other elements like the fine hairs on his ears clearly visible (see screenshot 1 for just one good example). A lot of the film has a kind of buttery yellow tone, something that helps make its western setting strangely evocative despite the gritty subject matter. The palette generally looks natural even within the syrupy grading, and detail levels generally remain very strong in darker sequences as well. There are no issues with image instability.
Blood Father's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix gets regular bursts of activity courtesy of some of the action elements the film exploits. That includes the opening sequence with the family that's accosted by Lydia and the gang, where thrusts of LFE accompany some gunshots (something that's repeated later in the film as well). There are good panning effects in some of the chase sequences, and a general attention to detail in terms of realistic placement of ambient environmental effects. Dialogue is cleanly rendered and well prioritized on this problem free track.
Blood Father, despite its obvious action adventure elements, is in essence a character piece, and as such it provides a real showcase for Gibson, now entering the time in his life when grizzled elders will probably become his "new normal". He's appealingly natural in the film, whether tooling around with tattooing tools (John is a tattoo artist) or interacting with an equally appealing Moriarty as his daughter Lydia. A lot of the film is just ridiculously far fetched, but it's a tribute to the screenplay and to director Jean-François Richet's pacing that things feel realistic even when the logical mind knows they really aren't. A number of well appointed supporting turns by the likes of William H. Macy and Michael Parks help round out the film's overall gritty, lived in ambience. Technical merits are very strong, and even without a lot in the supplemental department, Blood Father comes Recommended.
2011
2012
2012
2010
2015
2010
1972
Extended Edition
2011
1995
2016
2009
2016
2012
2008
1969
Collector's Edition
2022
2010
2016
2018
2005