With such a rich history of comic book lore, storylines aplenty and a distinctive, recognisable look for the main character, how on earth did the live action Bloodshot end up the way it did? We got Vin Diesel as Vin Diesel again, in a flatly directed, generic action movie which comes alive only in sparsely used moments of visual effects wizardry.

It’s especially infuriating given that the slightly dated, original 90s run of Bloodshot wasn’t the only source material available to the filmmakers; much more recent and contemporary stories such as this 2015 release, Bloodshot Reborn, was right there for adapting.

And it’s fantastic too. Though it does pick up from a previous storyline, it’s incredibly friendly to newcomers, and does a fantastic job of introducing Bloodshot, along with his current status quo.

Having lost all of the nanites that were coursing through his body and giving him his incredibly enhanced abilities (including regeneration and the power to talk to, and control, high tech machinery), Bloodshot learns of other individuals who have been taken over by the nanites. Yet there’s a problem; these new Bloodshot-style individuals can’t handle the mental and physical strain of dealing with the nanites, and end up on kill sprees, which only Bloodshot himself can deal with.

Stripping Bloodshot of his powers and getting his alter ego, Ray Garrison, back to basics was a great idea. Writer Jeff Lemire makes sure that Garrison has a mission which makes sense, and seeing him gradually build up back towards his previous strength is extremely satisfying. Also along for the ride are two projections of Ray’s subconscious, the cartoony Bloodsquirt and a previous Geomancer; their banter with Garrison is brilliantly written, as well as darkly amusing, and they’re great additions to the cast.

The government agents on Garrison’s tail are also well defined, and the only character I didn’t warm to, perhaps because it feels like a slightly problematic relationship, is Garrison’s eventual companion, Magic.

It’s a superbly cinematic story with a built in timer, given the urgency of stopping the rampages of each new ‘Bloodshot’. It’s just straight up brilliant stuff, and it really does boggle the mind that we ended up with such a dull and generic Vin Diesel vehicle, when this alone was already out there in the ether, let alone all of the great Bloodshot stories released either side of this one.

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