Blood Father is a 2016 action crime thriller film directed by Jean-François Richet. The movie is about an ex-con who reunites with his estranged daughter to help her escape a drug cartel. Blood Father (2016) movie review
Perhaps true to his real life persona, Mel Gibson plays Link, an excon who is an alcoholic man keeping it to himself in a trailer. He gets pulled into a gunfight with a bunch of cartel folks after his daughter Lydia (played by Erin Moriarty) tells him that some extremely dangerous people are after. Link, thinking this is the time for him to step up and finally be a father figure to his daughter he barely knows, joins in helping her escape by utilizing his skills, his gruff attitude, and his connections from his criminal days.
While the movie is trying to be serious, I couldn’t quite figure it out. At times there is graphic violence everywhere. At others, you have Link cracking jokes with Lydia but not really smiling at all, just riffing. It seemed odd, but it is to show they have a connection, even if it is distant and rusty. This is true Gibson here, he is tough but hides a dark past. When he is pushed to the edge, which you can imagine is the case here, he goes ballistic. He would do anything to protect his daughter, as much as he doesn’t want to be faced with violence again. It is pretty fun to watch him cursing up a storm while being fearless.
The sicarios in the movie, while intimidating at first, quickly lose their fizz on screen because they are not given enough screen time. It says a lot about a movie where assassins of judges lose their appeal and become somewhat useless. Not useless, but not prominently explored as much as they should be. This is also a movie where any characters close to the main character die. That or are used against them in some way. The audience shouldn’t mind because a lot of characters are not the most respected members of the society. If they end up being taken care of, it adds to the fun of the movie.
With some decent dialogue and Mel Gibson going back to his days of being a tough as nails shoot ’em up type of guy, the movie becomes really fun to watch. While there are some cliches and the action is nothing spectacular, it still is exciting and worth a watch. Some would say the movie is more focused on the drama side of the relationship between Link and his daughter, but while that is somewhat true, there is a good amount of comedic elements and action to keep us entertained. After all, the movie is only about 90 min long.
Thanks for reading my Blood Father (2016) movie review
