Los Angeles Times - 13.03.2020

E8 FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2020 LATIMES.COM/CALENDAR

AT THE MOVIES

Every few years, Vin
Diesel likes to remind audi-
ences that he does do movies
that are not of the fast and
furious or alien tree variety.
He’ll throw in “xXx: Return
of Xander Cage” or “The
Last Witch Hunter” to re-
mind us all he’s more than
Groot or Dom Toretto. He
can also be a generic action
star with a gravelly voice and
a contract that requires him
to be in a tank top for at least
70% of the movie. And so ar-
rives the obligatory “Blood-
shot,” an adaptation of the
Valiant Comics character of
the same name, directed by
video game auteur David
S.F. Wilson in his big screen
debut, with a script by Jeff
Wadlow and Eric Heisserer.
“Bloodshot” begins in a
very expected way for this
kind of thing. After a violent
hostage extraction in Kenya,
special ops soldier Ray Gar-
rison (Diesel) retires to the
Amalfi Coast for some R&R
with a comely blond, Gina
(Talulah Riley), apparently
his wife. Before long they’re
picked up by some “psycho
killer” (Toby Kebbell) who

menacingly dances to the

Talking Heads in a meat

locker while demanding to

know some information

about Ray’s mission. Before

you can wonder just who the

heck this guy is, Ray wakes

up in a lab, where he’s been

brought back to life as a

technologically enhanced

super soldier.

With a bloodstream full of

microscopic machinated

mites to rebuild his body in

combat, Ray is RoboCop

with the self-regenerating

power of the T-1000. But his

all-too-human memories of

murder and mayhem mean

he’s hell-bent on revenge.

You know how they say

trauma is stored in the

body? Ray’s trauma still

lives somewhere in his cells,

even after he’s Franken-

steined back to life by the

charming technologist with

a robot arm, Dr. Harting

(Guy Pearce). But are those

memories even his, and

what larger purpose do they

serve?

This is a supremely silly

Diesel vehicle, allowing the

earnest action star to deliver

lines such as “You used me ...

to kill,” with the utmost seri-

ousness. But the writers are

also clever enough about the

genre’s own tropes to poke

fun at them. Visually, there

are some neat moments

with the “nanites” in Ray’s

veins, though there are

times when the movie feels

like watching visual effects

artists lay down half-ren-

dered pre-visualizations,

which is kind of the point.

Predictably, it descends into

a meaningless blur of grav-

ity-defying physics and ro-

botic limbs. By the end, a lot

of violence is happening and

you’re never sure exactly

why or even how.

“Bloodshot” wants to be

a treatise of sorts on priva-

tized surveillance, artificial

intelligence and war profit-

eering. And in many ways, it

pulls that off, especially with

Pearce as the philosophical-

ly slimy Dr. Harting. But the

filmmakers have the good

sense to let that subversion

coexist alongside Diesel’s

sincerity, so it remains a be-

wildering piece of good-bad

sci-fi action trash. Do any of

the characters have clearly

articulated motives? No.

Are the action sequences a

confounding geographical

jumble? Indeed. Does Lam-

orne Morris shout “He’s

overclocking the nanites!” in

a cockney accent? Of course

he does. What more could

you possibly expect from a

movie called “Bloodshot”?

Nothing.

Katie Walsh is a Tribune

News Service film critic.

If a wall plastered in post-

ers for ’90s Christian bands

DC Talk and Audio Adrena-

line means something to

you, then “I Still Believe” will

mean something to you.

This faith-based romantic

drama preaches to the choir;

the Erwin brothers’ film is

counting on its audience

knowing every word and

melody to the story it tells,

both literally with the songs

of its real-life subject Jeremy

Camp as well as in its

earnest spirituality and cul-

tural references.

After directing the Mer-

cyMe biopic — and legiti-

mate hit — “I Can Only

Imagine,” Jon and Andrew

Erwin capably tackle the

story of another contempo-

rary Christian artist here.

Back in 1999, a pre-fame Jer-

emy Camp (K.J. Apa of

“Riverdale” fame, in a more

chaste role and bland per-

formance) has left his par-

ents (Gary Sinise and Sha-

nia Twain) back in Indiana

and is in his freshman year of

college in California. He

wonders how he can make it

big as a musician, and then

he meets Melissa (Britt

Robertson) at a Christian

rock show. He falls hard, but

their romance isn’t all joy.

Tragedy strikes the young

couple when she gets a life-

threatening diagnosis, test-

ing his faith through her ill-

ness.

Despite a vibrant per-

formance by Robertson, Me-

lissa exists more as a part of

Jeremy’s journey rather

than as her own person. The

script from Jon Erwin and

Jon Gunn doesn’t fully flesh

out her character; we just

know she loves Jesus, Jere-

my and the stars, in approxi-

mately that order, but there

isn’t much else there.

This isn’t just an issue for

Melissa; “I Still Believe” runs

almost two hours, but it fre-

quently commits sins of

omission. The Erwins’ film

misses pertinent details and

explanations, whether

about Jeremy’s ascending

music career or a seemingly

random appearance by his

family at his school.

Though it’s based on a

true story, “I Still Believe”

feels like a Nicholas Sparks

adaptation, but written for

teens with purity rings or

adults who share joint Face-

book accounts with their

spouses. It’s a romance

above all, but one that

doesn’t just glamorize love

for an earthly partner and

instead points toward the

importance of pursuing a re-

lationship with Jesus, even

through hardship. Those

looking for inspiration will

find it without looking too

hard, but those who don’t at-

tend church regularly will be

as bored as they would be by

a sermon.

Documentarian Liz Gar-

bus, Oscar-nominated for

“What Happened, Miss

Simone?,” tackles her first

narrative feature with a

story that’s well within her

wheelhouse after her HBO

true crime docs such as

“Something’s Wrong With

Aunt Diane” and “Who

Killed Garrett Phillips?”

“Lost Girls,” billed as an

“unsolved American mys-

tery,” is based on the nonfic-

tion book of the same name

by Robert Kolker, an investi-

gation of the murders of an

at-large serial killer believed

to have slain at least 10, and

potentially 16, victims,

mostly sex workers, in Long

Island, N.Y.

Kolker’s book is a sprawl-

ing story that traverses the

Eastern Seaboard from

Maine to New York and dives

deep into the lives and dis-

appearances of five victims

and their families’ search for

answers. It’s been con-

densed into a 95-minute film

that focuses primarily on

Mari Gilbert (a flinty Amy

Ryan with a brassy bleached

mane), the mother of Shan-

nan Gilbert, a New Jersey

sex worker who called 911 in a

panic from the gated Long

Island community of Oak

Beach before disappearing

into the night.

Though her 2010 disap-

pearance didn’t exactly pre-

cipitate the discovery of the

other bodies (a routine po-

lice K-9 training exercise

did), the circumstances

were unusual enough to

arouse suspicion in the

reclusive enclave of Oak

Beach, spurred by Mari’s vo-

cal advocacy. Upset with the

media depiction that these

women — sisters, daughters

and friends — were merely

“prostitutes” whose killings

weren’t worth investigating,

Mari, through sheer force of

will, sought to impose her

own agenda on the public

narrative.

Because the film, like the

book, immediately an-

nounces itself as “unsolved,”

it takes a bit of suspense off

the table. Much of the film’s

drama is taken up with

whether the police, headed

up by Commissioner Rich-

ard Dormer (Gabriel

Byrne), will take Mari’s com-

plaints seriously. The only

real mystery is whether

they’ll find Shannan’s re-

mains or enough evidence to

arrest a longtime Oak Beach

resident and local doctor

(Reed Birney) who came

into contact with her that

night.

Garbus brings a chilly,

windswept and at times lyri-

cal aesthetic to the film, and

the actors — including the

always wildly compelling

Lola Kirke and the quietly

powerful Thomasin McKen-

zie as sisters of the victims —

do their best with the hacky,

formulaic and obvious script

by Michael Werwie (“Ex-

tremely Wicked, Shockingly

Evil and Vile”). Kolker’s

book delicately wove themes

of class and structural issues

throughout the stories of

these women, humanizing

them and indicting the sys-

tem that drove them to in-

creasingly dangerous sex

work.

That nuance and cultural

commentary are lacking in

the film adaptation.

Werwie’s script doesn’t

know where to land: Is it the

media? The local police?

The insular nature of this

community that may have

concealed a serial killer for

decades?

Though the film eventu-

ally gets to where it needs to

go, it feels scattered, stum-

bling over true crime tropes

on the way.

All the opportunity is

there to explore the ex-

ploitation of women and the

unbalanced and dangerous

economy of sex work; to in-

dict the misogyny that per-

meates media and law en-

forcement. But the script is

never willing to pin down

those ideas in any kind of

damning statement.

Through the force of

Ryan’s steely performance,

we’re simply left with this

devastatingly grim tragedy

and few answers to hold on

to.

‘I Still Believe’

Rated:PG, for thematic

material

Running time:1 hour,

55 minutes

Playing:In general release

‘Lost Girls’

Rated:R for language

throughout

Running time:1 hour,

35 minutes

Playing:Landmark

Westwood (formerly the

Regent); also available on

Netflix

‘Bloodshot’

Rated:PG-13 for intense

sequences of violence,

some suggestive material

and language

Running time:1 hour,

49 minutes

Playing:In general release

BRITT ROBERTSON, K.J. Apa in the Erwin broth-

ers’ faith-based romantic drama “I Still Believe.”

Michael KubeiyLionsgate

REVIEW

Erwin duo

keeps the faith

and playbook

The fact-based ‘I Still

Believe’ stumbles in

its storytelling, but it

delivers if you need a

little inspiration.

By Kimber Myers

RAY GARRISON(Vin Diesel) is out for revenge and don’t try to talk him out of it in the silly sci-fi flick.

Photographs byGraham BartholomewColumbia Pictures

REVIEW

Meet the comeback kid

In ‘Bloodshot,’ Vin

Diesel plays a soldier

killed in action but

brought back to life by

a sinister corporation.

By Katie Walsh

GUY PEARCEis featured alongside Diesel as Dr.

Harting, a charming technologist with a robotic arm.

REVIEW

True-crime tale ‘Lost Girls’ loses depth

New York sex workers

are targeted by

a killer. The original

book provided a lot

more context.

By Katie Walsh

“LOST GIRLS”is based on Robert Kolker’s nonfiction book of the same name.

Jessica KourkounisNetflix