Blood Work (2002) Rated: R for violence and language. Runtime: 108 mins. Director: Clint Eastwood Writer: Michael Connelly (novel), Brian Helgeland (screnplay) Cast: Clint Eastwood, Jeff Daniels, Anjelica Huston, Paul Rodriguez....complete cast Genre: Crime/Thriller/Drama
Tagline: "The key to catching a killer is only a heartbeat away" Most memorable quote: " Just because you got a Mexican's heart doesn't mean you're one of us!
At first I wanted to add this review to my rant entitled “Big Stars, Crappy Movies,” but then I realized that it doesn't quite fit. Yes, some people, men in general and my husband specifically, might be tempted to rent Blood Work primarily because of the appeal of its star, producer and director, Clint Eastwood. But those other movies suffered more from plot problems than acting deficiencies. Although The Heist also lacked in character development, which is sort of a combination of both…but anyway...don't let Dirty Harry's history sway you. I've never been a fan of Eastwood or his movies, but my husband is, and we both hated this movie. Ignore the two thumbs up from Ebert and what's his name and pass it by on the video store shelf.
Eastwood is Terry McCaleb, an FBI profiler who at the start of the movie is chasing The Code Killer, and guess what? It's personal! It's a cat and mouse game played out in the local papers, where the killer leaves clues on purpose just to annoy this one particular cop; no wait, that was, uh, and,...oh yeah, that's been the plot of several movies. But I was willing to put that aside because I love a good crime story. The opening sequence ends with Eastwood having a heart attack and the killer getting away.
Fast forward two years later to a “retired” and recovering McCaleb, and I don't want to spoil anything, but he comes out of retirement to solve a very special case. Another original idea, huh? The plot does have some interesting twists and some cool detective work, but it cannot overcome the movie's many other flaws. We did watch the whole thing, but only because we hoped it would get better. It didn't.
Which was worse--the bad acting or the bad lines? Paul Rodriquez, as the jealous cop on the case, gives one of the worse performances ever captured on screen. Angelica Huston ought to be ashamed of herself for poorly playing McCaleb's cardiologist. The investigation and the resolution of the crime were pretty flimsy; the answer to the Code Killer's signature string of numbers is silly and unintelligible.
One of my biggest pet peeves in movies is when young beautiful women are cast as love interests for older, usually much older, men. Blood Work is the worst example of this I've seen. First of all, I've never thought of Eastwood as that attractive, ever. Maybe a little in Play Misty forMe, but that was probably due to a misguided deejay fantasy of my early youth. Squintin' Clint has never been handsome, and he certainly hasn't aged well, unlike the still sexy Paul Newman or the lovably quirky Jack Nicholson. In this film, however, the plastic-faced McCaleb has the affections of two, yes two, younger, attractive females, one in the past and one relationship in the works. The former relationship is sketchy; both seem unlikely and forced, and neither were very interesting.
I rarely give a zero on any ratings, but Blood Work gets nothing on the Julia Roberts factor from me because I did not care about any of the characters or their relationships. There are chases and violence, but only a very boring man would argue that the Macho factor barely rise above the rest of the pack here. Because no one would want to watch this movie, the Babysitter and In-law factor also snakes along. As for the Se7en and Of Mice and Men factors, the next day our only memories of Blood Work elicited chuckles of disbelief that we wasted two hours of precious life watching it. Getting lucky? Try disgusted...at Eastwood's scary body (and it's not just because of his age). As I write this this, I am struggling to remember the climax, so I guess that explains the low Wrap up score.
Take my word on this one, don't waste your money. If you liked it, however, please tell me why.
Blood Work (2002)
