Blood Work
Time to get something off my chest here. I’m so sick of reading reviews by people who think they are so damn smart. They say things like, “Five minutes into the movie and I knew how it would end” or “It was so predictable from the beginning, I knew who it was”. With that being said, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m obviously just some dumbass from the Midwest. With the exception of Titanic, there are probably not a lot of movies that I can tell how they end. Maybe after an hour or so into the movie, I start to put things together, but other than that, I just sit back and enjoy the flick. There, I feel better.
This falls into the crime thriller category of film genres, and it quite good. Clint Eastwood plays Terry McCaleb, a former FBI profiler who has a heart transplant after a suffering a heart attack while tracking down an elusive criminal dubbed, “The Code Killer”. A couple years go by, and he is approached by Graciella Rivers (Wanda De Jesus) who wants him to investigate the death of her sister. At first he’s a little hesitant, due to his health and the fact that he’s no longer with the Bureau, but he takes on the case. His doctor, played by Anjelica Huston, advises against this course of action, but he explains why he took on the case. So for the meantime, he gives up his easy going and retired lifestyle of spending time on his boat in a Los Angeles Harbor and hanging out with his neighbor Buddy (Jeff Daniels). Buddy is even lazier than Terry, and kind of reminded me of “The Dude” in The Big Lebowski…just lounging around all day, drinking beer and fishin’. However since Terry can’t drive, he asks Buddy to drive him around while he’s working the case. Buddy’s paid in cases of beer, so he’s happy.
Over the course of the cat and mouse chase, little pieces of the puzzle start to fall into place, and slowly things start to make sense. Going over old reports and security tapes gives vital clues to the killer’s identity. Everything is paced really well, and even though I’m a dumbass and couldn’t figure out the plot in five minutes, the ending is quite satisfactory.
A few minor quibbles. Paul Rodriguez plays the role of the angry Mexican, smartass, trash talking detective. That got annoying very quickly! Also, Clint is 72 years old...does he really still need to do “love scenes” with women half his age? When McCaleb does track down the killer, they offer a reason that’s a little unclear and nebulous as to why they killed. But, it’s a Clint movie, and he always gets the last laugh.
By the way, see if you can spot the big advertiser in the movie. Practically a whole scene revolves around their product.
