by Ed Travis
Blood Father introduces us to Mel Gibson’s John Link as he shares about his two years of sobriety and his remorse over all the people he has hurt in his life. If this isn’t art speaking to life, I don’t know what is. It’s impossible not to let the very real world issues actor Mel Gibson has brought upon himself color your perception of his character here. My guess is that is exactly how both Gibson and director Jean-Francois Richet (Mesrine, Assault on Precinct 13 ’05) wanted it. I don’t know Mel Gibson’s personal story any more than any other curious fan might. And I am a fan. But my suspicion is that Gibson the man is a tried and true alcoholic. The kind of person who can’t touch a drop or they’ll end up blacking out. I have no interest in defending him or any of the abusive or racist things he has done and said, but I do suspect alcoholism is the source of those other behaviors. Regardless, Gibson’s fall from grace stings. As a public figure, an actor and director… as an artist, I love Gibson’s work. I actively pull for the guy. I want to see him extinguish his demons and keep making movies… because that’s what he’s born to do. And Blood Father may very well be the most apt “apology tour” film he could possibly have made.
Repeatedly through the film’s rip roaring 88 minute run time, Link and his prodigal daughter Lydia (Erin Moriarty) have opportunities to bond over their mutual stories of lostness and poor decisions. It never feels strained or extraneous, it feels raw and necessary. When long lost Lydia reappears back in Link’s life, with the cartel on her tail, Link’s own sobriety is at the forefront of his mind. Soon her sobriety becomes just as important to him. There’s not much sentimentality between the two of them, but as they assess their bad-to-worse predicament and hit the road together, their bonding feels natural and more importantly feels true to what little experience I’ve had with recovery programs and processes. Blood Father honestly melds the action-thriller genre with the world of recovery so well it more or less becomes its own subgenre of “recovery road action”. And for the most part, that really works. A major part of that is the commitment and screen presence of Gibson, along with the real world baggage he brings to the role.
It isn’t an all out home run. Erin Moriarty is fine in the role, but she’s never entirely convincing as a broken and lost soul. She’s too well put together and movie star beautiful to entirely convince as a burned out teen with years of partying too hard under her belt. And she’s so central to the success of this film that you end up wishing she had been able to really knock the role out of the park. Early on in the film there are several moments that skirt on the edge of feeling too polished and Hollywood to ring true. But as the screenplay (Peter Craig [The Town] and Andrea Berloff [Straight Outta Compton]) doles out more breadcrumbs as to Link’s past and exactly why these pesky cartel guys just can’t let this teenage runaway go, the film really comes to life and brings context and dimensionality to Link and Lydia’s relationship. There are other small head scratchers like why Lydia never dumps her smart phone, but that’s just getting into nitpicking when the film is really going for more than your average summer action extravaganza. It’s focused on Link and Lydia, only expanding its world in order to better reveal to us who these two are. And in that it is successful, even ultimately powerful by the final showdown.
Link isn’t some suped-up re-tread of Liam Neeson’s character from Taken. Which is exactly what I thought Blood Father was going for based on the plot summary. But no, this is a film where a badass old grizzled father (yes, with a special set of skills) will go on a road trip with his daughter, hell in the form of cartel members on their trail, and experience some kind of spectacular drug and alcohol recovery and redemption along the way. The few action set pieces that Blood Father contains are grounded in a semblance of reality. And they benefit greatly from that grounding. By the time Gibson is biting a dude’s ear off while handcuffed with duct tape, you’ve been so lured in by the character work that the loud and entertaining shoot outs feel grand.
I don’t know if audiences are ready yet for Mel Gibson’s return to the spotlight. Blood Father isn’t opening in Austin, TX theatrically, and I’m honestly surprised by that. This film does have late August release written all over it in the best way possible. I hope audiences take a chance on the movie in the markets where it does hit theaters. I, for one, am very ready for this multi-talented movie star to make movies again. And if Blood Father is any indication, he’s willing to make his apologies and start down a new road. I’ll be following.
And I’m Out.