Film is Pwn

Blood Work is an interesting, entertaining, and altogether unexceptional outing in the mystery-suspense-thriller genre.  I have a fondness for Blood Work that runs opposite of my antipathy for Independence Day, which I wrote about last year here.  For ID, as we industry insider types refer to Independence Day, the first impression I had walking out of the theater was, “Wow!  That was the best movie I’ve ever seen!  The only thing that could be better than Independence Day might be heaven itself, which I’m sure will have frequent showings of Independence Day!”  Then, as I thought about the story and the amazing plot contrivances, meandering cliches, and other flaws, ID slipped from the “great” to “fun/bad” category pretty quickly, and I’m a little embarrassed to admit that for about 72 hours ID stood as my favorite film ever.  Please do not tell my actual favorite film of all-time, Memento.

But this is the story of the opposite, where I didn’t like a movie at first, but it’s fondness has actually increased over the years until I think it’s pretty good (I said “good,” not “great,” mind you).  I speak of Clint Eastwood’s cinematic “eh, that was okay” flick, Blood Work.

I initially entered Blood Work with expectations a little too high, methinks, if for no other reason than its star/director is none other than Clint Eastwood, a man who, in my opinion, has had a better 2 1/2 decades as a filmmaker than Francis Ford Coppola or Martin Scorsese.  Not only do we have Clint’s involvement, but Blood Work boasts a screenplay by Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential) and is based on a smash-hit, bestselling novel by Michael Connelly (City of Bones), so it certainly possessed the pedigree to be a classic thriller.  Long story short, it’s not a new classic.  It is good however, and ain’t that enough sometimes?  Not every movie can be as good as Eastwood’s opus Unforgiven.

The story revolves around high-profile San Francisco Det. Terry McCaleb (Eastwood), who isn’t quite Dirty Harry with an AARP card, but he’s close; McCaleb is an obsessive cop but also is a tad bit of a gloryhound and media hog despised by some of his cohorts.   McCaleb is hot on the trail of a serial killer known as “the Cemetery Man,” who leaves him notes including seemingly random nine digit numbers at the crime scene (hint: the numbers are random but they aren’t random, for those of you who enjoy solving murder mysteries).  At the latest crime scene, McCaleb spots a suspicious character in the crowd and runs in pursuit.  In the middle of the chase, McCaleb crumbles over with a heart attack, and the Cemetery Man actually shows a measure of concern before McCaleb shoots at him, scaring him off.  Helpful note to all you kids out there: If you shoot at a guy, he is much less likely to come to your aid.  Of course, he’s also much less likely to dissect you, so there is a trade-off.

Months later, the Cemetery Man hasn’t been heard from after the incident; perhaps after witnessing McCaleb’s heart attack he realised how precious life was and decided to stop killing people and leaving clues.  Okay, I made that up.

Anyhoo, McCaleb is unhappily retired and is fresh off of a heart transplant.  Graciella (Wanda De Jesus), the sister of the woman whose heart McCaleb received, finds him and asks him to look into the murder of her sister.  It’s kind of hard to argue with someone who could have your heart repossessed.  Reluctantly, McCaleb agrees to look into it more to just appease the woman and his own guilt more than anything else.  The more McCaleb digs, the more curious facts he uncovers, and it turns into a bonafide investigation.

McCaleb loves being back in the hunt, though he is saddled by certain limitations, like he could pass out and die at almost any second if he over exerts himself, a fact pointed out by his doctor (Anjelica Huston) who frets over McCaleb taking up such strenuous, stressful activity a mere sixty days after surgery.  McCaleb can’t even drive himself around to interview suspects (as he can’t drive a car with an airbag due to his medical condition), so he has to recruit Buddy Noone (Jeff Daniels), McCaleb’s laid back, beach bum of a neighbor/comic relief who eagerly asserts himself as McCaleb’s partner in the investigation, though the ex-cop insists he just needs a driver.

The murder appears to be a random convenience store robbery gone wrong at first, though the masked killer winks at the security camera.  A similar murder occurred earlier at an ATM, the only connection between the victims turns out to be their blood type, which just happens to be McCaleb’s blood type.  The killer, it seems, wanted to make sure McCaleb got a new heart.  Is it the Cemetery Man wanting to keep McCaleb alive and back in the game?  Someone else?  McCaleb himself?

The “big reveal” about the killer’s identity was a let down to me the first time through, methinks.  When I watched Blood Work years later, knowing full well who the Cemetery Man was from the opening scene, I enjoyed Blood Work a lot more.  I enjoyed the mystery, I enjoyed picking up on the clues, I enjoyed watching Daniels and Clint play off of each other, and I got a kick out of Clint playing off his mystique as an unstoppable, tough guy cop addled with a heart condition and its limitations.

Blood Work is three stars, one and a half thumbs up, not a home run but a ground rule double, and any other way I can say “good, not great.”  See it . . . eventually.

–Daniel J. Roos