Film Reviews

Blood Work

• Rating:
• Director:
• Starring: Anjelica Huston
• Details: US / 115 minutes / (15PG).

In a bold piece of casting, Clint Eastwood plays a grizzled old cop on the edge, desperately seeking redemption and vengeance in a world gone crazy. Which means Blood Work is pretty much like every other film he's made since Unforgiven a decade ago. Directed by Eastwood, Blood Work sees the ould codger playing Terry McCaleb, a former FBI profiler who had to retire after he suffered a near fatal heart attack. Two years after a successful transplant, a woman shows up at his house, claiming that since her murdered sister donated Terry's new ticker it's only fair that he help her look for her killer. Like most of Eastwood's work in the last decade, Blood Work is overly concerned with the themes of aging and redemption. It's honourable enough fare but it certainly couldn't ever be mistaken for gripping viewing as the static filmmaking style, the formulaic plotting and the director's inability to squeeze any tension into the proceedings fatally undermines Blood Work. There are some decent moments but ultimately Blood Work appears little more than the half hearted efforts of a man on an irreversible slide. Give up it, Clint. Just let us remember the good times.

Review by Garreth Murphy