Blood Father (2016)

I love it when Mel Gibson is in his Mad Max Lethal Weapon Braveheart Patriot mode. The character and the performance you see in BLOOD FATHER is something that Gibson often returns to from time to time. The tortured soul, protective of his loved one, willing to unleash hell when necessary. BLOOD FATHER is hardcore. A merciless story of retribution.

Directed by Peter Craig, Mel Gibson plays an ex-convict and former alcoholic named John Link who's trying his best to keep it together . Until one day when his estranged daughter comes back into his life but with a big secret, turns out, the drug cartel is hunting her down, a situation that forces Link to use his past connections and his skills to keep his daughter alive.

Much of the film is set in the desert, so one can't help but make a stretched comparison to Mel Gibson's old days as Mad Max. The best way to describe BLOOD FATHER in a way that today's audiences would understand is that Gibson's character, John Link, is more or less kinda like Liam Neeson's character in "Taken" franchise, but with less resources and Link is more rough around the edges. But both characters would go above and beyond for their respective daughters.

BLOOD FATHER is a very straightforward film, it has that father-daughter drama, though not as strong or as powerful as such films as "The Wrestler," for example, but some of the lines do hit home, and the action is more about firepower and gunfights, very brute, very basic, but it gets the job done. Some might say BLOOD FATHER is predictable and I don't blame them, it is after all just one of those movies for us Charles Bronson fans who just want to see the bad guys ultimately get what they deserve, a satisfying punishment.

-- Rama's Screen --