Following heart transplant surgery, retired FBI profiler Terry McCaleb (Clint Eastwood) returns to solve one last case before heading off to a life of leisure.
Yep, Eastwood’s new film “Blood Work” (he also played director for the film) is another of those “one last case” movies, where the aging leading man decides to hold off his retirement for that one final case, in an attempt to go out with a bang.
The only way this plot could get more cliché is to give McCaleb a partner, gunned down just two days before his own retirement.
Still, in the same way John Wayne was always the heroic sheriff in the old west, Eastwood will forever be the Big Bad Wolf of the law, where the only thing separating him from the bad guys is a badge.
Eastwood is still the wolf, but he appears to be the one trying to blow down the brick house, huffing and puffing without really getting anywhere.
Rummaging through one particularly gruesome crime scene, a healthy McCaleb (at least when compared to the condition of the post-transplant McCaleb) is struck down with a heart attack while chasing the murderous culprit.
Two years later and 60 days after his surgery, McCaleb gets “hired” by Graciela Rivers (Wanda De Jesus) to solve the murder of her sister Glory, despite the constant disapproval of McCaleb’s cardiologist (Anjelica Huston).
So why did Rivers come to McCaleb, you ask? Because the heart McCaleb got in his transplant was the same one that formerly beat in Glory’s chest.
Despite this far-fetched foundation, Eastwood actually plays the movie straight and makes up for his recent transgression into comedy (the ridiculous “Space Cowboys”) by returning to his Harry Callahan roots.
Perhaps the best aspect of Eastwood’s role is how seamlessly it fits into the “Dirty Harry” timeline. Slightly alter the agency he works for and Eastwood could have easily turned “Blood Work” into another sequel to his lawman masterpiece.
Eastwood deserves praise for not playing against his age or his character’s illness, instead wearing them like badges. Quite often in the film, Eastwood goes into the hospital and lets his doctor give him a check up, which includes checking up on the donor heart with plenty of blood work (thus the title of the film).
The large problems with the film lie not with Eastwood’s role as an FBI profiler, but in the other two personas he adopts on screen – romantic lead and dry wit comedian.
In the same icky vein of Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, McCaleb and Rivers start a May-Decemeber romance, with an added creepiness due to the origin of McCaleb’s new heart.
Similarly, the film’s comedic element, often supplied through a bad-joke-telling cop played by comedian Paul Rodriguez, is completely out of place in the type of film “Blood Work” is trying to be – a psychological trip through the mind of a profiler and the man he’s attempting to catch.
Don’t get me wrong – Eastwood has moments of pure comedic gold, especially as he openly mocks the oblivious Rodriguez, but the film still seems uncomfortable with its own level of comedy.
Adding to the problem is the appearance of Jeff Daniels, who is more well-known for his comedy (“Dumb and Dumber”) than his drama (“Terms of Endearment”). Daniels’ self-proclaimed “boat bum,” Buddy Noone, is like the trailer-trash of the harbor – messy, unemployed and never far from a fresh case of beer.
Noone even goes so far as to ask for payment in beer when McCaleb hires him as a driver as he goes after his reclusive killer.
Of course, what would the movie be without a little confusion? The murder of Glory (she’s shot in an apparent convenient store robbery) quickly escalates into a series of killings, when it is discovered a second victim had previously been shot outside an ATM.
And adding another layer, the killer is toying with the authorities. Following each murder, he looks right into the security cameras and mutters “Happy Valentine’s Day,” in that “only in the movies” vague playfulness as he dares the cops to catch him.
While the premise of the film is nothing new – people have been chasing killers since the early film noirs – Eastwood manages to pull off his role as only he can. His cool style and nonchalant attitude are what make McCaleb a solid character, despite the hackneyed world in which he’s forced to exist.
Screenwriter Brian Helgeland’s script simply doesn’t do Eastwood justice, although to be fair, the story is adapted from a novel by Michael Connelly.
Instead of creating one film, he chose to make three – one dry comedy, one yucky romance and one cops-and-robbers thriller – and unfortunately for “Blood Work,” only the last one is worth seeing.
Todd LaPlace is a junior in journalism. He can be reached for comment at [email protected].
