Blood Father (2016)

Very disappointing...

How sad is this?

Great Film overall

Fantastic!

Down and out John Link (Mel Gibson), an ex-husband, ex-convict, and ex-alcoholic with a runaway 18-year-old daughter whom he hasn't seen in four years, addresses his AA support group. If he only knew that his daughter Lydia Jane Carson (Erin Moriarty) has just accidentally shot her longtime junkie boyfriend, Jonah (Diego Luna), when his gang intruded on a family's residence and killed someone. As she is on the run from the gang, he soon will be. Link supports himself by his tattoo parlor that he runs in his dilapidated trailer that is located in a wasteland. As the gang searches for Lydia she calls up dad, asking for $2,000. They make arrangements and he picks her up and takes her to his trailer. Not long after she sees the trailer in daylight, she says, "It kind of looks like you miss the comforts of jail." Ah, the little muddler of bad decisions has spoken! Anyway, somehow the bad druggie gang tracks down Link's remote trailer (in the dark!) and eventually wrecks it. Why it was done is a mystery. After all, they didn't really know that Lydia was hiding inside. But the jig is up and Link and daughter go on the lam. As the two flee, there are various adventures and escapes that involve lowlifes, a seedy hotel, a chase by Confederate/Nazi bikers, etc. A trailer buddy has helped him (Kirby = William H. Macy, an undeveloped character). But eventually the bad guys capture the little duffer and Link has to rescue her. Will he make it? Will Lydia survive? Anyway, that is the plot. Of significance in the film is the reconciliation, the restoration of the relationship between father and daughter, and this issue covers much of the movie's mid-section. The chemistry between the two leads works just fine, including the generational gap differences. Ultimately there is enough grit, witty dialog, and action so that Mel Gibson fans will not be disappointed.

Lydia Carson (Erin Moriarty) is running with gangsters under the control of boyfriend Jonah (Diego Luna). He tries to force her to kill but she ends up shooting him instead. On the run from the gangsters, she seeks help from her estranged ex-con father John Link (Mel Gibson).It's one of those hard crime thrillers where it's important to point the camera at Erin Moriarty's butt. I don't want to hate on people who revel in butt shoots. For me, it moves it away from a good hard neo-noir thriller. There's value to that move but without it, the movie could try for something darker and more brutal. Mel Gibson has it in him to be in a cruel viscous movie and this is set up for that. This is not that. It's a bit of action fun with a sprinkling of grimy dirt and an old hand in the genre. It works as such but it's not much more than that. The father daughter chemistry is fine. Gibson gives as much as he can. It tries to amp up the dialogue. It adds up to a solid B-movie.

Recovering alcoholic and ex-con Link (Mel Gibson) is trying to get his life straight by avoiding getting in to trouble. Link's life is turned upside down when his estranged daughter Lydia (Erin Moriarty) calls him and asks him for help when she find herself on the run from the cartel. Link reluctantly has to return to his old life in order to protect his daughter...Blood Father is another actioner whereby we have a middle-aged bad-ass father who is forced to go to back in to his former life/existence in order to protect a loved one. This is something that Liam Neeson has pretty much perfected over the years (most notably in Taken) - although this film shares more in common in a more recent Neeson film called Run All Night where Neeson played a recovering alcoholic forced to go back to his old life and protect his child.It's not a bad premise and when handled correctly it can make for a good film, but Gibson's character here is a little too whiny and full of self-pity (necessary to an extent I suppose, but it was overdone here and at times I found his character to be a little tiresome). On the other hand, his young co-star Erin Moriarty was a joy to watch; she's sassy, ballsy, but with the slightest hint of vulnerability. This in itself is a rather clichéd role, but Moriarty sells it well and she bounces off Gibson really well; her carefree persona and his grumpy old man shtick do at times serve the film well giving it some much needed light-heartedness. Where this film does suffer slightly is in the pacing and action stakes; the story is a tad laborious and the action sequences come far too infrequently - it also occasionally does seem to rely on the most unlikely of contrivances to move the story along.Taken for what it is, this is a serviceable and watchable action film with good performances from Gibson and Moriarty - they bounce off each other well and convey a very genuine father/daughter bond on screen. But the truth is that the film suffers when Moriarty and Gibson are not on screen together due to the film's rather laborious pace and lack of action. Worth a look, but don't set your sights too high with this one.

its awful. over acted by some, and poorly acted by others.The script is so thin and basic, it really is a waste of time. Comparing this to Mad Max Mel Gibson is a joke.The audio is mixed by someone who likes to deafen you by the sound of engines and gunshots, whilst struggling to hear the voices.don't bother.