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Created Aug 20, 2016 12:43AM PST • Edited Dec 20, 2019 05:28PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Really Great 4.5

   An awkward title is about the only thing wrong with Blood Father, a terrific piece of pulp fiction starring a never better Mel Gibson. Bad Dad would be a better title, what with Bad Moms all over the multiplexes right now. That said, this darkly funny thriller ain’t no comedy, notwithstanding regular LOLs. It’s more a Trailerpark Taken, with Gibson in the Liam Neeson role, albeit as an inked-up ex-con, biker badass.

   Mad Mel anchors the movie, in a perfect Mel Gibson role, one of the greatest Mel Gibson roles even. It echoes his real life as a fallen man. Buff, weathered and wizened, he first appears telling his story at an AA meeting: been sober two years, one inside the joint, one out. Mel at a meeting is AA Hall of Fame material.

   The movie’s comic vibe comes from exceptionally good lines, all of which have a novelistic flair. No surprise then that Blood Father was first a crime novel by the increasingly impressive Peter Craig. Elmore Leonard would be proud of writing like this. Stay tuned. Craig’s got three more scripts in the pipeline.

   Exceptionally good lines? The hilarious parable of upright but not proper is one for the ages, especially as told by William H. Macy to Mel Gibson, sponsor to sponsee, great actor to charismatic moviestar.

   Finally, is it alright to applaud a Mel Gibson movie? Yes, especially when he’s only in front of the camera and not behind. Many entertainment celebrities behave monstrously in real life. At least this one is contrite. Playing a contrite man who did monstrous things, Mel Gibson makes amends very entertaining indeed.

4. Acting

   Really Great 4.5

   Mel Gibson is an all time great movie star, and I’m not even a Mel Gibson fan. Given his sordid history on and off screen, it’s good to see him aged and pained by his misdeeds. He makes the most of this as an ex-con with a particular set of skills, as Liam Neeson might say.

   Erin Moriarty – the blonde hottay from Kings of Summer – starts off raven haired here but ends blonde. She’s modestly compelling as Mel’s wayward daughter, but seems destined for supporting roles.

   William H. Macy is a particular bonus as Mel’s AA sponsor. Gibson & Macy performing one-on-one is an acting treat of major proportions.

   • Diego Luna underwhelms as a mid-level cartel leader.
   • Dale Dickey gives character to any production.
   • Michael Parks underwhelms at first as a legendary bad guy. But the legendary star of Then Came Bronson soon enough shows his badass charisma.
   • Raoul Trujillo is spooky good as a cartel sicario (hitman), all inked-up and totally dead-eyed. Trujillo played the awesome Zero Wolf in Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto.
   • Miguel Sandoval lends his gravitas as a prison kingpin.

5. Male Stars Perfect 5.0

6. Female Stars Great 4.0

7. Female Costars Really Great 4.5

8. Male Costars Really Great 4.5

10. Film

    Really Great 4.5

    Bad Moms are all over the multiplexes right now, but Blood Father shows the ladies how it’s really done. Morosely funny, like a Hank Williams song gone to seed, Mel Gibson’s ex-con sadly laments his every turn deeper into criminal acts. He knows the wages of sin. Boy does he know.

    Now they’re gonna impound the Nova.

    Now that’s funny.

11. Direction Really Great 4.5

    French crime fiction has a pop, a style, even when it’s a very American story set in the American Southwest. No surprise then that Blood Father was directed by Jean-François Richet, the Frenchman who directed Mesrine: Killer Instinct.

12. Play Really Great 4.5

    A drunk calls his sponsor. “I’m in a bar, but that ain’t the worst of it.” After some more shit, his sponsor starts to give him the what’s what. “Jesus Christ” the drunk exclaims, “I ain’t dead. I’m in El Centro.” (The El Centro area had a 25% unemployment rate in ’09, highest in the country, per Wikipedia.)

    Peter Craig (along with Andrea Berloff) wrote those terrific lines. He’s also the screenwriter of The Town and the last two Hunger Games.

13. Music Great 4.0

14. Visuals Really Great 4.5

    8 stuntmen, plus three stunt doubles for Lydia (the wayward daughter).

15. Content

16. Edge

    Sordid 3.0

    Bad people get involved with evil criminals and all sorts of savage shit goes down. Beware.

17. Sex Titillating 1.6

18. Violence Savage 3.7

19. Rudeness Nasty 3.7

21. Reality

    Glib 2.0

    Nevermind the surreal circoreality, Blood Father is more interesting for the light it shines on two real strands of modern society. Those would be the recovery movement (as typified by AA) and the drug cartels that were also highlighted in last year’s Sicario.

22. Circumstantial Surreal 2.5

23. Biological Glib 1.8

24. Physical Glib 1.8