Blood

BLOOD

Director : Nick Murphy

Year : 2013

Genre : Thriller

Rating : ***



  

Funded by BBC films and starring Paul Bettany, Stephen Graham, Mark Strong and Brian Cox, 'Blood' is a big screen adaptation of the 2004 miniseries 'Conviction'. Directed by Nick Murphy and featuring a very dark palette and a grim subject matter, 'Blood' is a very well made British film that begins much better than it ends and sadly betrays it's televisual origins due to it's rather uninteresting camera work and basic shooting style. The performances are fantastic and Paul Bettany gives his best certainly since 'Margin Call', but after watching 'Blood' I felt that I had just watched a made for TV film that really didn't deserve to be given a cinematic release and I have a feeling that it was only granted a wide reception purely based on the names that it stars.

'Blood' tells the very gripping story of two police officer brothers (played by Bettany and Graham) unravelling the mystery of the brutal murder of a little girl. Their number one suspect is a notorious paedophile who despite the evidence is released without being charged. For the whole of their lives, the brothers have lived under the shadow of their brutal and overbearing father (Brian Cox), who despite suffering dementia, still seems to control the actions that they make on a daily basis. Taking a leaf out his fathers book, Joe (Bettany) metes out his own form of justice and exacts a terrible act on the suspected child rapist and killer. However as the evidence stacks up and the case deepens, Joe realises that maybe he has made a terrible mistake and it is only a matter of time before the truth will inevitably come out.

In terms of suspense, 'Blood' is pretty much flawless and through the use of unexpected outbursts of graphic violence and a genuinely terrifying performance from Ben Crompton as the suspected murderer, director Nick Murphy creates an unbelievable air of claustrophobia and hopelessness. Set in the Wirral, Murphy makes great use of the location and manages to turn the long, isolated beaches in a symbol for both the endless search for justice and the pressures of living under the domineering hand of a controlling parental figure. All of these elements combine to make 'Blood' an intensely gripping work but sadly it really is a film of 2 halves and while both are good, one is certainly the superior. The scenes of Bettany dealing with his anger, grief and terror are fine but nothing we haven't seen before; in fact this emotion was conveyed better in Lenny Abrahamson's brilliant tragic drama 'What Richard Did'. In saying that, Bettany's performance is fantastically convincing and certainly helps to raise the quality of 'Blood' beyond it's T.V roots. But while these scenes are good, it is the scenes of interrogations and the subsequent tragedy that really stand out the most. They are inherently disturbing and the subject matter is dealt with in a frank but extremely distressful way. The emotional impact from the first half of the movie is forged through the battle between or hearts and our heads that the film causes in us. Yes, we want to see this evil man be held accountable for his actions but then we up asking ourselves could we really do what Paul Bettany does? And when it turns out that the suspect is innocent, do we feel sorry for him or are we still glad that he is dead? It is this conflict between our conscience and our emotions that makes 'Blood' such a powerful watch and one that will certainly stay with me for a good long while.

It is a shame that despite it's brilliant performances and gorgeous cinematography, 'Blood' never truly feels like a cinematic experience. It is a well shot and celebrity filled made for TV piece that could serve just as well on the telly as it does in the multiplexes. I admire the film very much and I enjoyed watching it, but at the end of the day and when all is said and done, 'Blood' is not a movie and no amount of star power is going to change that.