In the Blood (2014)

Every movie needs a plot as do action movies. In general those plots are usually very simple and only exist in order to string a couple of action scenes together. Whether you are able to enjoy that depends from person to person, but I can forgive a lot when it comes to action. I was able to enjoy movies like Battle L.A. or Battleship even though they generally were hated. I’m not expecting a high quality movie, but just a simple escape from reality letting me forget everything around me for a moment. Still, within the action genre there is a separation in quality. For every A title there are maybe twenty B movies. Unfortunately In the Blood belongs to that last category.

Besides her MMA career Gina Carano has become well known for her roles in movies like Haywire and Fast & Furious 6. Her strength lies in her fighting experience and that showed in the previous movies she did. I really enjoy seeing her fight as her style doesn’t feel fake and the force with which she punches and kicks translates well on the screen. Her acting might not be her strongest point, but let’s be honest, action stars like Schwarzenegger, van Damme or Tony Jaa don’t have strong acting skills either. You know it is something which comes with the territory, especially if the movie entertains.

Here Carano plays Ava, a woman who has had a tough childhood and has learned to defend herself well. She has left her dark past behind and has just gotten married. She heads to a tropical island for her honeymoon, but while she is enjoying her time there, her husband suddenly disappears. It is up to her to find him as no one else seems willing to cooperate.

One of the weakest part of this movie is its script, which often is illogical and by the end so unbelievable that you would not be able to fill the plotholes with a concrete truck. The movie features some well known actors like Danny Trejo and Luis Guzmán and is shot in a beautiful location, but this isn’t enough to save the film. There is not enough action (the little of it that’s present is nice and explosive) resulting in a movie where Carano doesn’t have enough fighting to do. My hope is that she’ll get better roles in the future, because if she keeps appearing in movies like this there is a chance she’ll be mentioned in the same breath as Steven Seagal.