Every Friday, our film critic Grace Kinsey will review a new release at the cinema. This week, she gives her verdict on Blood Father, starring Mel Gibson and directed by Jean-Francois Richet, in which a father must protect his estranged teenage daughter from a group of Mexican criminals.

As the camera zooms out in the opening shot of Blood Father, the initial context of the film becomes clear, as the viewer is made privy to a personal collection of newspaper clippings and photographs concerning a missing person: a young girl named Lydia (Erin Moriarty). But despite the revelation that this collection belongs to Lydia's father (Mel Gibson), Blood Father is no Taken rip-off; it soon becomes evident that director Jean-Francois Richet wanted it to be more than that, as he attempts to tackle both an action-packed plot, as well as heavy themes such as familial relationships, addiction and recovery, and adolescence.

Unfortunately, though, it seems Richet has bitten off more than he can chew. While some themes are nicely developed, others are merely introduced and swiftly neglected, leaving the audience somewhat confused and unsatisfied. To give an example, after Lydia and her father are reunited, the development of the relationship between the two characters is pleasing to watch: they get to know each other and eventually form a strong team. This theme is rounded off in the film's final scene. The theme of alcohol and drug abuse, on the other hand, is cumbersome in its prevalence and irrelevance.

Ironically, the consequence of the audience's insight into the most personal aspects of the characters' lives is that we do not feel as though we know them. Richet has carved his characters into 1000 jigsaw puzzle pieces, and the audience has trouble finding even four corners. And since we do not know, and cannot connect with Lydia and her father, it is difficult to care about them. This denies us an emotional response, even at potentially devastating moments. Furthermore, the film's potential thrill factor suffers because of Richet's ambitious undertaking: too much time is spent on dialogue, and too little on action.

Having said that, where Richet does action, he does it well. He strays from his largely conventional camera work, using documentary-style filming to involve the audience in the action, as well as adding interest in other ways. In a scene where Lydia is taken hostage by her ex-boyfriend Jonah, Richet creates a great deal of tension by setting the drama against the vast and isolating landscape of a desert, and doing away with music. However, some of the credit for the gripping nature of this scene must go to Diego Luna who, as the violent and psychologically manipulative Jonah, is a nasty and convincing baddie, unlike his, frankly, reckless and goofy-looking associates.

At only 88 minutes long, Blood Father is by no means a slog of a watch – there is a fair amount of action to keep the viewer interested – but the film's main characters are weak, spread far too thinly across the many themes Richet tries to deal with, leaving many an end untied and, I suspect, many an audience-member unsatisfied.

2/5