Blood Father

Stars: Mel Gibson, Erin Moriarty, Diego Luna, William H Macy, Michael Parks, Miguel Sandoval, Dale Dickey, Ryan Dorsey, Brandi Cochran

Director: Jean-François Richet

Mel Gibson returns in a violent drugs-and-gangsters film that casts him as Link, a two-time loser and alcoholic, still searching for the daughter (Moriarty), now 17, who has been missing for the past three years.

Unfortunately, the girl, Lydia, has fallen in with Jonah (Luna), leader of of a South American narcotics gang peddling their padrone's wares in the USA. Accompanying the gang on a gun-brandishing mission to teach a thief a lesson, Lydia accidentally shoots Jonah and, panic-stricken, flees the scene, soon contacting the father she hasn't seen in years, long before she ran away from her mother's custody.

Soon Link is caught up in her flight from gangsters bent on revenge.

Rescued once by his parole carer (Macy), Jack takes Lydia and hi-tails it outta there, seeking out old associates for favours as the duo fights to stay alive.

Of course Jonah isn't dead (or he wouldn't be played by third-billed Luna) and he tracks Lydia down via her mobile phone, dragging a hit-man and assorted goons towards an inevitable shoot-out climax.

The action's good, but performances seem to be on auto-pilot, with Moriarty also a shade too sophisticated to be the daughter of a redneck ex-con like Link. But it's a serviceable blue-collar thriller that should do well enough on DVD.

David Quinlan

USA 2015. UK Distributor: Warner Brothers . Colour by FotoKem.
89 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 2, Drugs 1, Swearing 3.

Review date: 03 Oct 2016