Blood Work (film)

For the 2012 film, see Bloodwork (film).
Blood Work
Theatrical release poster
Directed byClint Eastwood
Screenplay byBrian Helgeland
Based onBlood Work
by Michael Connelly
Produced byClint Eastwood
Starring
CinematographyTom Stern
Edited byJoel Cox
Music byLennie Niehaus
Production
company
Distributed byWarner Bros. Pictures
Release date
  • August 9, 2002 (2002-08-09)
Running time
110 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$50 million[1]
Box office$31.8 million[2]

Blood Work is a 2002 American mystery thriller film starring, produced, and directed by Clint Eastwood. It co-stars Jeff Daniels, Wanda De Jesús, and Anjelica Huston. The story is an adaptation of the 1998 novel of the same name by Michael Connelly.

Eastwood won the Future Film Festival Digital Award at the Venice Film Festival for his work on the film.[3]

Plot

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FBI Special Agent Terrell "Terry" McCaleb, a veteran criminal profiler, leads a joint FBI-LAPD task force to capture the "Code Killer", a serial murderer who leaves taunting messages for McCaleb. While addressing reporters at the latest crime scene, McCaleb sees what he believes to be the killer in the crowd and pursues him only to suffer a near-fatal heart attack.

Two years later, the now retired McCaleb lives out of his fishing boat, Following Sea, on the Long Beach bay, having received a heart transplant. He is approached by waitress Graciella Rivers; her sister, Gloria, was murdered during a robbery and she asks him to solve the case. He discovers that the heart transplanted into him was Gloria's. Struggling with survivor's guilt, McCaleb agrees to help her.

Against the advice of his physician, McCaleb conducts an illegal investigation into Gloria's death, aided by his alcoholic neighbor Jasper "Buddy" Noone and a former colleague, LASD Detective Jaye Winston. He discovers that the killer committed a previous murder and identifies two potential suspects, both of whom wind up dead. Eventually, he realizes that the Code Killer is responsible, and pieces together that he and Noone are one and the same. Buddy confesses that he killed Gloria to ensure that McCaleb would be saved.

Declaring his intention to "resume the game" between them, Buddy reveals that he has kidnapped Graciella and her nephew, Gloria's son Raymond. McCaleb forces him to reveal that they are trapped on a wrecked Coast Guard cutter in the bay. He rescues them and shoots Buddy before Graciella holds his head underwater to get revenge for her sister. With his past behind him, McCaleb starts a relationship with Graciella and takes her and Raymond out on his boat.

Cast

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Production

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Blood Work was filmed in spring 2002 in Los Angeles and Long Beach, California, in 38 days.[1]

Reception

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Blood Work received mixed reviews. Rotten Tomatoes shows a score of 52% , calling it "a routine, but competently made thriller marred by lethargic pacing." However, A. O. Scott of The New York Times wrote while it was similar to many Eastwood films, "there is something comforting in seeing this old warhorse trot gamely out of the gate for yet another run on familiar turf."[4]

The film was not a box office success, grossing $31.8 million worldwide on a budget of $50 million.[5]

References

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  1. ^ a b Hughes, p.185
  2. ^ Hughes, p.186
  3. ^ "Venice Film Festival (2002)". IMDb. Retrieved 2020-12-19.
  4. ^ Times review (registration required)
  5. ^ Blood Work (2002), IMDb, retrieved 2020-12-19
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