Despite run ins with the law and the court of public opinion, Mel Gibson still remains one of the coolest actor/directors out there. While some people cannot separate their personal opinion from a cinematic one, it is hard to not look at movies like LETHAL WEAPON, PAYBACK, MAD MAX, CONSPIRACY THEORY, and BRAVEHEART and not hope to see that kind of Mel back on the big screen. Despite an entertaining turn in GET THE GRINGO and a villainous turn in MACHETE KILLS, Gibson has remained outside of the starring role for quite some time.
But that looks to change with the just announced BLOOD FATHER. Coming from MESRINE director Jean-Francois Richet, BLOOD FATHER will place Mel into a role that sounds very reminiscent of Liam Neeson‘s in the TAKEN series.
Scripted by THE TOWN’s Peter Craig, the thriller is about an ex-con who reunites with his estranged wayward 16-year old daughter to protect her from drug dealers that are trying to kill her.
Gibson played a similar role in Martin Campbell‘s EDGE OF DARKNESS and while it sounds like the fodder for a lot of direct to Redbox fare, Mel definitely has the acting chops to bring a movie like this to a higher level. MESRINE was a damn fine movie as well, so the combination of Richet with Gibson should make for an entertaining feature.
BLOOD FATHER has no U.S. distribution at this time and hopefully someone will get over Gibson’s off-screen antics and give this one a try.