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Blood Work

While "Blood Work" may not live up to the directorial standards Clint Eastwood set with "True Crime" and "Bird", the film maintains an honest level of suspense throughout and adds a solid notch to Eastwood's older protagonist repertoire. Terry McCaleb (Eastwood) is an FBI profiler who collapses of a heart attack during an opening scene foot chase. Two years later, after a heart transplant and retirement, he's living on a marina, trying to take it easy and survive his recent surgery.

A visit from Graciella Rivers (Wanda De Jesus) sends him back into investigative action. Rivers has deduced that McCaleb received her murdered sister's heart and wants the retired agent to look into her stalled homicide case. Guilted by doubts of his own worthiness to get the girl's heart and, perhaps, yearning for the action of earlier days, McCaleb agrees to take a look at the police investigation and train his practiced eye on the crime.

The two cops assigned to the case, Detectives Arrango (Paul Rodriguez) and Waller (Dylan Walsh), have a not-so-friendly history with McCaleb and offer much of the comic relief in the film. Detective Jaye Winston (Tina Lifford), from a neighboring precinct, owes McCaleb a few favors and tries to help him out as the case leads him to a possible series of murders with a startling connection.

The FBI retiree also engages the help of his do-nothing friend, Buddy Noone (Jeff Daniels), from a few slips down at the marina, as chauffeur. McCaleb needs a designated driver because of his instability following heart transplant surgery, and his condition indeed deteriorates during the movie as he pops various pills, fights off a fever, and generally ignores the advice of his protective doctor, Bonnie Fox (Anjelica Huston).

The ex-federal agent trying to boost the glory from the local authorities (as Detective Arrango sees it) is nicely played out in two complementary relationships. Despite the somewhat forced hostility of Arrango towards McCaleb, Rodriguez and Eastwood put together some good scenes as investigators at odds with one another. The unspoken history between Winston and McCaleb (one that has romantic undertones) brings an enticing depth to their interaction that offers a contrast to the shallow, combative one above.

Much of the emotion of the film is centered on McCaleb's self-doubt about his deserving a second chance at life and what he's going to make of the opportunity. Rivers also questions her decision to force McCaleb into the investigation. Her sister's murder gave McCaleb life, but what power, exactly, does that give Rivers over him? What can, or should, the family of a donor expect from the recipient? While these musings are not fully answered, or even explored in the film, "Blood Work" fulfills its obligation to broach the subject and bring it to the attention of the viewer.

Ever since "In the Line of Fire" (1993) or maybe "The Rookie" (1990), Eastwood has shown a genuine interest in owning up to his advancing years while still portraying shades of the characters from his former glory years. "Blood Work" is a fine culmination of that trend and may well be the last of its kind. Eastwood, most clearly, confronts mortality in this thriller, as befits a 72-year-old Hollywood icon. There is one particular scene in the movie that puts his current place in cinema in startling perspective. When speaking about his life before retirement, McCaleb mentions that he used to feel a "connection" to every piece of the crime, the suspects, the victims, and the evidence. He may never feel that integrated again, but he strives to come close to retrieving some of that meaning or purpose, that he used to have. Eastwood may not act, direct, and produce all at once after this, but we'll all be lucky if he tries to maintain some kind of active part in the future of Hollywo

Written by: Keith E. Freeman

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