BLOOD FATHER - Mel Gibson Does Grindhouse

[AndyDursin]

Looks like a solid little B-movie, but I agree with Variety, Mel deserves to be let out of Hollywood's dog house.

http://variety.com/2016/film/festivals/ ... 201780294/

Keying off Mel Gibson's downfall, a grimy little pulp action thriller gives him the chance to show that he's still got it.

[Monterey Jack]

Agreed that Mel deserves more at this point in his career...when you consider the celebs that did truly horrendous things and still command big prestige pictures (didn't Mark Wahlberg literally blind someone? ), Mel getting drunk and letting fly with a few sexist slurs and anti-Semitic rhetoric seems downright mild. I still say Mad Max: Fury Road would have made more money with Mel returning as Max. Critics may respect Tom Hardy, and he's a very fine actor, but he isn't a STAR the way Gibson was in his prime.

BTW, nice to see that Owen Gleiberman has a cush new reviewing post at Variety...always liked reading his opinion on films back in his Entertainment Weekly days. His recent book Movie Freak: My Life Watching Movies is a fantastic read.

[AndyDursin]

I still say Mad Max: Fury Road would have made more money with Mel returning as Max. Critics may respect Tom Hardy, and he's a very fine actor, but he isn't a STAR the way Gibson was in his prime.

Now that I've seen the film a few times, I also think Miller made a big mistake not bringing Gibson back. The role is so thinly drawn that the only way it was going to work was if Gibson came back, because then he would've not only brought his own star gravitas, but also his natural connection with the part and his history with the role.

Hardy is never given the chance to make the role his own -- the movie is more about Furiosa, and Max is a basic passenger in the story, with skeletal allusions to things that happened in his past. It's really unfair to Hardy, and I can see why he was frustrated making the film, because that character development and motivation isn't there with the role.

Bringing Gibson back would've been far more effective and also emotional, and given how Max was portrayed, would've made more sense. It would've been both a redemptive film for Max -- and Mel.

[Paul MacLean]

Bringing Gibson back would've been far more effective and also emotional, and given how Max was portrayed, would've made more sense. It would've been both a redemptive film for Max -- and Mel.

Do you think Warner Bros. barred Miller from casting Gibson? He hasn't worked for a major studio since the drunk driving incident, has he?

[Monterey Jack]

Do you think Warner Bros. barred Miller from casting Gibson? He hasn't worked for a major studio since the drunk driving incident, has he?

He headlined Edge Of Tomorrow in 2010.