Blood Father

"Mel Gibson’s screen performances post-meltdown(s) have been limited, but he seems at home here in Blood Father, a pleasantly average throwback thriller. Perhaps that’s because he plays an alcoholic who’s a little unconventionally-minded, if not unhinged, who at one point reveals an old-fashioned racist streak, one his daughter welcomely takes the piss out of him about."

""Blood Father" is trash, but it does capture what an accomplished and winning actor Mel Gibson can be. Just because he lost his bearings, and his career, doesn't mean that he lost his talent."

"Pretty much gives you all that you could want from a pulp fiction in which Mel Gibson plays a grizzled loner inking skin in a spot called the Missing Link Tattoo."

"In his personal life, his rage has publicly manifested in horribly offensive ways. As an actor, Gibson is at his best when he taps into it."

"Director Jean-Francois Richet's (2005's Assault on Precinct 13) short, but taut tale makes the most of both its leading man's recent falls from grace and continued charisma."

"Jean-François Richet's film shrewdly capitalises on Mel Gibson's off-screen embarrassments and controversies."

"Blood Father has been dismissed as trash after its Cannes preview. That's the curse of the action movie. For fans of the genre, that kind of thing is a badge of honour."

"Offers plenty of pulp excitement along the way."

"Has an R-Rated, trashy B-movie feel, which is best known up front and actually serves the mostly clichéd story quite well."

"The movie's a small gem: a good old-fashioned chase picture, thickened with pulp."

"A serviceable piece of B-movie entertainment without an ounce of originality. But audiences that respond to films like these are unlikely to think that's a dealbreaker."