'Transfusion' (2023) Movie Review: The Sad Thriller about a War Veteran

Transfusion is a 2023 thriller movie written and directed by Matt Nable starring Sam Worthington and Phoebe Tonkin.

This is a movie that wants to “go beyond the script” and, precisely because of the script, never manages to do so. Good acting by Sam Worthington in a slow burning thriller that ends without a definition between a character drama and a thriller.

Storyline

An ex agent of the armed forces has a son with problems he will try to protect at all costs.

Movie Review

This is a movie written, directed and starred by Matt Nable, which tries to offer us a different kind of movie in its treatment but, never manages to do so in the script. The hackneyed subject of “my son at all costs”, done so many times (even by actors not called Liam Neeson), stands up as far as a script goes, there is structure and empathy with the viewer, but because this has been done so many times in the past, we all tend to expect a “something more” that will motivate us and make us say “this movie is special”.

In a certain way, Transfusion is special, but more in the treatment of the character (Sam Worthington is ideal for the role and can´t possibly do any better than he does). This is a dark movie which has a character that is not dark. This world of shadows is not convincing. The “bad guys” don´t seem to have any weight in the screenplay and the force they could have escapes one in a story that is so hackneyed and ends up repeating over and over again the patterns of “good man saving his son”.

The settings and the rhythm are good… if the film where deeper as far as the characters… this movie seems to bog down from the beginning as of that first scene of the war (an approach, we agree), but it does not offer a development, at least for us, this is surprising.

This is a story about a war veteran who is bogged down and the film also bogs down.

The film is well done visually, the photography, interpretation and direction are also very good.

It ends up a little short with the intentions of doing “something different” that, since it does not dare to do so totally, ends up being stuck as the idea itself.

Our Opinion

This is a thriller that is sad rather than dark, almost a drama, half way between a thriller and a drama, is somewhat discouraging.

Director

Matthew Nable (born 8 March 1972) is an Australian film and television actor, writer and former professional rugby league footballer After playing in the Winfield Cup Premiership during the 1990s for the Manly-Warringah and South Sydney clubs, he wrote and starred in the rugby league-centered drama The Final Winter in 2007. Nable went on to act in films such as Killer Elite and Riddick. He appears on The CW’s Arrow as Ra’s al Ghul.