Such a frustrating disappointment

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

I don't know if this is Gina's first ever film, or if she could ever learn to act, and I don't care - she is terrible as actress here, but she is still a champion and charismatic girl - that much we all know. I love her just for being in front of camera and show of some of her moves, although plot isn't that bad, at least not as much as acting. This is a film that usually gets between 1 and 3, 4 at most, but I'll give it 6, although I was tempted to give it 7 or 8 :-)

A young couple go to a Latin American Island on holiday . One of them gets taken to hospital and their partner tries to trace them only to find that the authorities have no record of that person An old story done in a slightly different way . What's so different about it you ask ? Well normally it's the wife who goes missing in these stories and it's up to the hunky hubby to solve the mystery of the missing spouse while kicking lots of ass . Here it's the other way round with the wife doing the ass kicking and boy kick ass she does In effect IN THE BLOOD is one of those thrillers that goes straight to DVD starring Steven Seagal except in this case SS has been replaced by an actress called Gina Carano , an actress who I'd never heard of before so looked up her bio on IMDb . Apparently she has a martial arts background . She was probably quite good at this and it shows on screen she dishes out serious fatal violence to the bad guys . Occasionally she just shoots them but if you've got a martial arts background this seems a little banal so she goes around breaking necks and in one scene lifts a guy off the ground and breaks his back . Some critics state they don't like Steven Seagal films because it's not really fair the way SS dispatches the villains with his bare hands meaning it's never really a fair fight and watching this I quickly felt the same about Ms Carano and if you start feeling sorry for the bad guys this must be a failure of sorts

In the Blood was a low budget film and unfortunately it felt very much like one. The camera work and cinematography was horrible, the plot was tired and poorly developed. The characters were uninspired and lacked development outside of the protagonist. The acting was abysmal, especially by the protagonist. Honestly, the only saving grace for the movie was that the fight scenes were done well... at least well enough. Unfortunately that's what happens when you have a female MMA fighter carry a movie. Hopefully one day we get the best of both worlds (either a fighter who can act or an actress who can fight) because until then this is what we're stuck with. If it ever comes on a movie channel, it's not a bad watch. I wouldn't spend a dime on it though.

In the Blood is an action film with a mediocre screenplay and insipid direction, but what ends up making it passable is the credibility and charisma displayed by Gina Carano in the leading role. I had honestly thought her career was going to be on top after Haywire (that very entertaining action B-movie directed by an A-list filmmaker). Unfortunately, that didn't happen. With the exception of a solid (but excessively brief) participation in Fast & Furious 6, she hasn't been involved in any high profile movies. Is that fault of the legendary Hollywood machismo, or of a simple matter of economy? It's true that Carano doesn't attract a lot of spectators, but she certainly has fans (including me), either as an actress or as a MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) fighter. I think that the machismo option is more likely in this case. There have been various action heroines in TV (from Xena to Sidney Bristow), but for some reason, they can't still fully make it in cinema. And if there's someone who deserves it, that one is definitely Carano, not only because of her physical development, but also because she's an excellent actress. For better or for worse, the main audience of the action films is male, and Hollywood executives don't think a character who defies the traditional female girlfriend/wife or defenseless victim will be accepted. I think that the spectators are willing to support that evolutionary step in action cinema, but Hollywood is too slow regarding paradigm changes (just look at how long they took to accept digital distribution), so we might end up seeing Carano's daughter or granddaughter finding a more equitable field to fight against terrorists, drug dealers and Russian mobsters (or whoever the trendy villains will be in 20 years from now... they will probably be Google executives). But well, leaving that feminist tirade aside, In the Blood isn't a very good film, and Carano's performance is the main aspect which makes it moderately entertaining and worthy of a slight recommendation despite its mediocrity.