Director
Dwight H. Little will mostly be remembered among filmgoers as the man who made Halloween
4: The Return of Michael Myers and Marked for Death. But sometime early on in his career, he
crossed paths with cult Greek director Nico Mastorakis who helmed such horror
gems as Island of Death and Hired to Kill. Together they would create a film that would
shape the career of Tamil movie legend Rajinikanth as well as introduce two
disparate film industries through most unlikely means.
Written
by Mastorakis and co-produced by Ashok Amritraj and Sunanda Murali Manohar, the
group devised Bloodstone, an Indian set action adventure film clearly
coasting on the crest wave left by the Indiana Jones films. Prominently featuring Tamil action star
Rajinikanth in his first English language role and co-starring Brett Stimely
and Anna Nicholas, the film concerns a stolen ruby pursued by dangerous
criminals as well as law enforcement which accidentally winds up in a newlyweds’
luggage.
Clearly
Mastorakis’ idea of an Indiana Jones film or Romancing the Stone,
the film has that same cultural disconnect between setting and tone as the Allan
Quatermain movies from Cannon Films.
While Rajinikanth has great onscreen presence while performing many of
his own stunts, the other cast members don’t have a lot in the way of memorable
performances and much of the action is anticlimactic.
Save
for some wild over-the-top explosions, some dangerous stunts involving cobras
and evil henchman being taken out in gusto fashion by Rajinikanth and a
distinctly Indian setting, Bloodstone is mostly remembered for linking
Hollywood to Tamil-spoken ‘Kollywood filmmaking by way of a Greek filmmaker. Bloodstone isn’t all that dissimilar
from Jake Speed in terms of being a low budget Indiana Jones swashbuckler
but how it came to be remains most unusual.
Though
it bridged the gap between Hollywood and Rajinikanth’s journey, the film is not
without various elements that date it, particularly the ridiculous chief
inspector hot on Rajinikanth’s trail.
Played by Charlie Brill, a New York based actor, with his Jim Henson
sounding voice and wobbling head, he is the epitome of a racist stereotype
cartoon caricature, a transparent curious object inviting both ridicule and
scorn. A shame because it feels like a slap
in the face to Rajinikanth who clearly worked hard to get to where he was in
his career at the time.
Brown-faced
bobble-head goofball aside, Bloodstone also tends to squander the other
supporting characters and the final showdown doesn’t offer thrills so much as it
simply transpires and ends. There wasn’t
a whole lot to take away from this one but the role it played in Rajinikanth’s
career was an important one and that Hollywood shook hands with ‘Kollywood
thanks to the mediation of Greek filmmaker Mastorakis is something of a minor triumph
in film history. The film itself is dated,
dry and kind of dull but the opportunity it presented to Rajinikanth makes the
film still a worthwhile viewing in this day and age.
--Andrew Kotwicki
