Line #30 Film/BloodWork


1	%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.
2	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/blood_work.jpg]]
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4	''Blood Work'' is a 2002 crime drama directed by and starring Creator/ClintEastwood, based on the 1998 novel ''Literature/BloodWork'' by Creator/MichaelConnelly.
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6	Eastwood plays Terry [=McCaleb=], an FBI criminal profiler. While investigating a serial killer's crime scene, [=McCaleb=] spots a figure with blood on his shoes and gives chase, only to suffer a heart attack. A two-year TimeSkip reveals that [=McCaleb=] has had a heart transplant and is retired from the FBI, living on his boat. He is approached by a nurse, Graciela Torres, who asks him to investigate the unsolved murder of her sister. She tells [=McCaleb=] that her sister was the donor of [=McCaleb=]'s heart. [=McCaleb=] takes the case, and finds even darker connections between himself and the crime.
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9	!!Tropes found in the film and/or the novel:
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11	* ABNegative: Drives the plot. [=McCaleb=] has a rare blood type (AB with CMV negative), which made a heart transplant even more difficult than usual. It turns out that the killer, who wished to continue the cat-and-mouse game with [=McCaleb=], sought out and killed a person [[spoiler:or three]] with the same blood type so a donor heart would be available.
12	* AdaptationNameChange: Buddy Lockridge and James Noone swap surnames in the film, where Buddy says his real name is "Jasper" and "Buddy" is just a nickname.
13	* AdaptationalHeroism: In the novel, a witness named [[spoiler:James Noone]] turns out to be the Code Killer. In the movie, where his surname is changed to Lockridge, he's really an innocent witness.
14	* AdaptationalVillainy: The film takes [[spoiler:Buddy, [=McCaleb=]'s neighbor at the marina (played by Creator/JeffDaniels)]], and makes him the Code Killer. In the novel they were different characters.
15	* AdaptedOut: Murder victim Donald Kenyon isn't portrayed in the film.
16	* CompositeCharacter: [[spoiler:Buddy Lockridge (here renamed Noone)]] and the Code Killer are the same person in the film but not in the book.
17	* DecompositeCharacter: [[spoiler:James Noone]] is the Code Killer in the book while the movie makes them separate characters and changes James' surname from Noone to Lockridge.
18	%%* DeathByAdaptation: [[spoiler:Buddy, [=McCaleb=]'s neighbor]] (see AdaptationalVillainy above).
19	* DoubleMeaningTitle: ''Blood Work'' refers both to Terry [=McCaleb=]'s medical issues and his old job hunting serial killers for the FBI.
20	* DubNameChange: The surname Noone is changed to "Sem Um" in the Brazilian dub.
21	%%* EnhanceButton: Used to examine the footage from an ATM security camera.
22	* EurekaMoment: Terry realizes [[spoiler:Buddy Noone]] is the Code Killer when he looks at a writing of [[spoiler:Buddy's]] name and remembers what Gloria Torres' son said about the killer's code having almost all numbers but "no one".
23	* FailedASpotCheck: Justified somewhat in that after finding an intruder aboard his boat and chasing him off, Terry spent a good deal of time checking to see if anything had been ''taken'', he nevertheless fails to notice that something had been hidden in what turns out to be one of the most obvious hiding spots imaginable: taped to the underside of a drawer.
24	* HandicappedBadass: Terry [=McCaleb=] is a former [=FBI=] agent who was forced into retirement after a heart failure. After a heart transplant, he needs over 30 pills a day, but he can still fight when needed.
25	* LogoJoke: The film opens with the 1984-98 WB Shield, possibly to harken back to 80s cop movies.
26	* MayDecemberRomance: When this movie was made Eastwood was 72 and Wanda [=DeJesus=], who played Graciela, was 45. Reviewers singled out the romance plot thread as one of the weaker points in the film (in the novel, [=McCaleb=] is 46).
27	* ObfuscatingStupidity: James Noon presents himself as an affable, doltish loser so that nobody would suspect [[spoiler: that he's a calculating and quite clever serial killer]].
28	* OneSteveLimit: Averted. The murder of James Cordell is witnessed by another man named James (James Noone in the book and James Lockridge in the film).
29	* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: A variant of this trope. The Code Killer doesn't want [=McCaleb=]'s heart failure to take him out of the game, so he gets [=McCaleb=] a heart.
30	* PunnyName: The code left behind by the Code Killer is a clue to his surname. The code has almost all numerals from 0 to 9 but "no one". The Code Killer is [[spoiler:James ''Noone'']] in the book and [[spoiler:Buddy ''Noone'']] in the film.
31	* SerialKiller: The Code Killer, whom [=McCaleb=] was chasing but never caught, turns out to be the man who murdered Graciela's sister.
32	%%* TimeSkip: See above.
33	%%* TitleDrop
34	* ATrueStoryInMyUniverse: The film ''Blood Work'' is also a film in later Bosch/Haller novels, though there it's BasedOnATrueStory.
35	%%* WorthyOpponent: The Code Killer towards [=McCaleb=] ([=McCaleb=] does not reciprocate).

Context Film / BloodWork