Blood Work (film)
Blood Work is a 2002 American mystery thriller film produced, directed by, and starring Clint Eastwood. The film co-stars Jeff Daniels, Wanda De Jesús, and Anjelica Huston. It is based on the 1998 novel of the same name by Michael Connelly. Eastwood won the Future Film Festival Digital Award at the Venice Film Festival. Plot. During a federal investigation into a local homicide, FBI Special Agent Terry McCaleb goes outside to address the media, but spots the so-called "code murderer" in the crowd. He chases the man and wounds him, but the chase ends when  McCaleb suffers a heart attack. Retired, McCaleb lives in a houseboat on the Long Beach bay. He receives a second chance at life with a heart transplant. He is approached by Graciella Rivers; her sister, Gloria, was murdered during a robbery and she asks him to solve the case. He discovers that the heart transplanted into him was Gloria's. He has nightmares of the robbery during which Gloria was murdered. McCaleb, against the advice of his physician, decides to find the murderer with the help of houseboat neighbor Buddy and local police detective Jaye Winston. McCaleb's path leads  to several suspects, but he eventually realizes that Buddy is the murderer. Buddy reveals that he has kidnapped Graciella and her nephew, Gloria's son Raymond. There is a shootout on a fishing boat. After McCaleb wounds Buddy a second time, Buddy attempts to reach for his gun only to be shot dead by McCaleb. Buddy's dying words are "I saved you." McCaleb starts another new life with Graciella and Raymond. Production. "Blood Work" was filmed in spring 2002 in Los Angeles and Long Beach, California, in 38 days. Reception. "Blood Work" received mixed reviews. It has a score  of 54% on "Rotten Tomatoes", saying it was "a routine, but competently made thriller marred by lethargic pacing." However, A. O. Scott of "The New York Times" wrote while it was similar to many Eastwood films, "there is something comforting in seeing this old warhorse trot gamely out of the gate for yet another run on familiar turf." The film was not a box office success, grossing $31.8 million worldwide on a budget of $50 million.