Clint Eastwood in "Blood Work"

While the tale of the retired cop/hit-man/race-driver/hair-dresser brought back from the AARP meeting to avenge/inspire/kill time before "Matlock" is not exactly innovative, Blood Work does have enough original twists to justify its less-than-groundbreaking plot. Eastwood plays recently put-to-pasture FBI agent and heart-transplant recipient Terry McCaleb. Terry is guilt tripped by Graciella Rivers (Wanda De Jesus – the poor diva's Jennifer Lopez) to kick open the stalled investigation of the murder of her sister Gloria, whose heart was donated to McCaleb ending his two-year stint on hospital waiting-list death row.

Reunited with the less-than-elite L.A.P.D. detectives whom Terry had worked with on previous serial-killer investigations, McCaleb and his Krispy Creme dream team soon deduce that Gloria's murder at a neighborhood grocery store may not have been a random one. She had been chosen as a specific target, as was the murder of a man with the same rare blood type as Gloria's. And the plot clots further when 911 tapes reveal that the mysterious "Good Samaritan" who happened on the scene after Gloria had been shot had actually phoned in the emergency call before the robbery. Soon nothing about Gloria's murder is as it first appeared and clues quickly point to the return of a serial killer that McCaleb had been just footsteps behind when he had his heart attack two years earlier. In a deadly variation on the old-wives tale: with the cat no longer away, the mouse is back and ready to prey.

For an actor whose first flick – the B-movie sequel Revenge of the Creature – premiered when Dwight Eisenhower (the guy on the dime for all you economics majors out there) was U.S. president, Clint Eastwood brings remarkable vigor to the screen. His character McCaleb is as quick on the trigger as Eastwood's cinematic alter-ego Dirty Harry ever was. Though age has made McCaleb a less accurate shot, his suspect is an even worse marksman, with a machine gun no less.

Blood Work may lose some pressure for being not too plausible, but it never passes out. Thanks to an accomplished supporting cast including Jeff Daniels as McCaleb's burnout neighbor and chauffeur, among other things, Paul Rodriguez as a wisecracking Chicano cop, and Anjelica Houston as Clint's heart specialist. It all adds up to the best bet for grown-up fun in this summer's teen-dominated movie marketplace. Clint fans and aficionados of serial-killer thrillers like Insomnia and The Pledge will want to get their Blood Work done too. All are bound to be pleased with the results.