Still, Mel Gibson clearly isn’t ageing like a typical guy in his 60s. In Blood Father, his character wears a salt-and-pepper beard like an Old Testament prophet and grumbles bitterly about immigrants stealing jobs, but he also has the toned biceps of a Russian shot putter and those same glinting blue eyes that made him a superstar in the era of Lethal Weapon and Mad Max 2. Come to think of it, Blood Father provides Gibson with more than a few opportunities to reprise some familiar moments from his greatest hits: he gets to wield a shotgun just like Max, and he even lives in a trash-ridden trailer like his signature hero, Martin “Lethal Weapon” Riggs. This might all sound like another entry in the growing post-Taken sub-genre of action thrillers for Hollywood actors of a certain vintage, but Blood Father’s really more a road-trip drama with a side sprinkling of violence and gunplay. Adapted from the novel by Peter Craig, Blood Father’s economically – if rather anonymously – directed by Jean-Francois Richet, who previously brought us the workmanlike remake of Assault On Precinct 13 and the superb Mesrine movies starring Vincent Cassell. The supporting cast is good value, particularly Michael Parks as a horrendous old man who sells Nazi memorabilia from a warehouse in the middle of the desert. But this is clearly a Gibson vehicle first and foremost, and he’s as charismatic as he always was as a gruff, seen-it-all hero. The plot and dialogue may work a little too hard to make Gibson’s character sympathetic – one early speech, about his past behaviour pushing friends and family away feels particularly laboured – but his inate ability to convey both compassion and a barely-concealed violent streak fit the movie perfectly. There’s one particular moment where John’s temper boils over, his face flushing, and it’s easy to imagine that, yes, this guy really was a Vietnam soldier, Hell’s Angel and ruffled jailbird. Nevertheless, the quality of the acting and drama make Blood Father worth a cautious recommendation. The movie’s an odd yet diverting throwback, not only to the movies in the star’s early career but also to a bygone era of dusty road movies where the sky’s blue, the desert’s gold and the tarmac stretches off into infinity. There’s a scene where John tells his daughter that, what with all the driving and punching and shooting, he hasn’t had this much fun in years; something glimmers in the actor’s eye, and there’s the sense that the same goes for Gibson, too. Blood Father is out in UK cinemas now.