Blood: The Last Vampire (2009) Reviews

• This movie NEEDS a do-over

  kjeters-12009-07-10

  This is one movie that needs a do-over. I say this as a fan of the original anime. The leading actress was good, her teacher (Kato) was good, actually, the cast were fine, it was the script that's bad and the CGI was awful. This movie needs some money thrown at it with a better writer. I believe the director had his hands tied 'cause there wasn't enough money for what he wanted to do. I've seen directors make a wonderful movie out of nothing but then, at least the script was sound. Here, the director had no chance 'cause the script sucked and he had no money (haha!) I blame the producer for this. It's their job to bring in good talent. Talented writers, directors, actors, and money. I hope someone with balls picks this film up and does a sequel that does the original title justice.

• A Nutshell Review: Blood: The Last Vampire

  DICK STEEL2009-05-21

  Jeon Ji-Hyun, now known as Gianna for this international film, trades her demure demeanour for something that action junkies will probably find reason to cheer about - having a beautiful heroine kick some serious butt with her near-invincibility and possessing a blade that cuts through vampires, monsters and demons like hot knife through butter. But seriously, do we need another half-vampire, half-human hybrid being for the big screen, even though this has anime roots? If done well, I don't see why not of course, with enough room for yet another vampire hunter, since the closest if anyone wants to compare modus operandi with, will be Wesley Snipes as Marvel's Blade. I am trying really hard to find redeeming factors for this film, but alas the negatives seem to outweigh the positives a lot more, and draw tremendous attention that you'll find hard to ignore. First of all, there's the issue of Saya (Gianna), being the all powerful hunter that she is, actually succumbed to an old pitfall - never have your hero sit on the pedestal that it becomes absolutely effortless when facing adversary. One slash of her katana means instant death, and thus there's no kick, and no challenge. She rarely broke a sweat (OK, so the heavy downpour might disguise that a little) when dispatching scores, and I mean scores, of faceless, nameless beings, that by the time the next action sequence rolls around, you know what to expect - hack, slash, hack, slash, wash-rinse-repeat. No doubt Gianna's no true-blue martial arts practitioner, director Chris Nahon decided to spice things up a bit through extremely fast cuts, close ups, and a dash of time-lapse or slow motion here and there. Stylistically it may look gorgeous, but you become well aware that these were employed to mask short-comings in the action sequences, directed by Corey Yuen. No offense to Corey, but I felt that Blood was in need of some genuine edge-of-your- seat excitement in its battles, because Saya does look like a one-trick pony, until the last set action piece provided a little glimpse into more powers that she possesses. Everything in- between was nothing new, nor accentuates her abilities for an audience unfamiliar with the source material. Then there's the outcome of over-reliance on badly delivered CGI. No doubt wanting to stylize blood spurts probably to lessen the impact of very graphic violence and dismemberment, again something overly done becomes the spoiler for the broth. The rooftop chase was cartoony, though I'm quite sure the intent wasn't to infuse some animation at certain points in the film. What I thoroughly enjoyed though, even if it was rather old school and done countless of times, is the ninja attack set in a leafy forest. Execution was swift, with a real sense of peril, up until the point Saya enters the picture, without which it was a treat to see her guardian and trainer Kato (Yasuaki Kurata) take on a hooded army relying heavily on cunning and trickery. But the biggest culprit to bog down the film from reaching its expected potential, is the severe lack of credible villains. Everyone else besides chief demon Onigen (played by Japanese actress Koyuki) was like a side dish appetizer meant to pass time until Saya meets Onigen in the showdown you see in the trailer. No offense to Koyuki, but her English diction here really made one strain the ears to try and make out the threats she's dishing out (I had Chinese subtitles available to assist thankfully), and despite her awesome powers, she failed to heed the prime lesson that most cinematic villains have fallen for - that an egoistical soliloquy is always a waste of time. Not to mention that the final third of the film seemed like it was a rushed job to get to where it wanted to be, and out of convenience too. There were some nice moments such as the whole set up of the ultra-secretive Council (like a Men in Black predecessor) and the clean-up jobs that the lower rung operatives have to conduct each time Saya cleans out the demons, and it was a pity that the entire council got forgotten midway. Clint Mansell provided the score, but unfortunately there wasn't a memorable tune that came out of it. And to round up the disappointments in this very choppy film, what was unforgivable the sense of deja-vu in having a scene lifted from Underworld: Evolution. Think flight from danger with a winged beast attacking the getaway truck, and you get my point, attack for attack - swooping from heights, slamming of the windscreen, driving on a mountainous winding road and the ripping of doors, with such similarities just too close for comfort. Bottom line is, Blood: The Last Vampire is a straight forward action film. Forget the wafer thin plot and try to ignore the potential where certain scenes could have been made better. It's nice to look at with plenty of style over substance, but unfortunately nothing more.

• Really fun adventure

  wyessdesign2009-07-12

  Martial arts, women with swords, and VAMPIRES...what's not to love???!!! Yes the CGI could have been more realistic... Yes some of the acting could have been better... But if you go into a movie like this looking for academy-award winning performances you're barking up the wrong tree. BLOOD The Last Vampire is a fun adventure with good visuals, cool styling, and great fight scenes. Compared to the thin/non-existent plots in the latest blockbusters coming out of Hollywood this summer, BLOOD is almost an Oscar contender. If you're looking to take an exciting journey into a world where demons are among us hunted down by hot, sword wielding, bad-ass chicks...buy some popcorn, sit back, and enjoy the ride!

• Highly Entertaining Adventure

  claudio_carvalho2009-12-05

  In 1970, the four hundred year-old skilled samurai Saya (Gianna Jun) is sent to the Kanto High School in an American military base in Tokyo by the Council, a secret society that has been hunting vampires for centuries. Saya has the appearance of a teenager but is the tormented half-breed creature with the soul of her human father and the powers and need of blood of her vampire mother. She is obsessed to face the powerful demon Onigen (Koyuki) that killed her father. In the base, Saya saves Alice McKee (Allison Miller), who is the daughter of General McKee (Larry Lamb) and commander of the base, from the attack of several vampires. When General McKee is killed by a member of the Council, Alice runs to the hotel where Saya is lodged. They join forces and go to the countryside to chase Onigen. "Blood: The Last Vampire" is a highly entertaining adventure. The screenplay and the choreography of the fights blend many other movies and there is no originality. However, it works basically because of Gianna Jun and Allison Miller that perform very likable and charismatic characters. In the end, this film is not a masterpiece but I liked what I have seen. My vote is seven. Title (Brazil): "Caçadores de Vampiros" ("Vampire Hunters")

• Good adaptation regardless of bad CGI

  Rafacus2009-07-14

  With credit to the creators of this live action edition of Blood: The Last Vampire, they really didn't have much to work with to begin with and before I pick apart the movie I feel obligated to preface with this. As an owner of the original Anime and a fan of the Blood series in itself, I was looking forward to a nice tie-in with the saga of Saya the Femme Vampire Slayer. What I got in this movie was a nice collection of katana action, low-budget CGI and poor acting. This isn't to say that BTLV is a bad movie, just one that I would only recommend to fans of the series itself. What the movie tries to do with the aforementioned anime, is take that exact same story and expand it a bit to give us some history on Saya. We are shown her human father, vampire mother and even a childhood love interest. Our Saya is given emotion (she even cries a bit) and worst than that, she is given a sidekick in Alice McKee (Allison Miller). Though I found Saya (Gianna Jun) to be a very good casting choice, which coupled with the choppy but interesting action scenes, made her seem similar to the anime Saya, I found Alice to be absolutely unbearable. The character Alice is the American element to the movie, being a rebellious teenager stealing daddy's car, talking back and doing all the annoying things that teenagers in movies tend to do. The jerky camera angles, made some of the early fighting scenes very confusing. However it does get better as the movie progresses and some of the battles are quite interesting once the camera settles down. The acting was not bad as a whole aside from Alice whose crying and screaming were so fake I found myself shaking my head every time she had a burst of "emotion". The direction was good enough and we get a back story as it progresses unlike the original anime. Still when it ended I was a bit confused about Saya even with the history given and it made me wonder why they didn't stick with more of the elements from the anime series. If it were only up to actress Gianna Jun and her portrayal of the killer Vampire Saya, I would rank this with high points but the weight of the bad acting by the supporting cast, the already silly story, awful CGI and the unnecessary military portion of the movie drug it down way below that. Although I would watch it again, this would probably be due to my being a fan of the character moreso than a movie watcher. Full review: www.SpicyMovieDogs.com