Blood- The Last Vampire 2009 Live action movie – Asian Horror Film Review
Blood the last vampire live action movie is one of the most anticipated live action adaptation from the original anime movie. Korean superstar Gianna Jun or Jeon Ji Hyun, transforms from lovable sassy girl into a cold, kickass vampire slayer. With so much buzz about the movie, I was looking forward to it on the big screen. Finally, the movie was released on local cinema in the city. Never mind that the poster looks cheesy as hell. Brace yourselves for one hell of an action movie with gratuitous pansew shot of sword wielding Saya in school girl uniform.
Synopsis
A young woman in the train was eyeing the nervous jittery man. The man quickly dashes out of his seat as the young woman approaches him wielding a sword. In a flash, he finds himself sliced in half. The young woman casually steps out of the train was identified as Saya. The FBI agents under direct orders from the council greeted her for the job well done and quickly covers up the crime scene. For her next mission, she has to go undercover as a student in Kanto High School which was located at an American military base in Japan. The General’s daughter Alice McKee was exasperated with her father for being too protective. Despite her father’s explaination that with the country being at war, she turned deaf ears on what he has to say. At her school, she finds herself being mocked by some of her classmates. When Saya was introduced in her class, she felt sorry for her when her classmates were a bit discriminating. Alice was asked by her Kendo instructor to stay for the practice due to her poor performance at the kendo practice. As soon as the teacher left, she finds herself at the mercy of her bully classmates who weirds a sharp bladed katana. Saya showed up just in time to stop the bullies from slashing Alice’s throat. Despite Saya’s effort to conceal her operation, Alice saw her classmates being butchered. Things went complicated when Alice told her what happened to her dad and asked him to intervene the FBI’s cover up about the incident. Determined to make her own investigation, Alice went to the bar where her Kendo instructor usually hangs out. To her horror, her instructor as well as the rest of the people in the bar turned out to be vampires. Once again Saya came to her rescue and had to fight off hordes of vampires surrounding them. After Saya slayed the remaining Vampire Chiroptera, she and Alice parted ways. General Mckee did his own investigation on the FBI agents which has cost him his life. Alice arrived just in time to witness her father’s death and to her anger, she bludgeoned the FBI agent death. Her dying father gave her Saya’s address. With nowhere else to go, Alice decides to seek Saya for help. FBI manages to track down Alice with the goal to eliminate her. Fortunately Saya never swore loyalty to FBI and protects Alice instead. The two of them flee the area and went off to the mountains to find and slay Onigen. Will Saya defeat the Onigen despite her limitations as half human and half vampire?
Verdict
The film starts off with Saya in the train. The man sitting across her was uneasy as she continues to glare at him with her crimson eyes. As the man was sliced into two, I was thinking this movie is going to be great. Unfortunately, when the location moved to an American base, things went really jarring, annoying and downright pointless. When the afro vampire changes into a chiroptera in a blink of an eye. Boom! There’s a naked creature standing before you. No fancy transitions and no bad ass transformation. I have no complaint on the fight scenes, it was skillfully executed but suffers from absolutely bad cinematography. The flashbacks on Saya’s history and origin was also pointless since there’s no friggin english subs on the Japanese dialogues between Saya and Kotu. It was careless and lack of consideration to the audience. The only saving grace about the movie was the supposedly epic battle between Saya and the vampire demon Onigen. Onigen looks flawless in her ethereal looking goddess form. Just as when the scene is at it’s peak, the misplaced blood stain on Onigen’s chin made her look ridiculously funny.
The director Chris Nahon has absolutely no idea what to do with the material. They decided to throw in a token annoying hollywood actress in hopes to boost up the box office earnings. It’s a shame that the movie didn’t have that big budget treatment as compared to that dreadfully unholy Dragon Ball Live action adaptation. Needless to say, my sisters feels ripped off after watching the movie. I did enjoy the movie despite it’s flaws and all. In fact it entertained me more than Transformers 2 and Harry Potter 6 combined. Plus, the guy sitting behind us was mildly entertaining when he let out a loud generous burp during the quiet scenes.
Sadako Rating:
Fear Factor: 2 out of 10 – The clumsily rendered CGI monsters failed to strike fear and tickled my funny bone instead.
Violence and Gore: 7 out of 10 – As expected, the movie barely lives up to it’s title. But the swordfighting rocks though!
Nudity and Sex: 0 – All you get to see is split second panty shot and nothing more.
Replay value: Definitely a most see if you’re in the mood to laugh and spot the movie mistakes.
Blood: The Last Vampire Movie Trailer 2009
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Tuesday, August 4th, 2009 at 7:38 amand is filed under Other Asian Films. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
September 16th, 2010 at 12:36 pm
PLZ COME TO AMERICA BLOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!