'BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE'Directed by: Chris Nahon
The first news that caught my attention on this film is when Korean sweetheart Jeon Ji-hyun ('My Sassy Girl') changed her name to Gianna. Since she's well known by her original name, I'm not sure if it's a wise move or it's a sign of bad luck. Let me introduce you to the newest Hollywood hybrid attempt of Japan+Korea+U.S.
Adapted from the 2001 anime cult hit developed by Mamoru Oshii, 'Blood: The Last Vampire' opens in 1970s Tokyo. Saya (Gianna), born to a human father and a vampire mother has been raised by Kato (Kurata) to kill Onigen (Koyuki), an evil bloodsuckers. Saya who's actually 400 years old but look 16, becomes a vampire hunter with the guidance of a senior agent (Cunningham) leading an entourage of Men In Black to clean up after her mess. Every step she took, every vampire she kills draws her closer to Onigen. After a secret society called Council gives info that Yokota U.S. Airbase need a little cleansing, Saya enrolls at the precinct's school and rescues Alice (Miller), the general daughter from vampy bullies. The story unfolds as more and more evil monster emerges which makes you think if all U.S. Airbase around the world facing the same threat which is far more worst than terrorist attack.
'Blood: The Last Vampire' is a straight forward action film, too straight forward till you won't have to think much of it 5 second after the ending credits rolls. Chris Nahon lacks of experience can be seen clearly while Chris Chow's screenplay attempts to make it feel oldschool just turn to be outdated. The used of fast cuts, close ups, and time-lapse/slow motion is not to give an arty look for a certain scene but only to cover up what they couldn't achieve. The endless numbers of vampire wouldn't impress viewer if they got simply chopped of without a fight. The rooftop scene looks to cartoonish (or maybe they purposely want it to be cartoonish) and I don't want to comment about the CGI. The stylize blood spurts probably to lessen the impact of graphic violence but somehow turn out to be a bloodfest worse than '300'.
The story simply goes down the hill right after the army truck went down the hill. You'll start thinking, is this a dream sequence or is it real? The thin plot getting thinner than a piece of capathi and you felt that the final third of the film seemed like it was a rushed job. Since Saya and Onigen is Japanese, why didn't they do the final battle in Japanese language as a tribute to the anime? Also, it would help end Koyuki suffer badly on her English diction. Like Allison Miller need to understand whatever their saying, since her bad acting wasn't helping either.
The only scene that I love is in the second set of fighting in the forest. Corey Yuen and Chris Nahon successfully make it into a classic martial art scene with a bit of Kurusawa's element. Yasuaki Kurata was a huge crossover action star in the 70's, so this pays homage to his beautiful fighting style which still looks impressively good for his age. I still didn't have the chance to watch the animated version of 'Blood: The Last Vampire' so it's hard to make a direct comparison. If my review sounded all bad, you don't have to worry. As I conduct small interviews after watching the movie, younger generation of viewer aged 18-20 loves this film. Maybe it has a different impact to the fresh blood moviegoers compared to this 400 years old vampire... I meant reviewer.
~ESK
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