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"Samurai Swordplay Action and Japanese Vampiric Lore in this Adaptation of the Anime Film!"
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A 2009 live-action film based on the anime short.
< read all 7 reviewsAll the skills and talents could not make a 2D storyline more depth and excitement.
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Oct 16, 2009
- by MzJen_2_review
- posted in Movie Hype
Rating:
Blood: The Last Vampire is your typical b-movie action fare that pales in comparison to some of the more recent wild films coming out of Japan. The film could have benefitted from the addition of more over the top gore .What blood and gore there is on screen is entirely CGI for sure, and bad CGI at that; characters are sliced and diced, blood gushing from their bodies, but none of it looks real, plus Saya, (Jeon Ji-Hyeon), a 400 year old half human, half-vampire who was sired by a human demon/vampire hunter and a vampire mother, doesn't get a single drop on her! It's obvious that the filmmakers were trying to recreate the violent bloodletting of the original anime but relying heavily on CGI which didn't work.
+1
Another thing I would never like to see again is half-breed vampire killers. We've seen it all before with characters like Blade, Vampire Hunter D, and Sonja Blue (in the Nancy Collins novels starting with Sunglasses After Dark): they're half-human and half-vampire; their vampire side gives them the power they need to hunt other vampires, but they fear succumbing to the blood lust and losing their humanity. Despite her Japanese origin, Saya is less in common with Vampire Hunter D than with Sonja Blue, who is also an ageless young girl hunting her own kind; the difference is that Sonya has a more interesting back story, and her inner conflict plays out in a more dramatic way throughout the novels, instead of being played like a weak trump card at the climax. (This is not an element of the animated BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE, which hinted that Saya was the last "original" vampire, hunting down some kind of mutant strain of the species.)
The one exception is the final face-off between vampire and vampire hunter. Here, the digital effects are used to craft the flowing robes of silk from Onegin's gown, which reach out like tentacles to ensare Saya. There is a poetic beauty to this battle that lifts it above the earlier sword-fights, with their crude bloodshed. Too bad the script had to weight the scene down with the big dramatic "revelation." If there is one thing I never want to see in another movie, it's a scene wherein the villain tells the hero "You're really one of us," while extending an invitation to the Dark Side.
The live-action rendition of BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE will probably please fans of the anime short subject, but more general audiences and even fans of Asian horror and Fan-Asia flicks will grow restless with the endless swordplay's mind-numbing lack of variation. The funny thing is that, pulled out of context and viewed on their own, the scenes are not bad, which is why the film looks so cool when viewed in short clips online. With a plot that serves mostly to string the set-pieces along, BLOOD THE LAST VAMPIRE might be a project that would have worked better as a series of high-octane webisodes, rather than a full-length feature film.
Don't get me wrong, there is a number of things you can enjoy about Blood: The Last Vampire - who doesn't love a Japanese girl in a traditional sailor suit style school uniform doing cartwheels and leaps across the screen while wielding a huge samurai sword? Director Chris Nahon does have a stylish flair and he manages to get the best out of Gianna Jun despite her shortcomings - he definitely needs to be given better subject matter than this, his Kiss of the Dragon was a much better movie. For me it was great to see another live action anime adaptation on the big screen rather than going straight to DVD like the majority of its peers.
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woopak_the_thrill
September 08, 2011
Hi, Jen....
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More Blood: The Last Vampire (2009 ... reviews
Taking place in 1970 at a US Air force base located in Tokyo. Vampire like creatures are blending in with humans in order to satisfy their blood cravings. A girl named Saya (Gianna Jun) is being handled and ordered by an organization called the "Council" to kill the monsters. But lately, the monsters have been on an uncontrollable rampage. This is usually due to the presence of their leader Onigen (Koyuki). Infiltration being the purpose, Saya is sent into a high … more
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Compliments (60)
Vampires and Samurai action; a great combination. Such as the case with "Blood the Last Vampire", an anime film made in 2000. It garnered a cult following that several interpretations were made in different mediums. The one-shot (sequel to the anime film) manga by Benkyo Tamaoki was published in 2001, that was also inspired by the anime cult classic film directed by Kitakubo Hiroyuki which has also spawned a Japanese TV series called … more
Comments (13)
Compliments (75)
Terrible storytelling, sub-par acting, dull action, and bad special effects. This one just grated my nerves. I'll have to see the anime now.
Comments (9)
Compliments (12)
Quick Tip by Trekscribbler.
November 22, 2009
Caught it on DVD, & I was intrigued. Lots of pop, flash & samurai swordplay but not backed by much substance. A harmless diversion at best.
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About the reviewer
Jen-Jay AKA:JJI (MzJen_2_review)
Ranked #18
Ranked #18
Married into the military for over a decade and it does has itpros andcons. The lifestyle is great and Ido enjoy it. I'm able to do things and see things that I thought I wouldn't dream of. My kids loves … more
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About this movie
Live-action movie based on the anime. Released on a limited engagement on July 10, 2009 in San Francisco.
The deadliest assassin to stand the test of time. From a Producer of Hero and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon comes Blood: The Last Vampire, based on the cult hit anime series. Demons have infested Earth. And only one warrior stands between the dark and the light: Saya, a half-human, half-vampire samurai who preys on those who feast on human blood. Joining forces with the shadowy society known as the Council, Saya is dispatched to an American military base, where an intense series of sword fights leads her to the deadliest vampire of all. And now after 400 years, Saya's greatest hunt is about to begin.
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The deadliest assassin to stand the test of time. From a Producer of Hero and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon comes Blood: The Last Vampire, based on the cult hit anime series. Demons have infested Earth. And only one warrior stands between the dark and the light: Saya, a half-human, half-vampire samurai who preys on those who feast on human blood. Joining forces with the shadowy society known as the Council, Saya is dispatched to an American military base, where an intense series of sword fights leads her to the deadliest vampire of all. And now after 400 years, Saya's greatest hunt is about to begin.
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