I had fun watching this. Maybe I was high on something or I was just unbelievably exhausted but whatever it was, it helped me neglect everything else that’s cheesy about BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE. It’s very poorly acted but it’s action-packed. The story is… cliche and yet the runtime is so short, I find it enjoyable. The VFX is way too animated for a live-action movie and the wiring is weak but the long fight scenes make up for those aspects. I’ve never seen the anime that this movie’s based on, therefore I can’t make a comparison but right at this moment, BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE to me is like Kill Bill on crack. Step aside, Buffy! There’s a new slayer in town and her name is Saya.
Directed by Chris Nahon (Empire of the Wolves, Kiss of the Dragon), Blood: The Last Vampire brings to life an English language live-action feature movie of the original Japanese anime feature film. Gianna (My Sassy Girl, Daisy) stars in the film as Saya, a 400-year-old demon-hunting vampire slayer working undercover in Japan for a secret organization, on a mission in the Vietnam War era. The cast also includes Koyuki (The Last Samurai, Always: Sunset on Third Street), Michael Byrne (Beyond the Sea, Gangs of New York), Colin Salmon (Resident Evil, Punisher: War Zone, Clubbed), and Allison Miller (“Kings”). The film features stunt choreographed by Cory Yuen (Transporter 3, Red Cliff), is produced by Bill Kong and Abel Nahmias, with screenplay by Chris Chow.
There are many moments in this movie that are just so awful, they’re unintentionally funny. BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE is the type of movie I’d watch again and again on a boring Saturday Night. If you are not into Jason Statham fighting 25 people all at once and somehow he still wins in the end, you might hate this movie because it’s got plenty of those. The fight choreography is not too shabby. The group of stealth villains attacking the old man in the forest and his numerous attempts to defend himself is worth watching but then we’re treated with a demon attacking Saya on a small highway in the middle of the dark forest that reminds us too much of that similar scene from Underworld: Evolution.
BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE could be so much better if the Visual Effects were tweaked and tightened some more. The blood action isn’t convincing. The explosions are blown way out of proportion. I’m enjoying a decent fight and suddenly it just needs an explosion to end it, why?! Like I said, I’ve never seen the anime but I think actress Gianna Jun doesn’t pose a problem. She definitely inhibits the intensity that her character needs, when she looks straight you, she lets you know you’ve been marked for death sentence. I have a problem with her sidekick, Alice, played by Allison Miller. If this movie gets a remake or a sequel someday, I hope she gets recast because her awful performance and her lame interaction with the general dad would make you wanna put a bullet in your brain.
Once again, don’t watch it for the story, don’t watch it for anything else because the reason why I I like this movie is that it’s only 91 minutes long, and it’s got only about 3 or 4 but long pretty cool fight scenes and the movie’s done. Unlike some movies out there (cough) Transformers 2 (cough)
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