The anime is brought to life. However, the results are good but not as good as the anime that spawned it. It’s sad when a movie has so much potential but some terrible moves bring the whole thing down a bit.
In 1970, Saya (Gianna Jun) is the new girl at a school on Yokota air force base. Appearances can be deceiving since Saya is a 400-year-old vampire. She can trace her origins back to feudal Japan where she was raised by Kato (Yasuaki Kurata).
In modern times, she works for an ancient, secret organization called the Council that hunts demons and her handlers are Michael (Liam Cunningham) and Luke (J.J. Feild). She’s on assignment at the air base to hunt down some demons.
Alice McKee (Allison Miller) is the commanding officer’s (Larry Lamb) daughter and is a rebelling teen, prone to sneaking off base without dad’s permission. Alice witnesses Saya killing two of her classmates who happen to be demons, not that Alice can tell that. She brings her father in, but Council cleaners have removed the evidence.
The oldest and most powerful demon Onigen (Koyuki) has returned and Saya’s one goal in her existence is to kill this powerful demon.
Blood sounds more like a half human/half demon hybrid to me, but maybe that’s what a vampire is in the universe of the movie. She’s the last one and does drink the red stuff, has glowing eyes, but doesn’t sport fangs or turn to dust in the daylight. Actually, I’m not entirely sure that I remember hearing the word vampire in the dialogue of the film (maybe I missed it though).
I’m not sure that any of the things that Saya aka Blood doesn’t exhibit from filmic vampire lore is what is going to do the disappointing for fans. That squarely lies on the slipshod special effects of the film, but more on that in a minute. Blood is based on the 2000 anime film of the same name. When I watched that one I wasn’t expecting much but came away pleasantly surprised. Though if memory serves, again it was more demon than vampire.
I certainly felt that it was an intriguing animation by the time the final credits roll. Blood, the live action version, takes some of the good (Japanese setting, the Saya character) but runs it up against some bad (the special effects, no villainous character development) that end up brining the whole picture down.
Let’s start with the special effects. They’re terrible. Any fanboy is going to set upon them immediately. They remind me of cheapjack Harryhausen or Harryhausen gone wrong. First up, I loves me some Harryhausen. His creations had soul and spirit, imbued by the master himself. However, the ugly critters in Blood lack soul, spirit, and skill. When you see them they take you out of the film immediately.
Sad for a film made in 2009 and maybe even sad for a film made in 1969. Not to mention the CGI blood sprays, done poorly too.
The other negative is that we really don’t feel too much threat from the villainess of the film. She’s not in the picture enough and the battles with Saya seem very abbreviated. There are some last minute revelations about her involvement with Saya, but I felt they were so obvious that I didn’t flinch when they were revealed.
Gianna Jun does well in the lead role and Allison Miller does okay in the secondary role (though her last line is delivered painfully, but the line isn’t exactly good either). This live action version isn’t up to the standard set by the anime and you can obviously do whatever you can draw in anime.
In live action if your special effects are rotten, they’re just rotten. The portions of the film in feudal Japan are nice though and feature a cool battle.
Blood: The Last Vampire is presented in a 1080p high definition transfer (2.35:1). Special features include the 19 minute “The Making of Blood” and the 16 minute “Battling Demons” about the stunts, both in standard definition. The only high definition special feature is three sets of storyboard galleries. They’re exclusive to the Blu-ray and are presented in high definition.
Blood: The Last Vampire might be the last live action attempt at the series. The anime was much more compelling. There is some good acting and a good heroine, but the special effects are awful and take away from the movie. Fans of the original anime might just want to give it a look, but they’ll be disappointed.
Blood: The Last Vampire [Blu-ray] is now available at Amazon . Visit the DVD database for more information.
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