Despite improvements, still not even average
Originally written 6-5-10
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 school to eliminate the creatures. However, her mission is more personal than business. She finally has the chance to avenge her father whom was killed by Onigen centuries ago. -summary
Directed by Chris Nahon, Blood: The Last Vampire is the 2009 live action remake of the 2000 anime film of the same name Blood: The Last Vampire by Production IG. It's no surprise to me that it would actually be better than its predecessor; since the original was nothing more than an extended trailer. Even though this remake does deliver a story and plot. It doesn't really deliver good ones.
Blood follows the exact same path as practically every single over the top and action oriented vampire hunting vampires film in existence. The story involves the main character whom is a half breed vampire/human, and seeks to destroy their own kind for whatever reasons. Vengeance, finding oneself, and redemption happens to be the main themes here. The movie makes almost no attempt to set itself apart from the pack. I came into this film with very low expectations so I'm not very disappointed. I never expected to be blown away from the very beginning.
Despite these formulaic stories that are a dime a dozen these days. There is still and will always be some type of fascination with blending samurai and vampires, because you can almost always expect over the top action sequences delivered by a cool character; but unlike others of her breed such as Alucard of Hellsing, D of Vampire Hunter D, Blade, or even The Kin Killer of Black Blood Brothers. Saya simply seems to be lacking that "it" factor concerning very interesting skills. Instead, she possesses more character depth than all of them, which is why I do find her interesting on a different level.
Gianna Jun is definitely the show stealer as Saya. Her acting is very solid and she's convincing in her role. It almost appears she was born to be the character. However, one thing she's not, is a convincing martial artist to me. The action scenes are decent at best, and they deliver lots of sword play with some decent kills. The fights are quick paced with a bit of slow motion thrown in there and a lot of wire-fu. The action scenes could have been a lot better without the over use of CG. Some of the fight scenes came off incredibly fake looking, and I just hate CG blood. The CG does this film in. The production values are rather cheap to me with the monsters looking incredibly awful. I didn't find the gore to be special at all, and what was definitely missing was over the top vampire, flesh ripping madness.
Another aspect of the film that bothered me was the lack of a real villain. The movie contains two lead villains, in which neither truly felt like a good antagonist. They were both poorly developed and never really displayed anything that could have considered them a threat in my eyes. To keep things simple, I didn't feel much chemistry between the hero and the villain.
Production values and screenplay aren't completely bad. The writers borrowed elements from the anime. That mainly fans or those who saw the film will recognize; such as Asian actors speaking "Engrish", and only using their native language when necessary. There are also reused scenes from the anime film as well that will probably drive die hard fans crazy when they see it.
Unlike its predecessor, there is quite a bit of background here. Saya is explored very well and there is an ample amount of character development and growth on her part. Unfortunately, the same can't really be said about a majority of the cast. Along with Saya, her mentor Kato who is played by legendary martial arts actor Yasuaki Kurata(most notable work Jet Li's Fist of Legend), delivers a good performance by adding some depth plus delivering a decent action sequence.
Blood: The Last Vampire is very rough around the edges. On the other hand, it's a vast improvement over its anime counterpart which isn't saying much. This live action version actually gives you a little bit of something, where the original gave you practically nothing.
I don't regret giving this a chance despite having a deep dislike for the original. Boredom never really became a factor, but I was disappointed somewhat with the final battle which never met expectations. Overall, I only recommend this film to fans of the franchise, vampires, action, and anime fans. Those whom were very disappointed with the anime version will more than likely enjoy this a little bit more. Still, I don't believe it should be placed very high on anyone's list. The film has an 89 minute length with extras.
I found the extras good enough to mention. They contain a Making of featurette. This short feature is around 18 minutes and you will hear from most of the cast. Some of them will be speaking their native language in subtitles which appear for a good amount of time. The stories are alright with the actors explaining their characters and such.
The second featurette is called Battling Demons. This is a behind the action scenes feature. I found this to be a bit more interesting, because it showed the rigorous training Gianna Jun had to go through. Plus, a wire accident that took place on the set. There are some good things here but at the very best, I recommend this as a rental.
Pros: Decent action. Saya is actually explored
Cons: Over use of CG, thin as needles plot, disposable secondary characters, forgettable villains
