BLOOD : THE LAST VAMPIRE

BLOOD : THE LAST VAMPIRE

(A.k.a. LAST BLOOD; RASUTO BURADDO)

Based loosely on the celebrated 2000 Hiroyuki Kitakubo anime (which also spawned it's own graphic novel and a 50-episode TV series), this live action reimagining sees Gianna Jun (THE UNINVITED) take on the role of the vengeful Saya ...

A text introduction puts us in the picture: "In the 16th century, the savage Onin war reduced Japan to a massive feeding ground. Assuming human forms, demons settled in among mortals to prey on the bloodshed. A fearless samurai named Kiyomasa rose from the heart of evil and became the most revered demon hunter, only to be brutally slain by the oldest, vilest of all demons: Onigen. Centuries passed. Darkness reigns on. Then, a mysterious hunter emerged. Joining forces with a shadow society known as the council, she sets out to face her ultimate foe ... Onigen".

And if the above text seems silly, clichéd and torn to shit in terms of timelines (it's clearly undecided as to which tense the story should be told in), then prepare yourself: this film doesn't get any better. But at least it's fun.

Literally from the moment the film opens with a highly charged fight scene on board a train in a 1970 setting, logic has been cast aside and there is barely a plot to follow.

Saya is the half-human-half-vampire waif who travels the Earth over the decades slaying monsters, in search of the elusive demon Onigen (Koyuki). And that's all there is to it. Cue lots of running, fighting and bloodshed. Not that that's a complaint.

Shady men in suits and darkened glasses loiter behind the scenes to clear up the messes left by Saya, while our demure heroine cuts a fine figure in resembling the Sasori character from the FEMALE SCORPION series when she's not going apeshit with her samurai sword.

Along the way, Saya gains an irritating American assistant in the form of General's daughter Alice (Allison Miller) while Brits-for-hire Liam Cunningham, Colin Salmon and Larry Lamb (yes, Archie from "East Enders"!) turn up to bemuse viewers with their dodgy accents.

Flashbacks to Saya's upbringing with her sage-like father further muddy this haphazard yarn, but with Clint Mansell's music rising to signal another action set-piece once every five minutes (not to mention Edwin Starr's "War" at one point), a strong storyline and good grasp of what's going on don't really seem all that important.

BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE has little to do with its anime forefather. A couple of characters are the same, the visuals are an obvious transport on occasion (particularly the look of Saya) and a couple of set pieces bear striking similarities. But other than that, this is a whole new escapade for Saya - thanks to screenwriter Chris Chow.

Chow fills the script with nonsense macho one-liners the likes of which haven't sounded so amusing since the 80s heyday of cheesy action flicks starring Dolph Lundgren or Jean-Claude Van Damme. But they don't hamper the film's pace any, as Chow's streamlined storytelling allows his hammy dialogue to speedily propel events from one startlingly choreographed fight scene to the next.

In this respect, director Chris Nahon (KISS OF THE DRAGON) and action supervisor Corey Yuen excel. Combat scenes are fast yet controlled affairs, benefiting from tight editing and assured camerawork that makes sense of the rapid swordplay on display. Filmed under filtered lights for added visual sheen, the frequent fights are quite simply stunning.

Elsewhere, the film continues to be a beautiful proposition. It's no surprise that Nahon comes from a background in TV commercials and music videos: each scene is slick, colourful and infused with vivid comic-noir aesthetics that will thrill all but the most jaded cinema fans.

On a purely visual level, BLOOD is a resounding triumph. Until you consider some of the FX, which I'll get to shortly.

Performances are overblown for the most part, with the British contingency coming across as particularly serious for this manner of fare. Jun is amiable and sincere, holding things together when the weaker supporting acts often threaten to let things fall to pieces. But this is action cinema, no-one's looking for Oscar-worthy performances: indeed, the cheesier the better - we're having fun here.

The plot is nonsense and I'm guessing Nahon knows this, as he exhibits no desire to mould Chow's impatient noise fest into anything resembling a coherent narrative. Consequently, there are no characters to root for and even the villains become one-dimensional and harmless. There is no sense of threat, no suspense. Instead, Nahon forsakes these minor elements and lets logic remain cloudy, choosing to focus more on his many, many visually impressive set-pieces.

Of these, the elaborate camera set-ups, intelligent cuts and in-your-face violence (slashed throats, decapitations, dismemberment) provide the most impact. My only gripe about these otherwise superbly realised scenes are some iffy CGI - in particular the unwise choice of presenting blood in digital form (didn't they learn from Takeshi Kitano's ZATOICHI, a brilliant film almost ruined by the odd decision to rely on computer-generated gore?). In it's defence, BLOOD is an overt fantasy and therefore just about scrapes by despite this complaint.

I won't mention the naff CGI monsters, or Miller's annoying teary acting, though ...

The film is presented in a crisp, bright and detailed anamorphic 2.35:1 transfer. Colours are well rendered while flesh tones remain accurate throughout. A good sense of depth is maintained and blacks stay strong in this solid offering.

English audio is provided in an evenly balanced, actively loud 5.1 mix. Good bass mixes smoothly with subtler dialogue tracks, ensuring this is an authentic, ear-grabbing proposition. Optional English hard-of-hearing subtitles are at hand, as is an English-language audio descriptive track.

A breathless, action-heavy animated main menu leads into a static scene-selection menu offering 16 chapters over the course of 4 pages.

Extras begin with a succession of short featurettes highlighting principal cast and crew members, along with insights into the making of a couple of key scenes - "The Metro" and "The Alley". These are stylish and slickly edited EPK-style affairs that each follow suit by offering a mix of interview clips (people salivating over how great their colleagues were - especially Nahon), film clips and behind-the-scenes footage. Everyone comes across as gracious, with Jun (known here as simply Gianna) conveying a truly warm personality, and Salmon being his usual erudite self. These 6 featurettes span 18 minutes in total.

A 1-minute photo gallery proffers 16 basic grabs from the film, set to whimsical music.

The theatrical trailer is a snappily edited 90-odd seconds that showcases the film's blend of brisk action and colourful visual style.

Finally, we get a 90-second trailer for the 2000 anime version of BLOOD.

BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE looks superb and marks Nahon as an action director of noteworthy competence. With a better budget, better cast and much better script, he could go on to give us a genre classic. Better than BLOODRAYNE but not as good as BLADE, allow me to be pragmatic; this contemporary bloodsucker action flick is not Nahon's classic by a mile, but it is good switch-your-brain-off fun with style and panache to spare.

Also available on Blu-ray.

Review by Stuart Willis


 
Released by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Region 2 - PAL
Rated 18
Extras :
see main review
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