Reviewed by Phil Wheat
Stars Gianna Jun (aka Jeon Ji-Hyun), Allison Miller,
Yasuaki Kurata, Liam Cunningham, Masiela Lusha,
Koyuki, Colin Salmon
Written by Chris Chow
Certification UK 18 | US R
Runtime 91 minutes
Directed by Chris Nahon
Blood: The Last Vampire is the story of Saya, a half-human half-demon, who to the outside world looks 16, but is in reality centuries old. Descended from a line of vampire hunters, Saya is the last of her kind. Armed only with supernatural strength and her father's powerful sword, she works for a mysterious organisation known as "The Council," hunting down demons in 1970's Tokyo. All the while searching for her father's killer: the demon they call Onigen. When reports come in of mysterious deaths on an American military base in Tokyo, the council send Saya in to investigate and despatch any demon prescence. It's at the military base that Saya save,s and and later teams up with, American teenager Alice McKee, daughter of the base's commanding officer. Together they take on Tokyo's demon underworld, leading them to a showdown with the demon matriach Onigen. A showdown which reveals the true nature of Saya...
The film is based on the anime of the same name, however the movie expands on the original, which ended with the slaying of the demons on the military base and adds Saya's backstory as well as her desire to kill Onigen. Originally developed by Bill Kong, producer of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero, the film adaptation of Blood: The Last Vampire, was intended as a Japanese production and Ronny Yu was hired to direct. However when Pathe Entertainment came on board as producers, Yu was bumped to out of the director's chair and Chris Nahon (director of Jet Li's Kiss of the Dragon) was brought on board. Pathe's involvement also led to a more international cast for the film, which includes British, American, Korean and Japanese actors. It was strange to watch Blood and see 2 British soap actors Larry (Eastenders) Lamb and Michael (Coronation Street) Byrne in key roles, sadly Brit actor Colin Salmon is underused as the military base's gym teacher. Actress Gianna Jun, who is best known for her role in the hit Korean movie My Sassy Girl, does her best in her first English speaking role, but her lack of martial arts skills does show on screen at times - although it is hard to see any of her fight skills behind the films jump-cut/slo-mo battle sequences, whether the fight editing was a stylistic choice on Nahon's and fight director Corey Yuen's part or it was used to cover Gianna Jun's performance is the subject for a much bigger debate.
Blood: The Last Vampire is your typical b-movie action fare that pales in comparison to some of the more recent wild and OTT films that have come out of Japan. The film could have benefitted from the addition of more over the top gore ala Machine Girl or Tokyo Gore Police, as it stands now, Blood feels like is has been watered down too much for the international audience, there are even reports that the French trailers for the film feature more demon bloodletting than is present in the version playing in UK cinemas - perhaps a Director's Cut DVD wil reveal all? What blood and gore there is on screen is entirely CGI, and bad CGI at that; characters are sliced and diced, blood gushing from their bodies, but none of it looks real, plus Saya 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 didn't work.
Don't get me wrong, there is a lot to 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 it's peers. I do have one question: just who's idea was it to steal the twist from The Empire Strikes Back?