Blood: The Last Vampire

Genre: Action

Language: English & Japanese

Director: Chris Nahon (Kiss of the Dragon)

Cast: Gianna Jun Ji-Hyun (If I Were Superman), Allison Miller (17 Again), Liam Cunningham (The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor), JJ Field, Koyuki Kato (The Last Samurai)

Runtime: 92 minutes

Official site: http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/bloodthelastvampire/

Plot:

BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE, based on the cult hit series. Demons have infested the earth. And only one warrior stands between the dark and the light: Saya, a half-human, half-vampire samurai who preys on those who feast on human blood. Joining forces with the shadowy society known as the Council, Saya is dispatched to an American military base, where an intense series of swordfights leads her to the deadliest vampire of all. And now after 400 years, Saya's final hunt is about to begin.

Watched the movie on 6 June afternoon @ Cathay AMK Hub with Sylvia.

Recently I have been interested with film or drama featured with the theme of Vampire. Honestly, I've never been of a fan of any ghost flick, vampire, Dracula, zombie, anything scary... as i do have weak heart. However, when one day I heard over the radio about True Blood while I was driving, I got interested and started to watch the newly improvise version of Vampire story. And to my pleasant surprise, Vampires has transformed from something I most feared to someone I really like to meet in real life if i even have a chance!

Back to the movies, there was tons of news about this film from pre-production till the premiere. The main reason is because it is Gianna's first Hollywood movie attempt thus there were lots of anticipation from the Asia media. And after watching her performance, the first idea I had was: "Wow, another Michelle Yeoh in the making!"

The main character - Saya, a high-school looked vampire, portrayed by Gianna who is already 28 years of age, carried the sailor-moon type uniform well. She even looked younger compared to co-star Allison Miller who is 4 younger in real life. Although most fight scenes used shots cut and joined to convince audiences that Gianna can fight, it wasn't quite bad the idea as using so much of the stuntmen.

There were traces of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The fighting scene in the forest - sword fight with falling autumn leaves. No much dialogs but Gianna's English Conversation was audible. Only her Japanese sounded stiff.

Bottom line is, Blood: The Last Vampire is a straight forward action film. Although certain scenes could have been made better, maybe better CG superimposed Mt Fuji, it's still entertaining in it's way, hopefully it gets better for its sequel if there is plan to have one.

ah-deng says: 3 / 5 One day if I find True Blood on sale at 7/11, I know Vampire is near me...