Writer: Mohd Johan Arif

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Watch this if you liked: "Blood: The Last Vampire" anime, “Van Helsing"

Applause is only right for the live-action "Blood: The Last Vampire" movie, sticking close to its anime cult hit counterpart. This must please its hardcore fans in some way. However, even though the film started with a remarkable opening scene, it could not save the whole film from being among the likes of director Uwe Boll's utter nonsense adaptations. It is mainly due to the additional story that does not derive from the anime.

Born to a human father and a vampire mother, the main character of the movie, Saya, has for centuries been a loner obsessed to get rid of the world of vampires. When she is sent onto an American military base in Tokyo by the clandestine organisation she works for, Saya immediately senses that this may be her opportunity to finally destroy Onigen, the evil patriarch of all vampires. Using her superhuman strength and her sword, she begins to rid the base of its evil infestation in a series of spectacular and elaborate showdowns.

The specially added storyline and characters might have worked for a movie like "Transformers," but for "Blood: The Last Vampire," director Chris Nohan just did not manage to pull it off. One main reason why he failed to achieve this is because of Allison Miller's poor acting and her inability to project realistic emotions of someone who is extremely shocked to see a vampire for the first time and towards other terrifying incidents depicted in the movie. For that reason alone, it solely killed the film because she was getting a majority of the running time, almost as much as Gianna Jun.

Gianna played the role of Saya exceptionally well for the most part of the movie due to probably being a veteran in the South Korean movie industry after breaking new grounds with the movie "My Sassy Girl" in 2001. Her depiction of Saya bears a resemblance with the anime version of her character despite facing a new challenge, which is acting in an English-speaking movie.

The cinematography for "Blood: The Last Vampire" is rich with graphical effects that are achieved through extensive post editing. However, there was nothing groundbreaking about the visuals despite its effort in trying to project its comical identity. Some scenes such as the battle under the rain were done with great artistry until a point where the scene might as well be just a photo instead of a scene for a movie. "Blood: The Last Vampire" is something to watch if you're into comical based movies.

Cinema Online, 08 June 2009