Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!
Plot Summary: A half human/half vampire, named Saya, must do battle against legions of demons infesting 1970s Japan.
Review: Oh, what a mess. This is actually a remake of an anime that, while short, is superior in almost every regard; the original was also titled "Blood: The Last Vampire." I can understand why they would deviate from the original material in order to flesh out a full length feature, but the padding was too apparent and unnecessary when you factor in that the original film inspired an awesome TV show, "Blood+," in comparison. Between the original, the TV show, and even the manga source, how could you not incorporate any of those ideas and, in turn, produce a film this stupid? There were even discrepancies in the acting because you have some decent actors like our lead, Saya, played well by Ji-hyun Jun (cute enough, but she looks so much better on the poster), and her so-called handlers, Michael and Luke. But then you have totally abysmal acting from the likes of the co-lead, Alice, her father, and the first two demons. Oddly enough, you have actors that could have been pretty good if they had more than two scenes to work with like the main villainess, Onigen, played by Koyuki Kato of "The Last Samurai" fame.
I don't know who to blame here, because the editing is a major factor in why this movie sucks; every scene feels random, out of place, and nonsensical. At the same time, this film was either brutalized during the editing process or there was never a flowing continuity to begin with. Was there even a storyboarding phase in production? Despite all of this, there was still some potential, but, unfortunately, the more interesting ideas were wasted because they are never explained or end up simply mashed together incoherently. Saya's thunder is weakened with this friend plotline with Alice; honestly, Alice probably has more lines and more scenes than Saya and she's a made up character! Michael and Luke were kind of cool but should be replaced with the David character who is in both the original film and TV show. There is never clarification of what the hell Saya is fighting because they keep calling them demons yet they were supposed to be more primitive vampires called "chiropteran." This is further perplexing as Saya's creation conflicts with the notion that she and all the others are descended from this Onigen villain; what I mean to say is that if Saya was born from this Onigen, why is she so different from the so-called demons? Onigen herself is not explained except that she is an extremely loose interpretation of the Diva character from the TV show. The whole point of the story is that Saya wants to kill Onigen because she killed Saya's father and she works with her handlers, dubbed "The Council," in an effort to rid the world of these demons and track down Onigen; unbeknownst to Saya, although plainly obvious to the audience, Onigen is Saya's mother. A lot of this would be well and good if it weren't for one stupid subplot after another to spoil the story as a whole. You have shit with Luke mindlessly betraying Michael for no discernible reason, drama with Alice and her dad, Alice's dad trying to find out who Michael and Luke are, the demons running around Japan, Onigen's main crony having a backstory with Saya, Saya's upbringing with some old man, Saya's dad being some demon slayer, and this is pretty much how the whole movie rolls! There was no focus or sense of direction and the result is that the audience no longer gives a shit about what's going on. If this weren't bad enough, the special effects and CGI are atrocious to the point of embarrassment! No wonder this movie was delayed for at least a year!
Even if you ignore the TV show, how hard is it to recreate the basic principles of the original movie in live-action form? You can pretty much sum the original up as follows: vampire-esque, Japanese schoolgirl kills other vampires at US military base while under direction of a mysterious organization. The plot is so simple it almost writes itself yet retains enough room for growth or to turn into one hell of an action/horror helmed gloriously by some hot chick in the classic schoolgirl outfit! How could you go wrong with that formula?! Hell, Saya has absolutely no mystique this time around as all we do is hear about her past. In the original, the audience is suddenly caught up in a battle we can assume had been waging for centuries given by the ending when you see a photo of Saya from the 1800s. Here, Saya is borderline emo because she wants Onigen dead and has no reason to live beyond that until she pointlessly befriends Alice even though the two have no chemistry or connection; oh wait, was the lone scene of Alice defending Saya from an insult about her being Japanese (even though she's not) supposed to be character development?! There was actually way more chemistry between Michael questioning Saya's motives, the hint of his care for her, and even the look of hesitation and reflection by Saya as a reaction. Ugh. Obviously I don't recommend this movie unless you are a diehard fan of the original or TV show. Overall, this film is mediocre through and through with every good element counterbalanced by a terrible film aspect. I wanted and expected more, but, alas, there is no depth to be found.
Notable Moment: Probably when Saya has to mop up an entire bar worth of demons. It was a decent fight sequence, but it was still hindered by too many crappy effects shots.
Final Rating: 5/10
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