User reviews

With credit to the creators of this live action edition of Blood: The Last Vampire, they really didn't have much to work with to begin with and before I pick apart the movie I feel obligated to preface with this. As an owner of the original Anime and a fan of the Blood series in itself, I was looking forward to a nice tie-in with the saga of Saya the Femme Vampire Slayer. What I got in this movie was a nice collection of katana action, low-budget CGI and poor acting. This isn't to say that BTLV is a bad movie, just one that I would only recommend to fans of the series itself.

What the movie tries to do with the aforementioned anime, is take that exact same story and expand it a bit to give us some history on Saya. We are shown her human father, vampire mother and even a childhood love interest. Our Saya is given emotion (she even cries a bit) and worst than that, she is given a sidekick in Alice McKee (Allison Miller). Though I found Saya (Gianna Jun) to be a very good casting choice, which coupled with the choppy but interesting action scenes, made her seem similar to the anime Saya, I found Alice to be absolutely unbearable. The character Alice is the American element to the movie, being a rebellious teenager stealing daddy's car, talking back and doing all the annoying things that teenagers in movies tend to do.

The jerky camera angles, made some of the early fighting scenes very confusing. However it does get better as the movie progresses and some of the battles are quite interesting once the camera settles down. The acting was not bad as a whole aside from Alice whose crying and screaming were so fake I found myself shaking my head every time she had a burst of "emotion". The direction was good enough and we get a back story as it progresses unlike the original anime. Still when it ended I was a bit confused about Saya even with the history given and it made me wonder why they didn't stick with more of the elements from the anime series.

If it were only up to actress Gianna Jun and her portrayal of the killer Vampire Saya, I would rank this with high points but the weight of the bad acting by the supporting cast, the already silly story, awful CGI and the unnecessary military portion of the movie drug it down way below that. Although I would watch it again, this would probably be due to my being a fan of the character moreso than a movie watcher.

Full review: www.SpicyMovieDogs.com

I just got back from seeing this movie and was disappointed. I actually knew relatively little about the movie aside from the plot synopsis going in, and still I was disappointed.

The more I think about the movie, the lower I have been setting the ranking. The acting was for the most part okay or sub-par: the main character, Saya, had one look, the sulking schoolgirl. Alice, the white girl side-kick seemed to do well, but have terrible direction, as if her character was never quite in the right mood for the scene.

The action scenes were pretty weak. School girl swings her sword and a demon gets cut in half and super CGI ichor comes out. Whole bunch of demons attack, girl swings her sword and a couple demons fall spurting CGI ichor. I don't need an action scene to be believable, but I do expect it to have life. There was one action scene that reminded me of old school ninja movies (which is actually a good thing) but for the most part the action was dull and little more than a series of decent stills strung together.

The writing was campy and sub-par. A number of scenes caused the audience to laugh because the dialog and scene as a whole just came across as ridiculous.

I think the best way to describe the movie is a Frenchman making an American movie from a Japanese script.

This is one movie that needs a do-over. I say this as a fan of the original anime. The leading actress was good, her teacher (Kato) was good, actually, the cast were fine, it was the script that's bad and the CGI was awful. This movie needs some money thrown at it with a better writer. I believe the director had his hands tied 'cause there wasn't enough money for what he wanted to do. I've seen directors make a wonderful movie out of nothing but then, at least the script was sound. Here, the director had no chance 'cause the script sucked and he had no money (haha!) I blame the producer for this. It's their job to bring in good talent. Talented writers, directors, actors, and money.

I hope someone with balls picks this film up and does a sequel that does the original title justice.

In 1970, the four hundred year-old skilled samurai Saya (Gianna Jun) is sent to the Kanto High School in an American military base in Tokyo by the Council, a secret society that has been hunting vampires for centuries. Saya has the appearance of a teenager but is the tormented half-breed creature with the soul of her human father and the powers and need of blood of her vampire mother. She is obsessed to face the powerful demon Onigen (Koyuki) that killed her father. In the base, Saya saves Alice McKee (Allison Miller), who is the daughter of General McKee (Larry Lamb) and commander of the base, from the attack of several vampires. When General McKee is killed by a member of the Council, Alice runs to the hotel where Saya is lodged. They join forces and go to the countryside to chase Onigen.

"Blood: The Last Vampire" is a highly entertaining adventure. The screenplay and the choreography of the fights blend many other movies and there is no originality. However, it works basically because of Gianna Jun and Allison Miller that perform very likable and charismatic characters. In the end, this film is not a masterpiece but I liked what I have seen. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Caçadores de Vampiros" ("Vampire Hunters")

I finally had a chance to watch the movie, a movie I had wanted to watch. It is not as bad as what others say if you know that this movie is meant for entertainment, a movie that is not to be taken seriously. The stunts and fighting are great, done by action director Corey Yuen. The thing disappointing is the much over-hype last battle, it is featured in every trailer and TV spot but in the end, it is not what I had expected.

The story: The simple adventure story. But since, it is a martial arts movie, I expected cool stunts obviously done with wires. The fight scenes expect the last one do not disappoint. The CGI of he monsters may not be that good but it is still bearable. The CGI blood is also bearable, but the slow-motion will get old. I am surprised that it has a rating of M-18. It is not that violent and most of the blood is CGI and solid.

Overall: Fans of the short animated will catch this out. Those looking for a cool martial arts movie will catch this too but don't expect it to be Asian martial arts movies. This is another adaptation of the animated following Dragonball evolution and Speed racer.

The movie started out quite promisingly. But after the first 30-odd minutes, I could tell it was going to be a drag.

The stunts got old really fast, the slowmos got quite irritating (and there were *plenty* of them), the monsters that pop up do so in copious amounts for what seemed like a really small scene, the REAL monsters look like badly made puppets - and the finale was... hhmmmm. Quite a let down. Trite comes to mind. Oh, and a LOT of WTF moments.

Sorry, I'm quite prepared to leave my brains at the door for a good action flick, but this is really not it. I would have to leave my brains on the moon to find this an exciting weekend-type movie.

And I cannot for the life of me figure out how the hell this movie got an 8 rating at this point in time.

Martial arts, women with swords, and VAMPIRES...what's not to love???!!! Yes the CGI could have been more realistic... Yes some of the acting could have been better... But if you go into a movie like this looking for academy-award winning performances you're barking up the wrong tree. BLOOD The Last Vampire is a fun adventure with good visuals, cool styling, and great fight scenes. Compared to the thin/non-existent plots in the latest blockbusters coming out of Hollywood this summer, BLOOD is almost an Oscar contender. If you're looking to take an exciting journey into a world where demons are among us hunted down by hot, sword wielding, bad-ass chicks...buy some popcorn, sit back, and enjoy the ride!

This movie has everything going for it.

There's action, tragedy, great cinematography, good directing.

But, there is a great problem with the script, its almost like budget cuts came in half through the movie and its not that they sacrificed quality in the process.

It feels like they were half way through a 3 hour epic and they wrote in a quick step to the final scene, to make it 2 hours.

Sure if you want to play up to the existential art-house of cinema the ending would have played out, but the entire movie before it wasn't going in that direction.

It seems like some parts of the movie were directed by somebody else, especially the flashbacks. The flashbacks alone crap on the rest of the movie.

I guarantee this movie for entertainment. A bit of tragedy and entertainment. But there is definitely a hole in the movie that should make everyone who watches it think 'WTF', how did it even get to this point, where is the rest of the movie.

If it had the rest of the movie, its 9/10.

For what it is, its a quality action/vampire movie.

For what it's not, wait for DVD(as long as its on a big TV and HD) because some of the sword scenes are brutal.

Alright first off I will say I liked this movie and the style it is going for. If you are in to Directors who take a unique visual approach to their films then you will enjoy this film. The style here is very cool the way the characters are filmed and the surrounding are just beautiful. The fight scenes are good but not the best and at times the camera cuts too much during them. The special effects were very good and did not look cheap, yeah the blood floats but that seems to be more of a style choice. This movie is not really about Vampires and that is were this film falls short, is that its a lil different than the trailer I saw. The script on this one is barely there a lot of the time I felt confused as to the characters purpose of the story. This film reminded me of a film I saw earlier this year Suki Yaki Western Django, the style it used and also there seems to be some homages to the work of Quentin Tarantino done in a very nice way. Here they paid homage like he pays homage to other films and Directors.

This would have been a really great movie if they had removed all of the American aspects had been removed. Saya was well acted and a good hero. The fight scenes were well choreographed and made the movie exciting. Having a 24 year old play high school aged Alice was a bad idea. She was a poor actress and seemed spastic at times. Her last shot in the move made her look like she needed to be locked in the loony bin. This movie is about Saya, a half human, half vampire looking to kill as many vampires as possible and to avenge the deaths of her father and the man that raised her. The fact that she was "controlled" by American forces did not fit well into the movie. Most of the American scenes just looked like shots from bad 70's movies. If this movie had just followed Saya on her quest, it would have been a great action movie. I enjoyed this movie very much despite the American side-intervention.

I wanted to like this, i really did, I have seen the anime and thought live action version may not match up but it would good to see the transition. Boy was i wrong this thing is entirely different and that would not be too bad if this was different and good as a movie in its own right, but this is difference and Awful. The lines that they speak was something from self help books. "Saya promise me one thing, Promise me you will never doubt yourself" It was like watching a girls sleepover with the odd occasion of a Vampire/Demon that had resemblance to a Dwarf.

The Start, The Middle, The end. Nothing saves this movie.

I was looking forward to this film as a Buffy the Vampire fan, anime and martial arts film lover. I was disappointed from start to finish. To call this a B Movie is an insult to B movies everywhere. It had a good premise, but terrible execution.

The film is supposed to take place in Japan in 1970. I'm not sure if the filmmakers intended to use the technology from the 1970s to make it seem more authentic, but the special effects were laughable. The demons looked like something out of the old Sinbad films from the 1950s or Clash of the Titans in the early 80s.

The acting, storyline and "special effects" can only be described as campy. The best kind of campy is unintentional camp ala the movie Showgirls. From that standpoint I should have enjoyed this film, because it took itself way to seriously. Despite the camp factor, I was bored out of my mind and happy to see this film end.

"No depth, no emotions, pure blood and gore. Just the way the Americans liked it, and what the whole hype was about." The above is such a vast generalization. Not every film being made in Asia is a work of art, nor our all films made in America shallow and gory.

There are plenty of sophisticated films and television shows made for American audiences that, doesn't rely on "blood and gore", nor are they "devoid of depth or emotions" and that includes anime cartoons. They are made in Japan and dubbed in English, and shown directly on American television. They don't change the story lines to suit the American audience, and they don't suffer in popularity as a result.

The fact that this film was terrible had nothing to do with the American audiences "likes or dislikes." Perhaps if American filmmakers were involved in the project they would have helped with the special effects and improved the poor dialogue. And they wouldn't have hired English actors to do bad North American accents either.

The Hong Kong film makers and French director only have themselves to blame for making a film of such poor quality.

For those who lived under a rock or haven't really gotten into the whole anime phase back when it was really roaring in the 90's with titles like wicked city, devilman, akira, ghost in the shell, Genocyber and ninja scrolls. Blood: the last vampire was one of the key anime films that tried breaking ground between the lines of animation and computers at the time when technology was getting advance. One of the signature looks of the film was the character Saya and her school girl outfit which is a staple of sexuality on the eastern side. Since then Blood has produced a TV anime series and imitators alike.....Now we have a movie which has its good moments but there are too many flaws to count, but before you decide to put this on your skip it list, let me tell you the good and bad stuff.

Good: Casting. You don't need to stretch your imagination far to know that Saya needs to be played by a beautiful young Asian girl and yes they do get that part right. The rest of the cast is give or take, you don't really care for them to be on screen for a long time so they don't stay too long to take away from the main event. Saya is pretty much the star of the show and it is only her that carries the movie. The rest of the cast are pretty much part of the body bag pile up.

Not so good: Special FX. Normally I would forgive a movie for bad special FX cuz come on! story comes first. The CGI feels weak compared to even low budget FX films which has more bad acting then bad effects. Though it doesn't take away from the performances and the fluid action scenes, you really feel that they could've took more time adding in shadows and texture. The gore FX is all CGI which most of todays films seem to be going at but I feel they should of added a squib here or two.

Okay: story. Saya's family is killed by the demons and she wants revenge!! How many times have we seen that in a tough chick action film? The story doesn't hurt the character or the film itself. She needs a reason to kill anyway, so no points off on the story.

What it needs: Better effects. To me this character is too cool for bad CGI, I was relieved to see a movie that wasn't so bland or fake like "Underworld" or so boring and lifeless like "Daybreakers". Blood is a 1 against a hundred type of film and those movies, especially with a girl in a school uniform, should always have good FX.

Worthy of a sequel?: Yes. It has flaws and some weak characters but I have no problem with Saya leaping into the darkness and fighting the armies of hell! If there should be a sequel, then so be it. Hopefully a better budget and FX would make it worth the while.

The only redeeming feature of the movie was Kato, and his presence in the film totalled no less than 10 minutes.

The excessive use of bad CGI's, poorly choreographed fight scenes coupled with an abysmal script and endless potholes and pointless side stories, and it's understandable why everyone decided to leave midway through the film.

Most characters were undeveloped and poorly acted, and the story lacked a certain.. well consistency. It seemed to spurt in all different directions. There was no climax, the big boss fight scene at the end refused to deliver. Everything looked awful, sounded awful and was in fact, just plain awful.

I would avoid this film like the plague.