Blood: The Last Vampire, like its main character, is a bit of a crazy hybrid of a movie. It's an English language, French-Japanese co-production, filmed in Japan...and mostly set on an American Air Force base...starring a mixture of French, Japanese, American, English and Irish actors. That mixture has been cited by many critics as the movies greatest weakness...but I think it is its greatest asset.
That weird concoction of world actors, most of them speaking in a language or accent that isn't their own..give the whole affair a Highlander vibe (oh yes, that is cool).
The French/Japanese blend gives the film the balls an unimaginative and gutless (if made by a US studio, it would be watered down to Pg-13, no doubt) American action-movie wouldn't have. The look is raw. The tone freaky and edgey. The blood-letting overblown.
On the downside, it lacks any kind of originality...or a more clear vision of how to pull the material off to give it its own identity. The title character, Saya, is half-human, half vampire...whose mom went bad (much like Blade). She's a vamp with a soul (see TV's Angel). She's a vampire slayer that attends high school and who answers to a mysterious council (see Buffy). The army base scenes give a vibe from 93's Body Snatchers. The teens in Tokyo remind one of Tokyo Drift. The fight scenes recall Kill Bill and Jet Li's Hero. Even the truck chase is ripped directly, including truck design...winged vampire...to location, from Underworld 2.
But the action comes thick and fast, a bit too fast in places as Corey Yuen's impressive fight scenes are edited beyond comprehension in the first major ruckus. The effects are mostly passable with the exception of some shockinly realised flying demons. I didn't know you could make CGI so bad it would look like crap stop motion animation impressive.
Not bad...simply top notch, 3 star, Saturday-night-with-popcorn entertainment. But I can't help but think there's a lunatic cult film of Highlander proportions buried in there somewhere.
