July 14th, 2009
The Bio:
Film - Blood: The Last Vampire (Live Action)
Genre(s) - Martial Arts/Horror/Fantasy/Adaptation
Studio/Company - Samuel Goldwyn Films (USA Distribution), East Wing Holdings & SAJ (Production)
Directed by - Chris Nahon
Written by - Kenji Kamiyama & Katsuya Terada (Original Animé Version), Chris Chow (Adaptation/Screenplay)
Starring - Gianna Jun, Koyuki, Allison Miller, Liam Cunningham
The Breakdown
-Visuals 3.5/5
Most people nowadays only care about how good things look, the latest mind numbingly realistic CG, crazy effects, well, this film spent all their budget on the wire work, martial arts training, stunts and a thing called a STORY. Yes, the creatures are spotty. Yes the prosthetic make-up looks fake. Yes, the spatter blood is reminiscent of the weird CG gobs in 300. But re-creating the stunning visuals from a cult animé ain't exactly easy to pull off in live action. All the non CG visuals are stunning, but what else would you expect from the people behind Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon?
-Accuracy/Faithfulness 4/5
What? An adaptation that's near perfect in its translation? Impossible! Actually, no, it isn't impossible. Yes, there are some changes made, some of them drastic, some added characters that might not necessarily need to be there, but overall the adaptation stays fairly true to the source material, which is rare in the age of the adaptation. I felt like I was back in the world of the Animé during many scenes of the film. Which brings me to the next point.
-Story 4/5
The subtle changes to the overall story are only done for the reason most changes of its nature are done; Appealing to North American/Mainstream audiences. At least with Blood: The Last Vampire you can call out and recognize moments, images or instances from the original Animé. Unlike the atrocity that was DragonBall: Evolution. -shudder-
-Characters/Acting 3.5/5
While normally, an Asian accent speaking English stands out and can make a film drag.. this is a film that requires it to make it believable and authentic. Gianna Jun, the actress portraying our half-breed heroine, delivers a wonderful performance true to character. Some of the filler characters and American actors/actresses.. yeah, not so much.
-Which is Which? + Final Thoughts
Now no adaptation is ever better than the original, or at least very rarely. This adaptation is no exception, however it does put most adaptations of its type to shame. Overall, Blood: The Last Vampire the Animé and its alternate storyline spin-off Blood+ are still better than their live action offspring. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't go see this film, or, since it's Limited Release (with potential to go wide), "see" the movie. It gives everyone's inner nerd a rejuvenated hope that live action adaptations of comics/games/animés CAN be good.
Now, the law here is that for every good adaptation there will be two shitty adaptations. So M. Night Shamaylan's adaptation of the popular Avatar: The Last Airbender is going to SUCK. But at least we have the live action Ghost in the Shell, Ninja Scroll, Akira, Cowboy Beebop, Robotech and "Hollywood" Death Note to round things out. My hope is that the live action GitS and Ninja Scroll are the two good ones out of the stream.
Overall the live action Blood: The Last Vampire receives a 4/5 rating from me.
Secks Shae Community Member 
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