The magic that can occur when two apparently distinct concepts or genres meet in a single moment is a power I learned not
to underestimate long ago. I've seen it in films, such as Franklyn which intertwines comic book fantasy with psychological thriller. Anyone that has ever had a cheese and jam sandwich will swear the allegiance ordained by higher powers. My two daughters, definitely from the same genetic stock, have such contrasting personalities that I fear one day someone will ask me if they are both really mine. As such I was not going to let myself be put off from seeing Blood: The Last Vampire just because it looked like the love-child of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Buffy The Vampire Slayer.
In Japan during the time of the Vietnam War, Saya, a half-breed three-hundred-year-old vampire, is on a mission to destroy the oldest of all the demons, Onigen. Aided by the mysterious Council, who provide her with fresh blood and all the clean-up crews she could want, she is enrolled in school on an American military base in Japan in the hope of finally catching up with her Nemesis. However, once there she finds her first true friend in many centuries, Alice McKee, General's daughter. When the internal bickerings of the Council escalate and Onigen makes her play against Saya, the pair find themselves embroiled in an epic battle across this world and the next.
I am a big fan of vampire films, comic book films and I have loved asian action-flicks such as Crouching Tiger, Hero and House of Flying Daggers in my time as well. In fact I was so intent on enjoying this film that when it started to bleed out I was still trying to give it a chance.
The film is almost entirely in English aside from some historical flashbacks, and one of the key examples of concepts thrown together is the meeting of the West with the East, both in the form of the two friends and the American Air Force base nestled in the heart of Japan.
The film has all the katana-slicing action you would expect but many elements of the action are disappointing. There is a lot of slow motion but I'm not talking about the Matrix-style see-every-grain-of-sand slow-motion but the type that breaks the action into individual frames like flicking through a picture book. Apart from being extremely disorienting, this technique obscures all the detail, and hence all the beauty, of the fight taking place. I'm sure that underneath the action is breath-taking but rest assured you will never see it.
The costumes are suitable for the period the film is set, with some whimsical historical costumes for those scenes as well, but the décor is not all that looks like it has sprung lose from the seventies. The blood effects are new and sort of interesting I guess but the CGI monsters in the film, mercifully sparse in appearance, are like some of the old hammer-horror attempts. They are so unreal that they distract from the rest of the film. Add to this a plot that leaps all over the place, a twist that will only surprise if you fell asleep early on and closing scenes that are infuriatingly abrupt and confusing. I'll be honest, I'm struggling to recommend this one.
There were redeeming points. A battle taking place on a truck wedged between two sides of crack in the earth (don't ask why, just accept the decent action sequence with grace) added some flare to proceedings, only to be spoiled by a standard action sequence in some sort of afterlife. The political upheaval within the ranks of the Council is entertainingly dark, but spoiled by the fact that it doesn't seem to reach any kind of climax. Everything I saw in this film that made me think “yes, this is worth watching now” was immediately decapitated by a major flaw. An hour in I was still doing my utmost to enjoy the spectacle and trying to persuade myself budget must have been a factor, but to be honest if you're sitting in the cinema trying to make up excuses for the film-makers after an hour that isn't a particularly good sign for the film in question.
I wanted to enjoy this film. I wasn't expecting much, but I went in with a really open mind and a willingness to defend any shred of genius in this movie to the last. And I'm sorry, but I can't defend it. You see, slapping together disparate ideas and concepts I not a magic formula for genius. Those ideas have to fuse seamlessly, they have to work in synergy with one another to form a better whole. Franklyn's insanity clicks into place like the cogs of a watch. A cheese and jam sandwich works because the tang of cheese is heightened by the sweetness of jam and vice versa. And my daughters are a perfect ying and yang because each of their weaknesses is the other's strength. Blood: The Last Vampire does not work, and it doesn't work because it has no idea what it's trying to be. It's not East or West or in-between, it is not horror or action or a blend of the two. It doesn't commit. Instead of drawing bold brush-strokes to pull you in, it's sitting in the corner of a darkened classroom doodling.