Blood: The Last Vampire (2009 film)
Encyclopedia
Blood: The Last Vampire, released in Japan as , is a 2009 horror-action film, a Hong Kong-French-British co-production; it is the remake of the 2000 anime
film of the same name
.
Directed by Chris Nahon
and co-produced by French company Pathé
and Hong Kong company Edko with the blessing of Production I.G, the English-language film was released in Japan and other Asian markets on May 29, 2009. It was released in the United Kingdom on June 26, 2009 and saw a limited release to theaters in the United States starting on July 10, 2009. The film focuses on a half-human, half-vampire girl named Saya (Gianna Jun) who hunts full-blooded vampires in partnership with humans and seeks to destroy Onigen, the most powerful of vampires.
samurai
who hunts vampires. Raised by a man named Kato (Yasuaki Kurata), she works loosely with an organization known as "The Council", a secret society that has been hunting vampires for centuries. Saya's motivation goes beyond duty; she wants revenge; Onigen (Koyuki
), the oldest of the vampires, murdered her father. For her next mission, she goes undercover as a student in Kanto High School near the Yokota Air Base
in Tokyo
.
When she is introduced in her class, Saya's appearance quickly attracts the negative attention of a female classmate, Sharon (Masiela Lusha
). The daughter of the base's general Alice McKee (Allison Miller
) is also bothered with the attention. At her school, she finds herself being mocked. Alice is asked by her Kendo
instructor Powell (Colin Salmon
) to stay for the Kendo practice due to her poor performance. As soon as the teacher leaves, she finds herself at the mercy of Sharon and her sidekick friend who wield sharp bladed katana
s to taunt and torment her. An elaborate fight sequence ensues. Saya shows up just in time to stop Sharon from slashing Alice’s throat. Despite Saya’s effort to disguise her activity, Alice sees Sharon and her friend being butchered. However it is soon revealed that Sharon and her friend are vampires in disguise.
Because "The Council" cleans up the bodies of the demons, Alice's father does not believe her story. Determined to make her own investigation, Alice goes to the bar where her Kendo instructor usually hangs out. To her horror, her instructor as well as the rest of the people in the bar turned out to be vampires. Once again Saya came to her rescue and had to fight off hordes of vampires surrounding them.
General Mckee (Larry Lamb
) did his own investigation on "The Council" agents, who disguise themselves as CIA agents. Alice arrived just in time to witness her father’s death. Her dying father gave her Saya’s address. With nowhere else to go, Alice decides to seek Saya's help. Fortunately Saya never swore loyalty to CIA and protects Alice instead. The two of them flee the area and went off to the mountains to find and slay Onigen.
In their pursuit, Alice and Saya are run off the side of the road by an attacking demon and they fall into a ravine. When Alice and Saya awaken they are in Ancient Japan where Saya was raised. Onigen appears, who reveals her true identity as Saya's mother, and fights Saya. Saya slays Onigen. Alice, who is injured during the fighting, wakes up to find herself at the wreckage of the truck being carried into an ambulance. Later she is interviewed about the events surrounding her father's death, but her interviewer does not believe her story about the vampires or the Council. When asked about where Saya is, Alice answers that she is "trying to find a way back from the other side of the looking glass."
. Like the source anime, it would be primarily filmed in English rather than Japanese
. Kong and Yu originally planned to finance the project themselves, but in November 2006, Production I.G officially consented to the film and began offering financial support. Rather than being paid a straight license, Production I.G will receive a percentage of all revenues generated by the film. Through ties to Manga Entertainment
, the French company Pathé
became the film's co-production company, joining the Hong Kong-based Edko. Yu was retained as its producer, but Chris Nahon
took over as the film's director.
South Korea
n actress Jun Ji-hyun
, who adopted the English screen name Gianna Jun for the release, plays the role of Saya.
In early announcements, it was stated that the film would be set in 1948 at a United States Army camp in Tokyo
, shortly after the conclusion of World War II
during the American occupation of Japan
. During production, the film was shifted to be set in the 1970s instead (the original setting for the anime).
licensed the film for release in North America, where it was released to theaters by Samuel Goldwyn Films
on July 10, 2009.
473,992 in Japan, and had a worldwide gross of US$5,731,143 worldwide. On the opening weekend of its limited release to twenty theaters in the United States, the film grossed $103,000.
Cathy Rose A. Garcia of The Korea Times
regarded Jun as being "probably the only bright spot in this film", criticizing the "convoluted plot... cheesy special effects and overacting from the supporting cast". She dismissed much of the film's violence as "gratuitous" and noted that although the stunts were "impressive" they also lacked originality, while the climactic showdown showed an absence of "any real excitement".
The film received generally negative reviews from American critics. Variety
s Peter Debruge was critical of editor Marco Cave for "reducing all but one of the fight scenes into a flurry of cuts", and described the CG effects as "herky-jerky". Commenting on the direction, he said, "Nahon privileges surface appeal and kinetic energy over narrative logic, and finesses the footage with an unpleasant yellow tinge that gives everything a vintage chopsocky feel". Felix Vasquez, Jr. of Cinema Crazed praised the film as "blockbuster material", finding the film's special effects to be "top notch" and Nahon's direction as "often times beautiful as he convinces us successfully that we're watching a vampire period piece". Conversely, he felt the film lacked a real story, focusing mostly on sword-fights, and that the character of Alice was "dead weight" and a token character added to avoid the film being completely Asian.
The Hollywood Reporter
s Maggie Lee praised Jun's performance as Saya, feeling that she "displays ample aptitude for being an action heroine, doing most of her own tendon-twisting martial arts stunts and looking utterly fetching in a sailor suit that could turn any guy into a uniform-fetishist". However, she felt the direction and screenplay lacked "freshness" and "nuance", the special effects and choreography "cool" but unimpressive, and the ending predictable. Roger Ebert
rated the film three out of four stars, stating that it was "surprisingly entertaining" and a "CGI fantasy". He found the plot to be "inconsequential" to the action sequences. While he felt that Gianna was "never really convincing as a martial artist", he praised her for her "sympathetic performance" which he felt held the film together. As a whole, he found the movie to be "sincere as an entertainment" that "looks good" and is "atmospheric", and notes that he will be watching for Gianna in future films. The film holds a 20% on Rotten Tomatoes
.
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
film of the same name
Blood: The Last Vampire
Blood: The Last Vampire is a 2000 anime film produced by Production I.G and SPE Visual Works and directed by Hiroyuki Kitakubo. The film premiered in theaters in Japan on November 18, 2000...
.
Directed by Chris Nahon
Chris Nahon
Chris Nahon is a French film director best known for directing the films Kiss of the Dragon, Empire of the Wolves, and Blood: The Last Vampire.- Filmography :-External links:...
and co-produced by French company Pathé
Pathé
Pathé or Pathé Frères is the name of various French businesses founded and originally run by the Pathé Brothers of France.-History:...
and Hong Kong company Edko with the blessing of Production I.G, the English-language film was released in Japan and other Asian markets on May 29, 2009. It was released in the United Kingdom on June 26, 2009 and saw a limited release to theaters in the United States starting on July 10, 2009. The film focuses on a half-human, half-vampire girl named Saya (Gianna Jun) who hunts full-blooded vampires in partnership with humans and seeks to destroy Onigen, the most powerful of vampires.
Plot
A young woman in the train eyes a nervous jittery man. In a flash, he is chased down the train and the young woman slices him in half. The young woman casually steps out of the train and is identified as Saya (Gianna Jun), a four hundred year-old skilled half human-half vampireDhampir
A Dhampir in Balkan folklore is the child of a vampire father and a human mother. The term is sometimes spelled dhampyre, dhamphir, or dhampyr. Dhampir powers are similar to those of vampires, but without the usual weaknesses...
samurai
Samurai
is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...
who hunts vampires. Raised by a man named Kato (Yasuaki Kurata), she works loosely with an organization known as "The Council", a secret society that has been hunting vampires for centuries. Saya's motivation goes beyond duty; she wants revenge; Onigen (Koyuki
Koyuki
, better known as , is a Japanese model and actress.Koyuki was born in Zama. She started her modeling career in 1995 and has since starred in various Japanese dramas, TV and magazine ad campaigns and films. She frequently appears in Japanese print and television campaigns for the electronics...
), the oldest of the vampires, murdered her father. For her next mission, she goes undercover as a student in Kanto High School near the Yokota Air Base
Yokota Air Base
, is a United States Air Force base in the city of Fussa, one of 26 cities in the Tama Area, or Western Tokyo.The base houses 14,000 personnel. The base occupies a total area of and has a runway...
in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
.
When she is introduced in her class, Saya's appearance quickly attracts the negative attention of a female classmate, Sharon (Masiela Lusha
Masiela Lusha
Masiela Lusha is an American author, actress, producer and humanitarian who first gained recognition after starring in film and TV projects such as ABC's George Lopez and Sony Picture's Blood: The Last Vampire...
). The daughter of the base's general Alice McKee (Allison Miller
Allison Miller
Allison Miller is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Michelle Benjamin on the NBC series Kings.-Early life:...
) is also bothered with the attention. At her school, she finds herself being mocked. Alice is asked by her Kendo
Kendo
, meaning "Way of The Sword", is a modern Japanese martial art of sword-fighting based on traditional Japanese swordsmanship, or kenjutsu.Kendo is a physically and mentally challenging activity that combines strong martial arts values with sport-like physical elements.-Practitioners:Practitioners...
instructor Powell (Colin Salmon
Colin Salmon
Colin Salmon is a British actor best known for playing the character Charles Robinson in three James Bond films.-Personal life:...
) to stay for the Kendo practice due to her poor performance. As soon as the teacher leaves, she finds herself at the mercy of Sharon and her sidekick friend who wield sharp bladed katana
Katana
A Japanese sword, or , is one of the traditional bladed weapons of Japan. There are several types of Japanese swords, according to size, field of application and method of manufacture.-Description:...
s to taunt and torment her. An elaborate fight sequence ensues. Saya shows up just in time to stop Sharon from slashing Alice’s throat. Despite Saya’s effort to disguise her activity, Alice sees Sharon and her friend being butchered. However it is soon revealed that Sharon and her friend are vampires in disguise.
Because "The Council" cleans up the bodies of the demons, Alice's father does not believe her story. Determined to make her own investigation, Alice goes to the bar where her Kendo instructor usually hangs out. To her horror, her instructor as well as the rest of the people in the bar turned out to be vampires. Once again Saya came to her rescue and had to fight off hordes of vampires surrounding them.
General Mckee (Larry Lamb
Larry Lamb
Sir Albert Lamb, commonly known as Larry Lamb was a British newspaper editor. He was editor of The Sun from 1969 to 1972 and again from 1975 to 1981, and also of the Daily Express from 1983 to 1986...
) did his own investigation on "The Council" agents, who disguise themselves as CIA agents. Alice arrived just in time to witness her father’s death. Her dying father gave her Saya’s address. With nowhere else to go, Alice decides to seek Saya's help. Fortunately Saya never swore loyalty to CIA and protects Alice instead. The two of them flee the area and went off to the mountains to find and slay Onigen.
In their pursuit, Alice and Saya are run off the side of the road by an attacking demon and they fall into a ravine. When Alice and Saya awaken they are in Ancient Japan where Saya was raised. Onigen appears, who reveals her true identity as Saya's mother, and fights Saya. Saya slays Onigen. Alice, who is injured during the fighting, wakes up to find herself at the wreckage of the truck being carried into an ambulance. Later she is interviewed about the events surrounding her father's death, but her interviewer does not believe her story about the vampires or the Council. When asked about where Saya is, Alice answers that she is "trying to find a way back from the other side of the looking glass."
Cast
- Gianna Jun as Saya Otonashi (as Gianna)
- Allison MillerAllison MillerAllison Miller is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Michelle Benjamin on the NBC series Kings.-Early life:...
as Alice McKee - Masiela LushaMasiela LushaMasiela Lusha is an American author, actress, producer and humanitarian who first gained recognition after starring in film and TV projects such as ABC's George Lopez and Sony Picture's Blood: The Last Vampire...
as Sharon - JJ FeildJJ FeildJohn Joseph Feild , known professionally as J. J. Feild, is an Anglo-American actor.-Early and personal life:John Joseph Feild was born in Boulder, Colorado, to British academic Reshad Feild and his American wife. Through his father, he is a relative of British astronomer John Feild...
as Luke - KoyukiKoyuki, better known as , is a Japanese model and actress.Koyuki was born in Zama. She started her modeling career in 1995 and has since starred in various Japanese dramas, TV and magazine ad campaigns and films. She frequently appears in Japanese print and television campaigns for the electronics...
as Onigen - Yasuaki Kurata as Kato Takatora
- Larry LambLarry Lamb (actor)Lawrence Douglas "Larry" Lamb is an English actor who has worked frequently in television. He is best known for playing one of the greatest villains of British soap Archie Mitchell in the BBC television soap EastEnders, Michael Shipman in the BBC television show Gavin & Stacey and Mischievous...
as General McKee - Andrew PleavinAndrew PleavinAndrew Pleavin is an English actor known for his appearances in the TV film Attila, Unstoppable, Batman Begins, Attack of the Gryphon, Return to House on Haunted Hill and his roles in the British police dramas Messiah III: the Promise and the Bill...
as Frank Nielsen - Michael ByrneMichael Byrne (actor)Michael Byrne is an English actor noted for his roles on film and television. He has often been cast in Nazi military roles such as Colonel Vogel in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Obergruppenführer Odilo Globocnik in the BBC radio dramatisation of the novel Fatherland by Robert Harris...
as Elder - Colin SalmonColin SalmonColin Salmon is a British actor best known for playing the character Charles Robinson in three James Bond films.-Personal life:...
as Powell - Liam CunninghamLiam CunninghamLiam Cunningham is an Irish actor. He has appeared in numerous film and television productions including A Little Princess, First Knight, Jude and the BBC One science-fiction drama series Outcasts...
as Michael Harrison - Ailish OConnor as Linda
- Constantine GregoryConstantine GregoryConstantine Gregory is an actor and dialect coach. Gregory was born in New York City in 1942 as Constantine Liebert, or Leebaert, of a Dutch father and Russian–born mother. On their divorce, he was given his mother's surname of de Goguel...
as Mr. Henry - Joey Anaya as Creature
- Khary PaytonKhary PaytonKhary Payton is an American actor and voice actor known for his voice characterizations in animated cartoons, having portrayed Cyborg in the Teen Titans animated series and Aqualad in Young Justice. In the cartoon series Justice League, Payton provided the voice of the villain Ten...
as Creature
Production
In May 2006, Bill Kong announced that he was producing a live-action film adaptation of Blood: The Last Vampire, directed by Ronny YuRonny Yu
Ronny Yu Yan-Tai is a Hong Kong director, producer, and movie writer. Yu was born in Hong Kong and graduated from Ohio University. He has worked on both Hong Kong and American films.- Career :...
. Like the source anime, it would be primarily filmed in English rather than Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
. Kong and Yu originally planned to finance the project themselves, but in November 2006, Production I.G officially consented to the film and began offering financial support. Rather than being paid a straight license, Production I.G will receive a percentage of all revenues generated by the film. Through ties to Manga Entertainment
Manga Entertainment
Manga Entertainment is a producer, licensor and distributor of Japanese animation in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Australia and New Zealand...
, the French company Pathé
Pathé
Pathé or Pathé Frères is the name of various French businesses founded and originally run by the Pathé Brothers of France.-History:...
became the film's co-production company, joining the Hong Kong-based Edko. Yu was retained as its producer, but Chris Nahon
Chris Nahon
Chris Nahon is a French film director best known for directing the films Kiss of the Dragon, Empire of the Wolves, and Blood: The Last Vampire.- Filmography :-External links:...
took over as the film's director.
South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
n actress Jun Ji-hyun
Jun Ji-hyun
Jun Ji-hyun also known as Gianna Jun, is a South Korean actress and model. She had her breakthrough role in 2001 as The Girl in the film My Sassy Girl which became the highest grossing Korean comedy of all time...
, who adopted the English screen name Gianna Jun for the release, plays the role of Saya.
In early announcements, it was stated that the film would be set in 1948 at a United States Army camp in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, shortly after the conclusion of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
during the American occupation of Japan
Occupied Japan
At the end of World War II, Japan was occupied by the Allied Powers, led by the United States with contributions also from Australia, India, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. This foreign presence marked the first time in its history that the island nation had been occupied by a foreign power...
. During production, the film was shifted to be set in the 1970s instead (the original setting for the anime).
Distribution
Originally slated to be released worldwide in spring 2008, the film premiered in Japan on May 29, 2009, and was released in the United Kingdom on June 26, 2009. Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions GroupSony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group
Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions is a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment. The company specializes in acquiring and producing films for a wide variety of distribution platforms, but the group's main focus is non-theatrical markets .SPWA was formerly a division of Sony Pictures Home...
licensed the film for release in North America, where it was released to theaters by Samuel Goldwyn Films
Samuel Goldwyn Films
Samuel Goldwyn Films is an independent film company founded by Samuel Goldwyn, Jr., the son of the Hollywood business magnate/mogul, Samuel Goldwyn...
on July 10, 2009.
Reception
The film grossed US$United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
473,992 in Japan, and had a worldwide gross of US$5,731,143 worldwide. On the opening weekend of its limited release to twenty theaters in the United States, the film grossed $103,000.
Cathy Rose A. Garcia of The Korea Times
The Korea Times
The Korea Times is the oldest of three English-language newspapers published daily in South Korea, along with The Korea Herald and The JoongAng Daily. It is part of the same newspaper group as Hankook Ilbo, a major Korean language daily...
regarded Jun as being "probably the only bright spot in this film", criticizing the "convoluted plot... cheesy special effects and overacting from the supporting cast". She dismissed much of the film's violence as "gratuitous" and noted that although the stunts were "impressive" they also lacked originality, while the climactic showdown showed an absence of "any real excitement".
The film received generally negative reviews from American critics. Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
s Peter Debruge was critical of editor Marco Cave for "reducing all but one of the fight scenes into a flurry of cuts", and described the CG effects as "herky-jerky". Commenting on the direction, he said, "Nahon privileges surface appeal and kinetic energy over narrative logic, and finesses the footage with an unpleasant yellow tinge that gives everything a vintage chopsocky feel". Felix Vasquez, Jr. of Cinema Crazed praised the film as "blockbuster material", finding the film's special effects to be "top notch" and Nahon's direction as "often times beautiful as he convinces us successfully that we're watching a vampire period piece". Conversely, he felt the film lacked a real story, focusing mostly on sword-fights, and that the character of Alice was "dead weight" and a token character added to avoid the film being completely Asian.
The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
s Maggie Lee praised Jun's performance as Saya, feeling that she "displays ample aptitude for being an action heroine, doing most of her own tendon-twisting martial arts stunts and looking utterly fetching in a sailor suit that could turn any guy into a uniform-fetishist". However, she felt the direction and screenplay lacked "freshness" and "nuance", the special effects and choreography "cool" but unimpressive, and the ending predictable. Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
rated the film three out of four stars, stating that it was "surprisingly entertaining" and a "CGI fantasy". He found the plot to be "inconsequential" to the action sequences. While he felt that Gianna was "never really convincing as a martial artist", he praised her for her "sympathetic performance" which he felt held the film together. As a whole, he found the movie to be "sincere as an entertainment" that "looks good" and is "atmospheric", and notes that he will be watching for Gianna in future films. The film holds a 20% on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
.