The original story, in the anime, is of a girl called Saya. She happens to be at least several hundred years old, a vampire, the last of her kind, and hates an offshoot breed called Chiroptera. The Chiroptera are literally hematophagous bat-like creatures, or if you recall the comic book character Man-Bat (on steroids and not as cute). Saya kills and feeds off of the Chirptera. The story takes place in Viet Nam era Japan.
To give you a better idea of what it’s about I found this video.
This is the basis of the live-action film. While there have been a few changes, the core story is basically intact. Saya is now a half-human, half-vampire. She still is out to kill, just this time it’s other vampires. She is still incredibly old. And she still works with a mysterious government agency.
Saya has been made a bit older for the film. The time has been changed to around the 70’s, still in Japan. The film is in English with Japanese sub-titles overseas, which is a switch based on improving the number of people seeing the film (silly Americans can’t watch a film and read at the same time you know). And it looks like a solid film.
The look and feel of this movie is incredibly close to the original anime. This is likely due to the attentions of producer Bill Kong (who was producer of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), and the original direction thoughts of Ronny Yu (known best to American audiences for Fourmula 51, Bride of Chucky, Freddy vs. Jason, and Jet Li’s Fearless) – who became a producer on the film as well. Both men are very good when they are left alone to make a non-Hollywood style film, which Blood is. As for the director Chris Nahon, the only thing he has done that I am aware of is Kiss Of The Dragon. That was a so-so film, thus this may be his break-out or break-down piece.
If you know anime, you have likely know all about this film. If you don’t I suggest it anyway. It is rare that you get to have a plot (of some degree), action, martial arts, strong female leads, and solid visuals in a single movie. The fact that the film was made in English is just another benefit and reason to go see the film.
I realize that there is no hulking CGI robots, that the lead is Korean (Jun Ji-hyun also known as Gianna Jun for this English version film), and that there is a plot. Obviously that makes this film less appealing to some that prefer intergalactic robots that apparently are idiots and plot-holes so big that the NCC-1701 could fly through them. But perhaps these comments might change your mind
“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".
Will this film win an Oscar? No. But it should fill the void in a higher quality action films that nothing so far this year has hit upon from Hollywood. At least that’s what this movie preview concludes. I’ll review the actual film as soon as I can.
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