If you really want to see Jun Ji-hyun slash one crudely crafted monster after another, "Blood: The Last Vampire" is not a bad choice. If you want some thing more, the much-awaited Japanese anime-based action flick will probably leave you nursing a headache from the almost endless CGI fight sequences.
Jun, who has adopted "Gianna" as a new "easy-to-pronounce" name for international audiences, seems to have made great efforts to play all the action scenes, some of which certainly demanded long hours of practice, but that's all there is to see. It is unfortunate for viewers who want something more from her debut on a bigger entertainment arena outside of Korea.
Jun plays Saya, a vampire hunter whose tracks down monsters in 1970s Japan. Saya's initial encounter with demons in disguise happens in a high school on a U.S. army base. Without any explanation, she puts on a high school uniform while other American students are clad in casual clothes. She also carries a long case, whose content seems obviously suspicious. But forget reality; after all, the film's key proposition is that it is what Saya does that matters, not why.
The plot, if there is such a thing in "Blood," is that Saya wants to hunt down a chief demon Onigen (played by Japanese actress Koyuki). But before she can stage a showdown with her adversary slash-and-kick sequences are thrown on the screen, as if nothing else will satisfy the curiosity of moviegoers.
Saya's gloomy face, strangely matched with her schoolgirl uniform, sets the tone for the entire film: no self-deprecating humor in a film that attempts to be deadly serious in each and every scene. The resultant effect is almost unreal. Saya's key fighting skill is to slash, run, kick and repeat the pattern, while venting a girlish cry intermittently. Despite these not-so-lethal attacks, all her cartoonish demons fall to the ground.
The real shocker is flying monsters swooping down on a truck driven by Saya's sidekick Alice (Allison Miller). It is as if they lifted some bad footage from the cutting floor of Shim Hyung-rae's "D-War."
The camera relies heavily on fast cuts, close-ups and slow motion in a bid to spice up the otherwise boring set-piece actions. Even a heavy downpour does not add to the dramatic tension, because hundreds of funny-face monsters turn the focus to the sorry absence of a real punch.
Instead, hand-slitting, head-cutting and eye-gouging abound, which will drain the blood out of some of the more squeamish viewers.
The only memorable scene involves Saya's guardian and trainer Kato (Yasuaki Kurata), who showcases the potential of perilous martial arts in his make-or-break confrontation with the monsters in a forest.
The secretive Council, which supposedly gives direction, as well as human blood in a bottle to Saya, is an interesting element. But the Council is dragged out of the story, again without any convincing reason.
What's convincing, though, is Jun's English. She delivers her lines flawlessly, reflecting her study in the past two years for her Hollywood debut. Her fluency comes in sharp contrast to her counterpart Koyuki, whose English sentences are unintelligible.
Jun's comeback on the silver screen, especially through a non-Korean project, has duly raised expectations about her much-needed step forward from "My Sassy Girl," a Korean movie that catapulted her to Asia-wide fame and also cemented her trademark image as a wacky girl with an intriguing drinking habit.
Jun's transformation in "Blood" may not be as satisfactory as many expected, but she seems to have moved one step forward as an actress capable of delivering English lines confidently and kicking some butt with her long legs. This will bloody likely boost her chances of grabbing a role in another Hollywood project.
Blood," directed by Chris Nahon and distributed in Korea by Sidus FNH, will hit local theaters on June 11.
(insight@heraldm.com)
By Yang Sung-jin
source: Korea Herald
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