3 Jun 2009

Blood: The Last Vampire

Based on a popular anime, Blood: The Last Vampire features the Hollywood debut of sexy Korean star Jeon Ji Hyun as a neck-slicing vampire hunter. Our verdict? It lacks bite.

Director: Chris Nahon

Language: English

Starring: Gianna Jeon, Allison Miller, Liam Cunningham, JJ Feild, Koyuki, Yasuaki Kurata

Release Date: 4th June 2009

Rating: M18

After 6 years of learning English, sexy Korean superstar Jeon Ji Hyun (My Sassy Girl) is ready for her Hollywood debut. She even goes by a glamorous new name of Gianna, which she says is the Anglicised soundalike of her Korean name. Ji Hyun... Jee Hon... Gi On... Gi An... Gianna... See? She didn't anyhow come up with the name, okay?

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Blood: The Last Vampire is adapted from a popular Japanese anime and novel series of the same name. Gianna plays an ageless vampire killer who is sent by her secret organisation to a US military base in Japan, where bloodsuckers are believed to be hiding among the humans.

Armed with her samurai sword, she must slay them all before they take over the base. What she doesn't know is that Onigen - the most ruthless vampire of them all - is sharpening her claws for a showdown...

Directed by Chris Nahon (who directed Jet Li's Kiss of the Dragon), Blood feels and moves like an average anime would. There is action aplenty, with neck-slicing swordplay and gravity-defying rooftop-running courtesy of action choreographer Corey Yuen. The characters are somewhat one-dimensional, and the script is just passable. Gianna doesn't quite shine in her English-speaking debut as she typically does in her Korean roles - leading one to suspect that she's not entirely comfortable with the language.

We wouldn't recommend this to anyone, except fans of the anime and Jeon Ji Hyun/Gianna.