Blood: The Last Vampire (2009) is adapted from the Japanese manga written by Benkyo Tamaoki about a half-vampire, half-human girl Saya who hunts the vampires for the evil they do. From the start, we know that she has one purpose in mind – to find the most powerful demon, Onigen, and destroy her. On the quest to kill Onigen, Saya meets a friend, Alice, and the two continue on the journey and overcome many obstacles.

In my opinion, the film is weak in terms of characterization and theme. The relationships were not well developed – for most part of the film, Saya and Alice are together but yet the contrast between them was poorly executed. A human being and a vampire who is half human – more interaction could have happened between both of them to contrast their different personalities and highlight the humane part of Saya. The movie seemed to have included Alice’s existence but not well develop her part in the film. I almost found she had no need to be there except to make Saya look like a heroine, rescuing her from the monsters’ clutches. Ironically, she was the one to save Saya at the crucial moment – maybe that was why she even appeared in the film.

To add on, I feel that the film did not do well in highlighting its theme. There were several themes to expand on, such as human nature and identity. The film could have expanded its theme by highlighting the contrast between the monsters taking the form of human beings and humans in real life who also conceal themselves underneath their masks. The many sides of identity could be explored – Saya is a half-vampire, half-human but it is the choices she makes that defines her as a human. Likewise, man can choose to be good or evil. More could have been done in place of the action sequences which did not appear to be spectacular either.

The film consists largely of action scenes which could have been better choreographed. I felt that there was not enough kick in the action which also contains a lot of continuity errors, especially when it comes to the katana. It was obvious that Saya had lost her katana in several fight scenes but the weapon conveniently appears in her hand each time she needs it to kill her foes. Unless it’s a magical wand like Harry Potter’s, I don’t think katanas work this way.

Another thing I disliked was the way the film build up is intensity towards the last battle. The film had gave us the impression that Onigen is a cunning and hard to defeat demon right from the start. We had seen how much effort and skill Saya took to kill the other demons and even got hurt in the journey. When she comes face to face with Onigen, we would probably expect the fight to be overwhelming. However, what should have been the greatest battle in the movie was a letdown. It seemed minor compare to the earlier battle scenes with weaker demons, so much for being the most powerful demon of all.

To sum up, the movie is quite predictable after awhile. There is almost no humour in the movie but I feel Alice’s existence in the film is one big joke itself. Not the very best of vampires movies, I’d rather watch the Twins Effect again if I want to see an Asian girl portraying a vampire slayer. For one, it had better action scenes though not as much special effects.

Winnie