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dcvanw
Reviews
The Mine (2012)
Hard to keep my interest-there are kids' movies that entertain me more
As the other reviewer noted, this is safe for kids to watch. But, I don't know if I'd want to subject my kids to the sub-par acting and storyline this movie delivers. I think I would much rather have them see Despicable Me 2, which is actually entertaining for adults as well(and still kid safe). I am not even sure how this got a pg-13 rating. I heard no swearing or even sexual innuendo to require such a rating. All I heard was a lot of banter from a bunch of teenagers that were not interesting at all. 15 minutes in, and I gave up on it. My time is too precious to wait around and see if an obviously bad film is going to get better.
This movie didn't just lack sex, gore, and swearing-it lacked any bit of color to make the story interesting. No offense, but it's like a church commissioned this film.
That kind of thing might be good for some, but not for me.
Blood: The Last Vampire (2009)
I hope Saya wakes from her 30 year sleep to bitch slap the writers
Oi! Where do I start? I was tricked into thinking they were going to follow the storyline from the opening scene-same as the 45 minute short anime film. Looked good. Then I saw they took some liberties with the story line by introducing the general's daughter, and lacking greatly with the special effects during the scene at the school. Definitely not as creepy as the anime. There were scenes that were definitely familiar, but the Red Shield guy(Saya's government appointed protector) was replaced by the general's daughter, and the story went south big time.
The special effects of the vamps(called chiropterans in the movie and series) was God-awful. Very low budget and fake looking. And the action sequences with Saya and the monster-looking vamps was fake,even where Saya was concerned. It looked like someone got busy with the photo shop or something. Not kidding! From the people who did Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon-I expected a lot more. At least a tangible storyline.
Saya isn't even a full vampire in this story-she's like a Japanese Blade equivalent. Only half. And the story reminded me a lot of Blade in many respects-half vampire trying to stay as human as possible so they can slay the evil vampires and redeem one's self.
I do believe in creative license, and wouldn't have minded changes to the story if they didn't outright butcher it. The rewrite wasn't even that good, and didn't hold my interest at all. There were no twists and turns concerning Saya's origins. Never explained her blood was a poison, though they showed her giving some to a vamp after slicing it open. The chiropterans were just ordinary vampires, not genetic experiments. They took the science completely out.
If you've never seen Blood: The Last Vampire anime, I guess you might not be as disappointed as someone who has, but it's not worth the $20 you plop down with your friends to go see it. Rent it, maybe, when it hits the old release section and you can rent it for $1. What a waste of time! But better, get a hold of the original and download the series Blood+, which is the rest of Saya's story. So much more engrossing, original, and entertaining.