Scan and Pan
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Rise: Blood Hunter
Sadie Blake (Lucy Liu) is an up and coming reporter known for investigating the dark corners of modern life. After a young woman (Margo Harshman) she interviewed turns up dead, Sadie looks into some more dark corners and discovers a group of vampires preying on people. After she falls victim to them and becomes a vampire herself, her motivation becomes one of seeking revenge on the group and their leader (James D'Arcy), with the assistance of a bereaved detective (Michael Chiklis) whose daughter was Sadie's interviewee.
Writer/director Sebastian Gutierrez (writer of Snakes on a Plane and writer/director of the underrated Mermaid Chronicles Part 1: She Creature) had a good idea, but his execution of that idea leaves much to be desired. It needed to have the action of the Blade films and the humor of Snakes on a Plane, but instead it takes itself far too seriously and the action scenes are tame. Remove the strong language and multiple scenes of Liu in her birthday suit, and it could easily be a pilot for a television series. One wonders if the nudity was added simply because someone realized there wouldn't be any other selling point. Its technical aspects are all high quality, though, including the stylish cinematography by John Toll (Braveheart, The Last Samurai) and the atmospheric score by Nathan Barr (Cabin Fever, Hostel).
Liu is game as the sexy victim turned avenger, but the script simply doesn't give her much to work with. Chiklis is good as the grieving detective who wants revenge for his daughter's death, while D'Arcy isn't very compelling as the superficially charming vampire leader. Solid enough for the material are Harshman as the detective's daughter, Carla Gugino as the vampire who turns Sadie, and Mako as one of the vampire leader's henchmen. Marilyn Manson and Nick Lachey have small roles as a bartender (I didn't even recognize Manson at first) and a thug for hire.
There's so much that could be done with the story's basic concept, but Rise: Blood Hunter is too sedate and by the numbers for its own good, and is disappointing in light of Gutierrez's previous work. It's not a truly bad film as much as it's simply not a very interesting one.
[2 out of 5 stars]
Lucy Liu as a vampire turned vampire slayer? What should have been an entertaining distaff version of Blade turns out to be a rather bloodless cinematic exercise.
Sadie Blake (Lucy Liu) is an up and coming reporter known for investigating the dark corners of modern life. After a young woman (Margo Harshman) she interviewed turns up dead, Sadie looks into some more dark corners and discovers a group of vampires preying on people. After she falls victim to them and becomes a vampire herself, her motivation becomes one of seeking revenge on the group and their leader (James D'Arcy), with the assistance of a bereaved detective (Michael Chiklis) whose daughter was Sadie's interviewee.
Writer/director Sebastian Gutierrez (writer of Snakes on a Plane and writer/director of the underrated Mermaid Chronicles Part 1: She Creature) had a good idea, but his execution of that idea leaves much to be desired. It needed to have the action of the Blade films and the humor of Snakes on a Plane, but instead it takes itself far too seriously and the action scenes are tame. Remove the strong language and multiple scenes of Liu in her birthday suit, and it could easily be a pilot for a television series. One wonders if the nudity was added simply because someone realized there wouldn't be any other selling point. Its technical aspects are all high quality, though, including the stylish cinematography by John Toll (Braveheart, The Last Samurai) and the atmospheric score by Nathan Barr (Cabin Fever, Hostel).
Liu is game as the sexy victim turned avenger, but the script simply doesn't give her much to work with. Chiklis is good as the grieving detective who wants revenge for his daughter's death, while D'Arcy isn't very compelling as the superficially charming vampire leader. Solid enough for the material are Harshman as the detective's daughter, Carla Gugino as the vampire who turns Sadie, and Mako as one of the vampire leader's henchmen. Marilyn Manson and Nick Lachey have small roles as a bartender (I didn't even recognize Manson at first) and a thug for hire.
There's so much that could be done with the story's basic concept, but Rise: Blood Hunter is too sedate and by the numbers for its own good, and is disappointing in light of Gutierrez's previous work. It's not a truly bad film as much as it's simply not a very interesting one.
[2 out of 5 stars]
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