Blood is Surprisingly Boring
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Blood Has some good points, like the acting and the few fight scenes, but mostly it just doesn't connect enough to be very interesting.
Written by James "Crypticpsych" Lasome
June 9, 2011
Movie Trailer
Image Gallery
Release: April 29, 2009 (Japan), March 15, 2011 (US DVD)
Directed by: Ten Shimoyama
Written by: Shigenori Takechi
Starring:
Aya Sugimoto as Miyako
Tsuda Kanji as Det. Hoshino
Kaname Jun as Ukyo
Sayo Yamaguchi as Brigitte
Guts Ishimatsu as Hoshino's Chief
Detective Hoshino (Kanji) has been hired by the local police force onto their cold case squad. He's taken a particular interest in a case in which a woman's maid was found mysteriously murdered. After his chief (Ishimatsu) tells him to follow up with the woman (as the statute of limitations is running out), he heads out to the house of the beautiful Miyako (Sugimoto). Miyako, in turn, gives him a lead that points to a powerful man named Ukyo (Jun) who captures Hoshino when he comes to investigate but seems quite interested when he discovers that Miyako sent him. In the end, he sets his assistant the task of taking care of him, a job he would have been more than capable of completing had Brigitte (Yamaguchi), Miyako's deaf servant, not intervened and chased him away.
Back in Miyako's care, Hoshino heals up. Miyako proceeds to tell him the truth: that she is, in fact, an immortal vampire and that Ukyo was her former lover who left her to kill his own victims rather than live off of her sustaining and restorative blood. She has also given Hosino some of her blood as she once did Ukyo, turning him immortal. Now with the ability to 
communicate telepathically with and train with the martial arts-gifted Brigitte, Hoshino finds himself on a collision course with Ukyo's still-fresh emotional scars from his past with Miyako.
Blood (aka Burrado)'s main problem is that the samurai sword on the cover is grossly underused. Instead, for much of the story, we're watching a love triangle between three vampires in which all three characters are somehow flawed and a bit unlikable (Hoshino being least of the three). Had there been more fight scenes, I'd probably have enjoyed this flick a lot more. As it is, after the initial action scene (the only visually hard-to-follow one), we don't really have a "fight" until the very end. Any battles that do happen before then are either just torture, one-sided, or training battles and, as such, don't have the same intensity as the final battle in the movie (which, actually, is kinda one-sided for a good chunk too). While they're still filmed decently and entertain, the film feels unduly restrained in all of them and not as "epic" as it should be. Instead, most of the film, we're stuck watching three actors work with an overly pretentious and drawn-out non-horror plot.
That being said, main actor performances in Blood are all very good, if a little melodramatic and over-the-top. The best of those are Aya Sugimoto and Tsuda Kanji. Both of them provide a lot of emotion and depth in their performances even if the overall plot doesn't. Incidentally, Sugimoto's performance in particular is an example of how to make sex and eroticism at least have a place in a movie. On more than a few occasions, we see her having sex with her lovers topless in very passionate (and somewhat bloody) scenes that fit into the plot and do not cause automatic viewer disconnect as seen in some other "sexy" films I've reviewed.
In the end, though, there is really only one reason I would suggest a rental of Blood, and that is the amazing performance by Sayo Yamaguchi as "Brigitte". It takes serious talent to basically upstage the three stars of the movie in the little screentime she has, but Yamaguchi pulls it off in 
spades as a character who just sounds badass when you write it out: A deaf, telepathic maid with martial arts skills. She portrays meekness as Miyako's servant, strength as the martial arts warrior, compassion and caring as she works with Hoshino, and more. To be totally honest, Brigitte was really the only character I explicitly wanted to survive in Blood. Hell, sequels or a franchise could come out of a character like that! At the very least, I was hoping she'd have some epic death befitting such undeniable awesomeness… unfortunately that's also another reason why I have a problem with this film. Not going to go into details on this to avoid spoilers, but let's just say I don't think there's a way I could've any further NOT gotten my wish.
In conclusion, Blood is by no means terrible. It's just a story that's been done before and better, here with very few action scenes that never really seem to reach their full potential. The acting in the film is above average, however, particularly Yamguchi. Unfortunately, even an underused ass-kicking maid can't save this film from its flaws.
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