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Vampire Wars
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Title Info
- type: movie
- grade: watchable
- Other elements of this title:
- This title may offend the sensitive.
- made: unknown
- Review created: Recently, but I didn't record the date.
- mod: none
Another vampire movie to make sure that `v' has some entries in it. However this vampire movie is interesting because it is about vampires without being dominated by them. Admittedly given how violent it is there is still plenty of blood around. The story is quite interesting and I will avoid giving too much of it away. We follow a Japanese terrorist hiding in France, and he's tough and mean. He's also having a bad day, because the very first event involves his girlfriend (we assume) getting rather dramatically ended. It seems that not only do vampires exist but the french military and the american CIA are involved as well. In best tough guy tradition he gets caught in the middle, and strangely enough the vampires are only moderately more brutal than the other sides. In addition all three sides seem to be interested in a young singer, and our tough guy is not averse to her either. Before you know it he's playing the role of defender, trying to keep her alive while the mystery unfolds.
Just in case you didn't pick it up from the preceeding this has a good slab of violence of the particularly graphic sort with a side order of sexual references (although relatively little sex). It's going for the grungy and dangerous angle, and the bodycount is quite high by the end of it. The story itself has some serious holes, and gets a little silly when it is all explained (basically in a single blow) but is enough to power the story. Even with these weaknesses, and the relatively shallow characters, it does have a certain sense of power and atmosphere. This is best demonstrated in the build up, as the conclusion is somewhat sudden although satisfying enough. In all an interesting movie, but no hidden classic.
The animation is fairly simple. The character designs are nice enough, and some of the minor characters cry out for more development, but the animation is relatively simple, the palette blocky and dark and the action not too smooth. However it manages to use these in its favor. The dark appearance gives the illusion that everything is happening in the shadows, and gives a reasonable sense of horror. The action allows for some impressive posing by the hero, along with some quite nice moves and staged scenes. There's even a hint of romance, served over the cooling bodies of your foes, which is a nice touch. The voices fit the characters quite well, and try to inject reasonable drama in the scenes.
Words by Andrew Shelton, Web by Ticti, Last Compile: Wed Aug 5 12:39:26 WST 2009