Decent enough vampire movie which turned out less slick-looking than I thought it would be. "Rise: Blood Hunter" is stylishly put together, gently embracing the film noir genre even. With Lucy Liu in the main lead, showing a lot of skin on more than one occasion, as a reporter-turned-vampire hunting down a sect of the undead. There are some fun cameos by Marilyn Manson and Robert Forster to enjoy. The film did somewhat lack a decent climax at the end, though. Classic vampire lovers might perhaps be disappointed trying this one out, as it's got a more contemporary feel to it instead of the Gothic type of vibe I was expecting.
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Vomitron_G18 May 2011
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Deathtyger5 December 2007I would not call this your normal fantasy vampire story. It doesn't depict the normal horrors of the vampire world as we normally see or hear about from vampire movies or stories. It's a bit slow and tame for a vampire movie but has a lot of big named movie stars like Lucy Lu and Marilyn Manson that add some interesting character elements to the film. Lucy gives her character a very sexy feel, though her character's mind is set on revenge she still gives in to the softness of human feelings of loss and regret. Manson's part I thought was very different, I like it because we know him as a very different person and this role was nothing like anything we know. I credit him for playing something totally refreshing. Though the part might just seem like he's playing a kick back guy running a bar, it was not expected. That's what you want from actors, someone who can play several different roles and be convincing. The film over-all has it lulls; I don't think it would have done well in the theater. It has a potential to do well, if a few unnecessary scenes were removed from the film I think it would be really good and would come together better. As it stands I found it just a tad bit slow.
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richard_sleboe29 September 2007True, "Rise" is not much of a movie. But Lucy Liu in the part of Sadie Blake, journalist-come-undead-dominatrix? I'm sure not even the pope could resist. Gentlemen, don't give your girlfriends a hard time for not wanting to come along. This is to them as "Dirty Dancing" is to you. Go by yourself or with a couple of like-minded friends for a great night out at the downtown morgue. Small surprise hearts are broken and blood is spilt as slender Lucy fights the forces of evil, loosing not only her life, but also all her clothes in the process. At 38, she is hotter than most twenty-something starlets crowding the Hollywood party circuit. If there's chicks like her in hell, I'll gladly pass on paradise.
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kane478222 October 2007I saw the trailer of this a while back and thought it could be one of those sleeper hits, as it had a relatively good premise and I've always been intrigued by vampire films, so when I saw it on the shelves I thought I'd give it a go.
As the film was overall a disappointment for me, I won't put any spoilers in this review. I will say however that from the outset, the sequence of events are disjointed and make for confusing viewing. The film tries to be too clever throughout and ultimately ends up being hard to follow. For a vampire film, it doesn't really give much background to the whole vampire genre as most do and adds to the confusion as to who is who and what is what. Apart from Lucy Liu's character, there is no back story or build up to the antagonists, everything just happens randomly, which makes it an effort to keep track of things.
As for the acting, I find it a shame that Lucy Liu continues to make films that don't really challenge her. She spends most of this film looking either in distress or moody, oh and naked. Having seen her in Kill Bill and her earlier turns in Ally McBeal, Rise & Ecks vs Sever really don't do her justice as an actress. The vampire contingent here are pretty poor too, with James D'Arcy playing a poor mans version of every other bad vampire we've seen before (notably Stephen Dorff in Blade). Michael Chiklis is at best, mediocre, looking like he did this when short of a few bob, in his spare time from filming Silver Surfer.
Overall, another addition to the growing number of mediocre vampire-themed films. I would avoid this if I were you, but if Lucy Liu (+ a few others) prancing about naked and lots of blood tickles your fancy, then give it a go. -
doppler-48 November 2007Any movie with Lucy Liu should be good, right? Not this time... It starts nicely enough with some appealing shots of Cameron Richardson in knickers and nylons, but soon slides into an awful mess of badly conceived plot, rotten script and painful acting.
There are a couple of very labored attempts at suspense, but I found myself about two steps ahead of the action with the remote in hand. Perhaps it's James D'Arcy as the head villain that started the decline, but there seemed to be something missing after scene four or five.
Sorry, but Blood Hunter gets a big thumbs down... not worth renting folks... unless you are staging a bad movie night! -
bb_bryson9 June 2007I went into theatres really wanting to like this movie. Looking around the scarcely-populated theatre, I had to wonder if it was empty for a reason. It's been such a while since a good vampire movie came out, that perhaps I went in with too high of hopes.
The movie started interestingly enough with the appropriate amounts of tits and Hollywood gore necessary for a vampire movie. But something was lost between an uninteresting script and even worse acting. The storyline sort of felt like Crow meets (insert any Hollywood monster movie here). The main problem, that I saw, was a severe lack of sympathy/identification with any of the characters. Not to mention that Lucy was just as bad as the people she was out to kill! Between the story desperately trying to convey that Lucy Liu is hot at every opportunity (it must've been mentioned about 5+ times) and every line being delivered unconvincingly...me and my friends were, I noticed, the only ones left in the theatre by the time that the movie ended.
I gave it a 2/10 because it DID have enough naked women (including Lucy Liu) and blood effects to fill the quota of a monster movie but everything else was lacking. Bottom line, I was hoping for Interview with a Vampire and I got Bloodrayne. And I wouldn't even recommend this movie to even the most forgiving of monster-movie goers. -
dfranzen702 January 2008Despite its unwieldy, off-putting title, Rise: Blood Hunter (aka simply Rise) isn't as terribly cheesy and disgusting as I imagined it would be. A reporter (Lucy Liu) wakes up in a morgue's body drawer and discovers she's been changed into a blood-seeking, human-chomping immortal, or something, and rather than gleefully embrace her new self she decides to track down the evil bastards who put her in that condition, making her a sort of avenging angel for all those who have been similarly wronged.
Sadie Blake (Liu) is a sexy, classy young lady who's just written a front-page story about teen goth clubs. One of her coworkers, the nerdy computer stereotype, tracks down a phone number that one of the teens handed to Sadie - turns out it's not a phone number but the first in a series of clues that leads to a website devoted to some weird bloodsucking cult. Sadie, of course, thinks the story's over and goes on a quickie vacation to Mexico with her sister, but when she returns, you guessed it, her coworker's dead. Sadie follows clues like a good little Nancy Drew and winds up getting kidnapped (several times) and killed (several times), all to figure out who or what's behind everything.
The story jumps around a lot, flouting the conventions of time as we know them; things simply don't happen in the exact order we'd expect them to, which clouds Sadie's motives and intentions quite a bit. Is she good? Is she even human? After all, once she's been attacked by the vampire people, she's not exactly the picture of health, and she's gotta eat to survive. Is her ultimate goal of revenge enough to offset the unpleasant facts? It helps that there's a typically hissable bad guy, Bishop (James D'Arcy). He's eternal, of course, and he kills and mutilates and rapes for the sheer joy of it. There are no moral or ethical quandaries with this guy. Plus he has an effete, brandy-swilling British accent, making all the more unctuous and slimy. (Well, he's slimy also because he's often covered in someone's blood.) Now, granted, this isn't a pleasant, sedate movie to watch. It's full of gore and guts, although not so much as, say, a movie like Saw or Hostel. It's still not for the weak of stomach. You might remember how, in Kill Bill, The Bride traveled all over to wipe out those who'd wronged her - but the film didn't show us this in the order in which each avenging occurred, did it? So you'd see Uma Thurman wander over to Viveca Fox's house not knowing if she'd already visited Lucy Liu. Well, you would know, of course, if you picked up on the subtle hints, and that's exactly how it is here. At one point, Sadie runs into alcoholic, world-weary cop-with-a-conscience-and-a-cause Clyde Rawlins (a fantastic Michael Chiklis) and mutters something about having seen him before. And if you watch the movie closely, you see exactly where. It's as if there are no coincidences in the movie, and I think that works in its favor.
Still, it IS just a revenge flick, albeit one with vampires and a kick-ass crossbow. Liu is very, very good - she's not the screaming, hands-in-the-air type of heroine, but she's also not the balls-out gut-stomping Lara Croft type, either. Remember, Lucy Liu is petite; she doesn't automatically have this intimidating screen presence, so she uses what she has and makes the most of it. In her case, I'd have to say it's her eyes, flashing terror or courage in.... well, in the blink of an eye.
So despite some predictability, the movie does work, thanks to Liu and the novelty of the disjointed sequencing. There are quite a few chills, and the plot doesn't stray too far from its main revenge thread, thus simplifying matters. -
nabeel11275 June 2008It was a vampire flick with a lot of different views on vampires... Lucy Lui was obviously gorgeous in it. The acting was good. But what disappointed me so was the lack of story. Yeah there is a "back story" and a "revenge story" but no... "STORY". You know? They don't explain Sadie Blakes (Lucy Lui's character) job, they don't explain their new definition of vampire, the flash backs are randomly in and out so you don't know which side is up. Its a nice kick back film, but nothing to get excited about. I'm hoping there's a part two to explain all of that stuff... oh and the dude from the Shield, he did a very good job in his role. But again... no plot OR character development.
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BA_Harrison2 October 2007Lucy Liu stars as Sadie Blake, an intrepid reporter who comes a cropper when she pokes her nose too far into the world of a strange vampiric goth cult. None too keen to have their story told, they abduct the news-hound and suck her dry, dumping her body when finished.
But Sadie is a tough girl and refuses to just keel over. Instead, she joins the ranks of the undead, and sets out to get revenge on those responsible for her current state.
Director Sebastian Gutierrez presents a refreshingly different take on the whole vampire schtick with this low budget shocker that is both bloody and innovative (these vampires may lack fangs, but still pack plenty of bite). Great cinematography, an engaging story, and a decent cast all go to make Rise: Blood Hunter worth seeking out, although the gimmicky use of a non-linear storyline is a little unnecessary (so many films seem to use this idea these days).
A strong, sexy performance from Lucy Liu means that the film is never boring, although, at times, it does come across as a little too earnest for its own good. At times, Gutierrez strives so hard for an effectively moody atmosphere to suit his tale that the resulting gravitas detracts from one's enjoyment. Fortunately, Lucy Liu sees fit to shed her clothes at several points in the movie, so everything balances out nicely in the end.
If you love vampire films of all types, adore Gothic fantasy, or, like me, just want to see Ms. Liu in the buff, then Rise: Blood Hunter is recommended viewing. -
adi_hecht14 April 2011Well, I didn't know what I was getting into when I killed some time with this flick.
Lucy Liu plays a clichéd vampire-turned-vampire huntress, spouting hokey lines, and unconvincingly struggling with vampiric feelings of guilt or anger or revenge - or whatever feelings those are that make the good vampires brood. It's a very weak script,with cardboard-cutout stereotypical characters, such as an alcoholic grieving cop that becomes an ally.
It's bad, but not painfully bad. And it gets an extra star from me for that incredibly hot and sexy scene with Liu and Cameron Richardson. That scene comes very early in the film, so you don't have to waste your time watching the entire thing. -
MissSummers2 May 2007Okay. First the good news: Lucy Liu is sexy and really emotional in this. Her acting chops finally come into play in a movie where she isn't just tough or bitchy. The woman is a really good actress. Most of the rest of the cast is really good, especially Carla Gugino and James d'Arcy (American haunting). A few scenes are standouts, particularly a nasty bit of business in a junkie shelter and a very very claustrophobic scene inside a morgue drawer. Now the bad news: Nick Lachey is in this for some incomprehensible reason and it REALLY snaps you out of the story. When will Hollywood learn that goofy cameos don't belong in horror? You're watching a perfectly cool creepy thriller when suddenly the audience gasps at ridiculous casting choices that have NOTHING to do with the story.
That, as well as some cheap attempts at "jumpscares" slightly spoil what is basically the antidote to Blade, Underworld and the rest of the goofy vampire pics of late. The treatment here is much more based on pain and grounded in reality.
Definitely worth checking out for fans of vampire fiction. -
alot4you28 April 2007Just got home from the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of Rise, and it exceeded by expectations a bit. Gutierez was there to introduce the film, and he said something along the lines of 'This movie was shot in 30 days with very little budget, John Toll did a great job with the cinematography, and I give you permission to laugh at cheesy lines even if they're not meant to be funny.' The main reason I went to see the film was that I'm a huge Michael Chiklis fan, and if you enjoy his role in 'The Shield,' you'll love him here. Lucy Liu carries out her role well...I wouldn't normally picture her in this kind of movie, but she actually was convincing even when lines were a bit cheesy (this is a vampire movie!). Gutierrez did a very good job with music selection to help build suspense, there's some scenes in pretty industrial settings that had a lot of the audience hiding behind their fingers.
The movie is a bit bloody and gory, though it certainly could have been more intense, it is not for the faint of heart. Editing and cinematography were great - John Toll, who was cinematographer for Vanilla Sky, The Thin Red Line, and Braveheart - obviously knows what he's doing, and he really contributes to the mood of the film.
All in all, if you're looking for a good scare with some funny lines, this will certainly do the trick. -
chrichtonsworld27 August 2007Very funny to see that some reviewers think Rise is an original take on the vampire genre. There is nothing original about it. Most of the ideas used are completely ripped off from other horror movies, including the superior vampire movie The Hunger (1983) with Catherine Deneuve and David Bowie. I honestly haven't a clue what they wanted to do. Since it fails in too many departments for me to like it. First of all, this movie screams for some good action and humor. I don't care if the characters do or don't have super powers. It only would add quality if any eye candy was provided. I have seen fan made movies with better SFX than this one. I was waiting for Lucy Liu to kick some serious ass Charlie Angels style. Well, she doesn't! She uses a crossbow and that's it. And the most ridiculous thing is that the bloodsuckers she encounters who overpowered her in the first place don't put up a fight. They just wait for her to pull the trigger. Secondly, apart from some bloody scenes this movie never gets scary or thrilling. I had to drink a lot of coffee just to stay awake. It would have been nice if a story had been included to hold my interest. Or that at least some effort had been made to add something refreshing. The biggest mystery that this movie provides is the fact that pretty fine actors like Michael Chiklis, Robert Forster (who obviously discovered what crap he was in since he has one minute of screen time) and Mako got involved. The lack of substance and style which Rise desperately needs destroys any form of entertainment. Complete waste of time!
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rachelwphotos12 October 2007Based on the other reviews on this site i thought it sounded great. I love this "type" of movie, but this was horrible, truly, *truly*, horrible. Don't waste your time it was cliché and meaningless. In addition to the fact that i didn't care about *any* of the characters, i thought that the acting was terrible, but i don't blame the actors for this because i've seen them all in other things and they were brilliant. I suppose the blame goes to the direction? Most certainly the script. Plot sucked- completely cliché as stated prior. I watch a lot of shitty movies just for kicks, but this is the first time i've been compelled to write a "review" (its hardly that i'll admit) because of its atrocious content. It wasn't even bad in a campy/funny way, it was just bad. period. don't waste your time!!
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jamesjh-lee28 April 2007I just saw this at the Tribeca Film Festival and I have to say that the movie wasn't all too bad. It was very formulaic and predictable, but still entertaining to a decent degree. It's take on vampires was slightly different, in that the vampires don't have fangs or have a weakness to sunlight, they just kill and drink blood. For a low budget movie that will probably go straight to DVD here in the US, it will be worth a rental - especially in that Lucy Liu bares her boobage in numerous scenes.
Carla Gugino is in the movie and sat a row in front of us at the screening in Chelsea. Holy schnikey's she has one smoking body... let's hope she sticks around as Amanda in Entourage for a few more episodes. -
burglarbil15 September 2007Do you remember when you were a kid and you desperately wanted some special toy for Christmas but ended up with an annual and a jigsaw, well welcome to 'Rise'. After waiting two years for a release that is just how I felt after watching it, I can understand why it went straight to video and I love vampire movies. I can forgive the vamps not having fangs but using fancy little knives is a straight rip off from 'The Hunger', couldn't they think of something original. I was glad to see that Lucy Liu's character took three days to rise but she rose with no physical benefits as far as I could see, no enhanced strength, hearing, sight or sense of smell, she didn't even seem to inherit all the fancy martial arts skills that all other celluloid vamps get. All she got was the healing thing and no reflection, impressive how she managed to style her hair so well without a mirror though! The film starts with a sloppy titillation scene to lower the standard then fails to rise above it from then on in (no pun intended). It would have viewed better without then going back in time six months, that didn't add anything to the film at all, might have done if the scene had ended on an exciting point instead of her just collapsing on the bed. Watch it if you're a vamp fan but be prepared to be disappointed.
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The snoopy reporter Sadie Blake (Lucy Liu) is called by her nerd colleague Ethan Mills (Kevin Wheatley) that has deciphered a code and found an address in Koreatown from information of the Goth Tricia Rawlins (Margo Harshman) about a bloody cult. Sadie does not give attention to Ethan, but when she sees on the front page of the news that Tricia has been found dead in a dumpster in Koreatown, she decides to visit the address. She finds an abandoned house with a gruesome basement full of blood and she immediately drives to Ethan's apartment. She finds the place in a complete mess and is abducted by a stranger and taken to Bishop (James D'Arcy), who wants to know what Tricia has told her. Then, Bishop and his mate Eve (Carla Gugino) kill Sadie and they have a necrophilic threesome with her body. Later, Sadie awakes in the freezer of the morgue and sooner she realizes that she is a vampire and promises revenge to her sire.
The low-paced "Rise" is a different vampire movie, with sex, blood and naked women. The screenplay discloses the plot in a non-linear chronology, but there is no unexpected twist or any part difficult to be understood. I expected some surprise regarding Sadie's savior Arturo, but this character has been completely forgotten after his short but important participation. The end gives a hint to a possible sequel and in this case and if Eve told the truth to Sadie, Arturo might have an important role replacing the evil Bishop as the leader of the cult that worships sex and blood as the greatest pleasures of mankind. I have never seen Lucy Liu undressing so many times like in "Rise", but the nudity situations are not free exploitation, being suitable to the context of the sexy story. My vote is seven.
Title (Brazil): "Rise" -
this movie is like a combination of blade and kill bill ... but the worst thing about it is it sucks than those two movies ... its a waste of money if your buying the DVD don't even think about it ... half of the time i fall asleep while watching it ... telling you about Lucy liu's acting in this movie simply she had wasted her good acting skills on nothing ... if you think this movie got the action you wanna watch your terribly wrong because in the whole movie there is no karate action but Lucy liu she only have a tiny harpoon launcher & shes shooting arrows using it to kill vampires if someone really needs to know the kind of weapons you need to kill vampires watch blade but no one can take revenge (like in the movie kill bill) on a bunch of vampires using a tiny harpoon launcher which looks like a kids toy ... (this is not Lucy's fault its the fault of the makers of this movie ...) and one other thing wrong it shows vampires killing and eating human meat but vampires don't eat human meat that much they only drink blood so this is a cannibal movie not a vampire movie ... also you cant watch half of the scenes on this movie with anyone in your family because they are full of adult content ... i will give only 4 out of 10 thats for the acting of Lucy but for the movie i give 0 out of 10 ...
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Note: these comments refer to the "unrated" 122 min. cut of the film.
Went into this DVD expecting the worst--lame horror/porn. What a surprise! It's not only good, it's one of the better of the genre over the last 10 years or so.
The vampires are never referred to as vampires, it's simply called a "condition". Typical mythology like mirrors, immortality, drinking human blood, arrow through the heart, and "daylight problems" still exist. But these creatures are not super human, their only true gift is immortality.
The characters are well designed around the actors who play them. Lucy Liu plays a reporter looking into "goth" cults and finding more than she bargained for. Her performance shows some nice range, especially during the early part of the story during her discovering the truth about herself. Michael Chiklis plays a tough, vengeful, hard drinking cop--a role he's perfected. Carla Gugino has a small role as the femme fatale (surprise, surprise) but gives us a taste of the human being behind the monster. And long time character actor Mako, in his last role:(, portrays a disturbing and charming familiar-like character who's part butler, part mentor. Even Robert Forster shows up for a cameo, I really wanted more of him in this film. The rest of the cast works well, no real turkeys here.
The plot is really the weakest link, a typical revenge thriller. But the out-of-sequence editing (the director's unrated version) is spot-on. And the production values are quite strong. Writer/director Sebastian Gutierrez, the guy who wrote "Snakes on a Plane", gives us cliché-ridden, hokey dialog and we forgive him for it because it's often tongue-in-cheek funny. The nudity/sex is downplayed, much less of it here than in the Underworld films. I prefer these less romanticized versions of vampires, they're creatures who take what they want--love never factors into it. All in all a good "graphic novel" type movie--with average substance but great style.
What sucks is that theatrical release was apparently poorly cut, and it performed badly at the box-office. So the nice set-up for a sequel is probably wasted.
So final verdict--7 out of 10. Better than Underworld 2 and Blade 3. Underworld and Blade 1 and 2 still trump it, however. A good rental for genre/Lucy Liu fans. -
Genghis_John200525 October 2007**************************Spoiler Warning********************************
Not seeing any previews of this movie, I didn't have a chance to form any sort of opinion before watching. Though this is yet another great performance by Lucy Lu, I fear it is the only reason to actually watch Rise.
I feel the storyline was the outcome of a drunken night of watching Blade and Buffy. I do enjoy seeing vampire flicks, especially when they stray from the 'norm' and go back to their folkloric roots, but this one jumped around and at times did neither.
Sadie (Lu) is a reporter/vampire slayer who was turned into what she hunted against her will. The movie starts out with a prostitute trying to pick up a john in a pub when Sadie offers a better deal. She then takes her home to a waiting vampire, gets information from him, which was obviously their deal, of the location of another vampire and then she kills him and lets her go. After being kidnapped and turned into a vampire she spends the remainder of the film hunting them down until she gets to the one that 'killed' her.
What I found now that I sit and reflect on it, is that I'm left with a few unanswered questions, maybe just plot holes:
How did she know exactly how to kill the first vampire at the beginning, and yet tries to take her own life by jumping off a bridge
After she jumps off the bridge, she is then in the home of another vampire who tells her that she can't die that way 1) shouldn't she know that already? 2) when she 'comes to' she's obviously walking outside in the sunlight, while thanking him and his wife/mother/sister who is ALSO a vampire and in the sun .and yet later on we see that she tells the cop that she can't go after Bishop until 'after sunset'
Though they kept the tradition that vampires have no reflections, it appears that for all accounts and purposes they are no different from humans (save for the fact that they drink blood). It was a complete letdown and if not for the fact that Lucy Lu is nude often and has a semi-lesbian scene at the start I wouldn't have finished it.
My Rating: 2/10 (and I'm being very kind) -
ripper-532 May 2007Don't be put off by the lame artwork on the poster, RISE BLOOD HUNTER is a striking, unsettling moody thriller with really fine acting and cinematography (from Oscar winner John Toll) that has somehow been repackaged as an action movie (!) It's not. I read on Shock Til You Drop that this was originally a non linear vampire noir film, told mostly in flashbacks. And guess what? It shows!!! The movie has been rearranged chronologically and it becomes monotonous and not nearly as haunting as you can tell it was supposed to be. Where's the director's cut? Why the studios insist on dumbing horror down? Why is Nick Lachey in this movie? Why is it anytime someone tries to do something new, the studios try to turn it into the same crap we've all seen a million times? You'd think Sam Raimi would have a little more faith in his fans.
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Uriah4330 July 2013"Sadie Blake" (Lucy Liu) is a young reporter who has recently received praise for her investigative writing on the topic of weird happenings in the Los Angeles area. One day she happens to stumble upon a case that is more serious than anything she has ever handled before and she pays for it with her life. But then she reawakens on a morgue slab with a thirst for human blood and an intense desire to retaliate against those who put her there. The director (Sebastian Gutierrez) uses a number of flashbacks which, in this particular case, fits in rather well with the storyline. Along with that there is some nudity involved but it also tended to complement the film rather than detract from it. As far as the acting was concerned this was Lucy Liu's film to either make or break and in that regard she put in a decent performance all things considered. In short, I thought this was a good vampire movie and I have rated it accordingly.
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Shaun Munro's Reviews (ShaunMunro.co.uk):
Rise: Blood Hunter opens in a way that does not inspire much interest at all. Utilising the classic gimmick of showing scenes later in the film for virtually no reason, we witness some pseudo torture-porn shtick that did nothing but dredge up memories of the pretty passable Hostel: Part 2. As we witness Lucy Liu saving a hooker from certain death, sending her on her way and uttering "find a real job", one really has to laugh.
Following a "6 months ago" title card, we meet Sadie Blake (Liu), a reporter for some semi-trashy magazine. Soon enough, she gets talking to a computer hacker friend of hers, who, following some largely ridiculous and falsified computer jargon, finds a curious address embedded in a web page. Sadie naturally refuses to investigate at first, but that doesn't last long.
The scene then shifts to a rather dilapidated-looking house, where two teenage girls enter and are subsequently beset upon by some monstrous vampires. We have false scares, we have the ever-popular "hide in the closet and have the antagonist look like he's found you, but then turn away at the last second" spiel, and frankly, I was just happy to see one of the girls eaten.
Soon enough, Clyde Rawlins (Chiklis) shows up, the father of one of the girls. Seeing his daughter's friend eaten, he assumes his daughter has met a similar fate. He shows a real emotion, and being infinitely impressed with his performance on the superb FX show The Shield, I was somewhat disheartened when we were promptly taken back to the meat of the apathy-inspiring plot (something which happened to Chiklis far too much in the first hour of this film).
From here, Sadie investigates the address, and is promptly kidnapped, raped, and murdered. Soon enough, she awakens in a morgue, and it appears that she is now a member of the undead, finding it instinctively incumbent to murder and feast upon a member of the living as soon as she's awake. Following a rather gutsy attempt at finishing herself off, Sadie is nursed back to health by an absurdly pigeon-holed mentor-esquire character. Whilst this relationship is essentially just a means of driving the plot and is otherwise throwaway, the mentor does have some interesting morals - "no one is innocent", he proclaims. I'm not sure that I agree.
The transition of Liu's character from a helpless, victimised journalist to an ass-kicking, one-liner quipping heroine was literally blink-and-you'll miss it. It wasn't convincing at all, considering one minute she's very solemn, and moments later, she harpoons a vampire through a window, gets some vital information from him, and gives him another harpoon through the chest for good luck. There's absolutely no progression or character development, and her bravura temperament was too much too soon. So, we return to the opening scene, letting us know for sure that there was absolutely no need for it to be shown twice (it wasn't misrepresented as it was in, say, Mission: Impossible 3), and that it was just a gimmick.
The most interesting scene in Rise comes when Sadie is in need of new blood to feed on, and sees a hitchhiker she could feast on. At this point, there's an intriguing moral dilemma (the only one in the film, unfortunately) - does she kill this innocent man and feast on him, or was her mentor correct, in that there are no innocent people?
Naturally, the morality of this scene is pretty much ruined by the fact that when she initially doesn't pick him up, he yells profanities, then when she does pick him up, he smokes cannabis. I still saw him as an innocent person, and it seemed to me like there was some sort of moralistic value being espoused there that really didn't sit comfortably with me at all. Had this hitchhiker simply been wanting to get from A-to-B and she killed him, without him exhibiting any "negative" traits, then the scene would have been infinitely more effective. It's worth noting that the Sadie character didn't seem to care about his weed, although that could be because she wanted to feast on him, and moreover, it was more the views of writer and director Gutierrez that I was referring to.
Following on from this, we encounter the rather forgettable antagonist's butler, played by Mako of all people. He claims to be unafraid of death, yet this doesn't stop him from surrendering a few important tidbits before popping his clogs. It's not long before Bishop, the only villain left for Sadie to slaughter, becomes aware of her return to the land of the living, and in a phone call utters to her the wonderful cliché - "you're not so different, you and I". Michael Chiklis is finally given the screen time he deserves in the final third of the film, essentially becoming something of an obstacle for Sadie. Whilst they both have the same goal in sight, their methods vary wildly, teetering on different sides of the law. Predictably, an uncomfortable partnership forms, and there's even a hint of sexual tension, but fortunately, it doesn't transpire into anything else.
Sadie and Rawlins head into the final showdown, Sadie allowing Rawlins to follow her on the condition that he carries out one final act once Bishop is dead. A predictable surprise follows, and a not-so-predictable one after that, after which the situation gets very messy for our protagonist. Whilst the showdown ends ultimately as you'd expect, the film doesn't chicken out on its macabre little pact between Sadie and Rawlins, and so the ending happens to be quite satisfying.
Rise is a rudimentary little vampire horror film that will entertain its target audience, but others may find it simply nothing new in frankly already overcrowded canon. A lot of limited releases are simply under-seen masterpieces, whilst others are limited for a reason. Go figure. -
Ky-D14 December 2007Beginning with the title, just about every aspect of this film is rife with mediocrity. That isn't to say it's a particularly bad film, it isn't, it's a simple statement about the films complete lack of ambition.
A woman (Lucy Lu) is kidnapped by a pack of vampires and after being summarily abused and finally left for dead she turns into a vampire herself and heads out for some bloody revenge.
As is undoubtedly obvious, the plot is anchored firmly in the realm of 'been there, done that', Lucy even gets help from the requisite down-on-his-luck cop who has his own reasons for chasing the vampires. At one point the 'hero' kills (in a rather gruesome fashion) an innocent stranger and then eats him, as if it's at all justified by her quest for revenge.
The dialogue and characters don't fare a whole lot better; you've seen every character here a dozen times or so in other movies and the character interactions have a stiff kind of unbelievability to them.
Where the drama fails, the fan-service works rather well. Plenty of blood and gore, some kinky hook-ups and a surprising amount of nudity on the part of Lu. It's just enough to make the rest of the film palatable, but unsatisfying The film doesn't do anything terribly wrong, the problem in the end is that it does equally little right.
5/10 -
billpeter4 January 2008I've just finished watching this on DVD, and have read through some of the other comments. Someone mentioned that it was originally to be non-linear, then re-edited. Well, the version I just watched was about 120 minutes long and was non-linear. Maybe a pure-release of the Director's Cut? I was a teenager in the UK in the sixties, so grew up with Hammer films, and this reminded me of some of the Hammer films in the seventies, which had a bit more nudity. It also reminded me a bit of the vampire film with David Bowie and Susan Sarandon - I can't remember the name.
The version I watched was OK, and I'll probably watch it again.