
Lucy Liu is Sadie Blake, a plucky reporter for the LA Weekly who gets in a bit over her head when she investigates a cult of young vampire-wannabes. She soon finds more than a mere group of goth "Dungeons & Dragons with nipple rings" kids- she finds...real live vampires! Before you can say "OMG this is kinda just like that Hellraiser movie with Kari Wuhrer where she plays a plucky reporter investigating a cult of weirdos who gets totally over her head and there's Pinhead and stuff...I loved that movie! No wait, that movie kinda sucked.", Sadie is rolling around with Bishop (James D'Arcy) and Eve (Carla Gugino) and there's biting, boinking, and blood...ing.

Yes, I said "her trusty crossbow".
That's a cheeky little plot summary that's a hell of a lot more straightforward than the film itself. The narrative zips back and forth throughout time as Sadie's story is pieced together, and I found myself spending a bit of time going "Wait, are there two Sadies? Why does her hair keep changing? What happened to that guy? Lawd a'mighty, where did she get that crossbow and how did she get so damn tough?" before it all made sense. By the time Rise was over, I'd experienced a wild and magical rainbow tapestry of feelings and emotions: by the half-hour mark, I was disappointed; by the hour mark, I was into it; by 1:15, I was really into it; at 90 minutes I was coming down; by the time it was over- clocking in at about two frickin' hours- I felt as if I'd just completed a tour of duty, finally finishing a movie I'd started watching when I was 12.
Writer/director Sebastian Gutierrez attempts a different approach to The Vampire with this film and it's a hit-and-miss operation. There are no fangs to be found- rather, the bloodsuckers slash throats and...uh, suck blood. There's no silly hissing, super jumping, or weird contact lenses...in fact, I don't think anyone even uses the word "vampire" during Rise. On the one hand, it's like, well, if I don't end up wearing a sweet cape and a bitchin' medallion and I can't turn into a bat, then what's the point of being a vampire? On the other hand, it was completely and totally refreshing to find storytelling unencumbered by mythos.
Unfortunately, the result is a bit, well, dull. Rise is ultimately short on action and long on...long on...umm...I don't remember! A large amount of time is spent meandering from one plot point to the next, and it ends up feeling a bit bloated. Not that it had to be all action, certainly; the ten minutes or so spent with Sadie when she first "turned" comprised, in my opinion, the best ten minutes of the film. She was confused, remorseful, and desperate as she engaged in her first kill to quell her growing hunger and contacted her family one last time. Had this sort of character development continued throughout the movie (Sadie evolves into a tough killing machine without much onscreen evolution), Gutierrez really would've knocked it out of the park. Liu does the best she can with what's given, but she's not always given much.

Overall, I think I enjoyed Rise: Blood Hunter. The DVD running time is wayyyy too long, and as I said I was a bit exhausted by the time it was over...but it really wasn't bad. Then again, take my hesitant recommendation with a grain of salt. You see, I'm one of those people who dig a movie if there's some little nugget or idea in there that strikes me; the movie as a whole might stink, but then I find myself saying "Yeah, but that one part was cool!" which leads to "Rise was awesome" which leads to "Wait, I love Lucy Liu and I need to go add all her movies to my Netflix queue!"
*GASP* I think I'm on to something here...
9 comments:
I was not a great movie, but I have seen much worse attempts at Vampire flicks.
It was long, but I tend to fast forward when I get bored so I guess I didn't notice it.
And yes Netflix rocks. It has been my movie savior. I see movies that I would never have know were available for my viewing pleasure. I don't know how I could live without it.
I even gave it for Christmas this year.
But if this inspires you to love Carla Gugino and rent the DVDs of Karen Sisco, your life will be much, much better.
Oh wait. I don't think those bastards ever put that out on DVD. Lemme check.
Nope. Damn you, Universal Home Video!
At this point in my life I consider Netflix a survival necessity, right up there with the Internet, and fire. Even if Netflix is always trying to pick a fight with me over the amount of movies in my queue.
Liu and Chiklis...how have I never heard of "Rise" before?
Bill, be careful following Carla Gugino too closely. Before you know it you could end up smack dab in the middle of "Son In Law." Are you sure you can handle the terrifying intensity of The Weasel?
Sounds like it was totally refreshing to find storytelling unencumbered by storytelling.
On the other hand - Carla Gugino!!!
Rise was tedious. Grim. Plodding. The only thing that saved Rise from a 1-star Netflix rating is that I'm infatuated with Liu, and I tweaked my rating upward to 2 for her sake. It took me most of a week to watch this movie because it was so damned boring I could only watch it in small doses.
Funny you tweaked your rating up on this one because of Lui.
I tweaked it down.
I find her about as expressive as cardboard and this movie stunk. A nugget of something different isn't enough to make this turd float.
Oh Stacey, I've missed you so. Yes, I'm one of those geeks that checks several blogs (about 10) daily and when they don't update everyday...urgghh! Anyway, I totally agree, I've got around 100 movies in my queue, and every now and then, something will arrive and I'm like "why the hell did I request this?" Sometimes I enjoy the movie, but most of the time...
Chuckwilson
For some reason, the Vampire Cafe in Tokyo has a promotion called "Blood Cafe" going on. I really don't know why they're doing all this promotion for a crap movie...
http://tinyurl.com/2x9qvv
I do admit those chibi Vamp charms with "BLOOD" written on their outfits are cute. Makes me wish they did promotions for the elegant vamp movies...even though they've only been open for 6 years...
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