Rise

I 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.

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"

Despite 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.

It 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.

"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.