Rise

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.

I 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.

"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.

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.

I 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.