MovieChat Forums > Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2001) Discussion > I Do Not Understand Why This Movie Is No...

I Do Not Understand Why This Movie Is Not More Hated

posted 15 years ago by Jnbfwc
35 replies | jump to latest

I just watched thirty-five minutes of this, whereupon I paused it and went thither to the IMDB boards to see what other people think of the movie.
I came here expecting to find at least one or two people who felt the same about this movie as I, but alas; everyone either loves it, or they give very, very weak reasons for disliking the movie. ("Why are there robotic horses?" And, "It's hard to understand! Boo hoo!" )

No, so far I dislike the movie overall. I do not dislike any one scene, but just everything about the movie in general.
I doubt I will return to watch the rest of it. Why?

Well, here's what I dislike:

From the very beginning, I do not get a sense that the movie is starting. . . 'at the beginning'.
Then, right after whatsherface is kidnapped, we are told that the main character is half-human and half-vampire, as if that is an original concept.
Then I come to the boards, incidentally, and find everyone raving, "WOW! Half-vampire and half-human! So intriguing! He's constantly struggling within himself! Oooh, aaah!"

First, this is NOT a unique concept, or even a newer one. Second, throughout the first thirty minutes, there is not a SINGLE instance of him having any kind of struggle or even people hating him particularly for being a halfbreed. (I mean, we had those guys at the beginning with the guns trained on him, but not only did they refrain from shooting him, but also, no one in the entire scene made a comment about his halfbreed state of being)

Not that this particularly matters, especially to one such as I, but I am tired of people talking about it as if it is a brilliant idea.

Moreover, all of the action scenes, so far, have been cop-outs.
We either have fancy-schmancy camera tricks so that the animators only need to animate the minimum required to tear someone to pieces, or there is an anticlimactic ending to what ever super-charged attack is about to be used.

Just look at all of the action sequences! You see little slash marks and then someone's head flying, or two people standing opposite each other, suddenly.

The story itself seems to be enveloped within panning across well-drawn backgrounds, and having characters speak with some horrible dialogue. (Oddly, there is some brilliant dialogue, at places, (the first time, for example, the thing in his hand starts talking and they jump over those sand creatures) and then there's silly, rambling dialogue. (The part where he goes into that guy's reflective fort, the one who has been paid a lot of money to protect the carriage-- the guy on the bloody unicycle. He is the most doddering, blathering oaf in the movie, and always seems to start sentences off with the word well or so.))

Then we have scenes that just -- cut off. The part where that shadow creatures kills the guy with the hammer by stabbing his shadow.
Then the scene switches, and the next time we see them, they have all but forgotten their pal and moved on somewhere else, apparently unmolested by the shadow thing.

Furthermore, the movie is eerie in that it, in a way, has the 'slow movie' feel of No Country for Old Men, yet it has the kind of action you wouldn't expect.

You know what I think makes the movie 'ho-hum' more than anything else? It must be the drawing style and lack of character development.
I don't care about any of these characters, first of all, and second, everyone is drawn fairly ugly.

Some person was talking about how no man in real life could POSSIBLY match the beauty and handsomeness of D, or at least, no man who is young enough, tall enough, has the correct body type and is a good actor, as well.

To that, I say: I disagree.

Have you SEEN him? If it weren't for the clothes and hat, he would just look like some ugly man with half-closed eyelids. There is NOTHING particularly handsome about him. Not in this movie, anyway.

I am not bashing this movie, necessarily. I understand other people like it, sure, what ever.
But this movie, to me, has NO appeal whatsoever. It doesn't draw me in. I feel as though I'm watching a movie after starting in the middle. It doesn't feel like it OPENS, I don't feel like I'm INTRODUCED to the characters as much as just thrust into some situation whereof I have no knowledge; I don't feel like the story has a beginning but just goes on forever; I don't feel like any of the characters are particularly special, but instead, are expendable, as seen when his impressive horse explodes in a flurry of rib cage and blood after falling into a canyon.

I simply cannot FEEL this movie. It is vapid of all life and emotion, and even more so because of the TERRIBLE animation style. Give me Dragonball Z, Naruto, Dr. Slump or Detective Conan ANY day.

[–] Navel8 15 years ago

I do not get a sense that the movie is starting. . . 'at the beginning'.

At the beginning of what, precisely? Of D's character? You're not going to get it. The character is modeled, in no small fashion, after the mysterious lone gunslinger in Clint Eastwood's spaghetti Westerns (which I also love) - the fighter of unknown origins who rides into town, gets involved in local intrigues (usually for money), and ends up dispensing violent frontier justice against the bad guys. That being said, the storyline's not hard to follow at all, and you DO get a lot more character development as the film goes on beyond the length of a typical television cartoon.

First, this is NOT a unique concept, or even a newer one. Second, throughout the first thirty minutes, there is not a SINGLE instance of him having any kind of struggle or even people hating him particularly for being a halfbreed. (I mean, we had those guys at the beginning with the guns trained on him, but not only did they refrain from shooting him, but also, no one in the entire scene made a comment about his halfbreed state of being)

I've seen several conversations here on D's half-breed status, but I don't recall anyone mooning over it for its supposed "uniqueness" as you put it (I haven't read back through the threads in a while). Most fans of vampire literature/lore/film are fully aware of the concept of dhampires, which has been around for a very long time. If you had watched more than the initial 35 minutes of the film, you would have seen a whole segment that addresses bigotry toward D re: his half-breed status.

Then we have scenes that just -- cut off. The part where that shadow creatures kills the guy with the hammer by stabbing his shadow.
Then the scene switches, and the next time we see them, they have all but forgotten their pal and moved on somewhere else, apparently unmolested by the shadow thing.

They haven't forgotten (far from it!) and Benge ("the shadow thing") is still very much a threat. You'd know that if you actually bothered to watch the film before coming here to critique it. Critical views are certainly welcome, but you'd have been able to craft a far stronger argument for your views if you'd watched the entire story.

Some person was talking about how no man in real life could POSSIBLY match the beauty and handsomeness of D, or at least, no man who is young enough, tall enough, has the correct body type and is a good actor, as well.
To that, I say: I disagree.

You disagree...but then you make it pretty clear that you don't really know what you're disagreeing with. Many of the people on this board are familiar with Hideyuki Kikuchi's Vampire Hunter D novels, upon which the films are based. The character as described in the books is just not someone that any current living actor could readily pull off - not without a TON of help from make-up and CGI. THAT's the point being made - not some presumption that no live actor could look like the anime character from this particular film.

Re: your "lack of character development" comment - again, this would have carried far more weight if you had watched the film. You haven't. You've watched 35 minutes, and you were evidently expecting every little mystery and nuance of character to be clearly spelled out within the span of a basic half-hour cartoon. Much of what you are accusing the film of lacking comes in later sequences, as the story builds.

Give me Dragonball Z, Naruto, Dr. Slump or Detective Conan ANY day.

Aesthetics truly are in the eye of the holder. I can't speak for the other shows you mention, but I can't stand Dragonball Z - not just because of the animation style, which I find rather 'cartoonish' and ugly, but because of the over-the-top and, from my perspective, largely pointless violence. I find the character design in this film stunning, beautiful to look at, and I find the story itself interesting and enjoyable to watch. To each their own, eh? It's cool that there are so many different animation options out there to suit all of our different tastes.

[–] Jnbfwc 15 years ago

Your rebuttal consisted of, "Well, it gets better--"

That doesn't cut it.
If I'm so uninterested in a movie after watching almost forty minutes, then, to me, it's just not a good movie.
Also, I think it's unfair of you to say that I don't know what I'm talking about when I'm referring to the SAME character that everyone else is referring to, concerning a real life person looking as 'beautiful' as D.

I didn't even say that someone could look LIKE HIM, I was just referring to the idea that no one in real life is as beautiful, graceful, handsome, elegant, et cetera.
If he is ugly, then that whole point is nullified.
I don't think it would require CGI, makeup, or anything else to make a person look a whole lot better than the drawing of this character in THIS movie, which is what this board is about.

I won't comment on the fact that you cherry-picked Dragonball Z out of all the anime I pointedly mentioned, and instead agree that it is good that there are different animation styles to suit any one person.

[–] Navel8 15 years ago

Your rebuttal consisted of, "Well, it gets better--"

Um...no, not really - at least not in the sense you're suggesting, which is that it starts out mediocre and never improves. Rather, my rebuttal suggested that the story builds and that you learn more about the characters as you watch. This is going to be true of any full-length feature film. There's also a real story underlying the action - one that you need to pay attention to from the beginning. The opening does a fine job of setting up the initial "kidnapping" and the interactions between the competing bounty hunters, as well as providing a sense of the personalities behind the major characters. You begin to see their strengths as well as weaknesses as the pursuit continues. From my perspective, the film is well-paced, with plenty of action as well as introspection. It starts out strong and keeps getting better all the way through to the end. You clearly don't see it the same way...c'est la vie. To each their own.

I think it's unfair of you to say that I don't know what I'm talking about when I'm referring to the SAME character that everyone else is referring to, concerning a real life person looking as 'beautiful' as D.

You missed my point. My comments were made in response to your comments on the D character as designed in the film. Here's what you said in your initial comment:

Have you SEEN him? If it weren't for the clothes and hat, he would just look like some ugly man with half-closed eyelids. There is NOTHING particularly handsome about him. Not in this movie, anyway.

You were explicitly commenting on the character design in the animated film, not the character as described in the books. It's the character as described in the books that several of us are talking about here, on the board, when we discuss the possibility of a live action film being made.

I won't comment on the fact that you cherry-picked Dragonball Z out of all the anime I pointedly mentioned

I didn't "cherry pick." I've never heard of or even seen any of the other shows on your list (and suggested as much in my initial response), so I elected not to pass judgment on shows I've never seen. I merely gave you my honest assessment of why DRAGONBALL Z holds zero appeal for me - just as you have given your honest assessment of why you don't like VAMPIRE HUNTER D: BLOODLUST. I've never been able to stomach DRAGONBALL Z long enough to get through an entire episode, so to that extent, I know where you're coming from. However, I'd also never bother going to the DRAGONBALL Z board on imdb to tell everyone there how much I dislike it - especially based on such limited viewing.

[–] diocernaianu 15 years ago

man I agree!Funny thing is I too was searching for bad reactions(regarding the movie) on this board and I too was surprised not to find any!

There ain't a thing to add;you clearly pointed what's wrong with this movie,and why it deserves negative reactions!

But...I would like to conclude:take a blind animator from Japan,take a root story from Eastern Europe,take one million movie cliches from America,mix them together without looking or thinking,and you get "Vampire Hunter D"!!!

can you agree?!

[–] jamasian_man 15 years ago

That's bull about the action. There are some crazy fight sequences that happen later, but you have to watch the WHOLE THING!

They got some wicked animation during the fights too. I recommend finishing off the movie.

[–] Jnbfwc 15 years ago

As I told the other poster; if it takes more than forty minutes to get to the 'good part,' then the movie just isn't worth my time.

A movie really should attempt to pull in the viewer somewhere around the first ten minutes or so.
I saw lots and lots of 'pan across the valley/plains/house/machine' scenes that last about thirty seconds, each.

Then every fight scene (so far) was anime-style cop-outs, and still images being tweened across the screen.

Really, the thing is, everything accumulating is what makes it bad.

I could stand the boring panning scenes if the fight scenes were great.
I could handle mediocre fight scenes if it didn't waste time with all of the panning.

And so forth.

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] kpddukpoki 11 years ago

"As I told the other poster; if it takes more than forty minutes to get to the 'good part,' then the movie just isn't worth my time. "

that's a load of bull. Ever heard of people saying "well that movie started off slow but then it got really good!!" In no way does a movie have to solely HINGE off a great beginning. that's the most ignorant thing you ever came up with! good gosh! when you watch a movie... well judge it for it's whole movie time frame. Not 30 minutes of it. If you only want 10~30 minutes stick to tv shows or something. Wow.

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Jnbfwc 15 years ago

Actually, I consider the cliches to be of the Japanese variety.

They basically took all of the anime cliches we see, extrapolated them, and then threw them all over the place, along with a slow, slow, boring pace.

I'm glad that there is at least one person who sees it the way I do.

[–] jamasian_man 15 years ago

Man just watch the movie wanting a decently animated story about vampires and people who hunt them. That's all it is. Or just stop watching anime.

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Unicorn_Blade 15 years ago

I can see where you are coming from. However, I cant agree in so many points...

I like the way the characters are drawn. They are NOT meant to be beautiful, the Marcus brothers are brutal vampire hunters. Their bodies have been hurt many many times before during the fights. They are meant to be ugly and repulsive, as well as the Barbaroi, they are monsters for heavens sake.

If you havent seen the movies, talking about the characte's development or its lack seems pointless. If a character does not 'develop' during first 5 minutes of the film, do you automatically switch it off? Besides, you cant expect the characters to change in EVERY film, the fact that ruthless Marcuses do not change is the point here. The fat that they stay the way they are is a seal to their destruction.

Nobody ever says the halfbreed character is 100% original concept, but D as a vampire hunter is. In the same way everything else is a plagiarism, our culture works in a way in which you borrow elements that exist already and built something new with it. Besides, the author of the novels came up with his own concept of the world D lives in, which I found absolutely fantastic. The mixture of rustical and futuristic is something I find captivating, I loved it on the novels.

And finally, a quote from you.
"Second, throughout the first thirty minutes, there is not a SINGLE instance of him having any kind of struggle or even people hating him particularly for being a halfbreed."

There is later on. You would like everything to be packed within 30 minutes, and therew would be no reason to make it any longer.

[–] Micasso-1 15 years ago

I could be wrong, and I apologize in advance if I missed something, but I think the OP (when he wrote the post), may not have understood this was a sequel, and/or has an extensive manga series? I'm just focusing on some of the statements about his first impressions, and I can see how one might not understand and 'go with it', if they didn't have any prior knowledge of the character and the story beforehand. It was made for the fans. That's why the 'intro' comes off weak to someone who might have had no prior experience with this manga/series.

As for most of the other stuff, it's more just of a 'what you like', so I'm not going to get into any of that lol.

And in the first 30 min as quoted in the post above, when D meets the father and makes the deal and there are snipers on the wall, and their 'fear' and the whole conversation. Well that just disproves the OP's "not a SINGLE..." ;-)

[–] ravengammer 15 years ago

to ppl who say this concept had been done before GO blow yourselves cuz it is very original how many times have you seen a hand with a mouth and eyes!!!

[–] !!!deleted!!! (4524359) 15 years ago

I don't get what the purpose of this thread is, I can accept negative reviews of a movie when it's constructive but you didn't even watch the whole thing so why should we care about your opinion?

Everything you think was bad in those 30 minutes I thought was awesome so there really is nothing to debate.

[–] ravengammer 15 years ago

good point...even if i dont like something in the first 30 min i still continue to watch because you never no it might end up being good?

[–] Unicorn_Blade 15 years ago

Micasso-1,
I dont think it was made for the fans as such. I have never heard of D before watching the first movie, and I was not a fan (yet) when I saw Bloodlust, anyways I saw one after another. I dont think you need an extensive knowledge of the background, characters or story before watching, specially knowing that the film is much different from the novel it's based on. On the contrary, the intro might be long exactly for the people who do not know the novels: there is a neccessity to introduce the world D lives in. Even in each novel Hideyuki Kikuchi spends quite a lot of time describing people and settings, so that those who have not read previous volumes (or, like me, dont read them in order) can still have a general knowledge of what is going on.

I know people that did not like the film, and I can understand some of their arguments, but the author of the post if someone has just seen first half an hour, and most of his arguments were answered in the next parts of the film. It's a shame he didnt give it more time. Not all moves are packed with action from the first minute:)

[–] !!!deleted!!! (4524359) 15 years ago

I had never heard of the books before watching them, I knew absolutely nothing about the d universe. I thought it was awesome though. I even saw bloodlust before the first one.

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] silbaughkj 14 years ago

Eh, I was hoping for a better negitive response than this. I don't think Bloodlust is very good, but for much different reasons(straying from the novel).

Sounds like you popped in a poor adaptation of The Two Towers, watched the first 35mins and said to yourself "jeebus, what's with these small people walking around whining about jewelry?!"

Couple points though:
-Dhampir bigotry is better seen in the original anime movie. Also, in the novels, there's always distrust of D. Hell, even Bloodlust had the entire stable scene with the sheriff attempting to run D out of town for no reason.

-Action is mistakenly seen as cliche' and cheap, but D strikes too fast to visually see. He isn't a very good human swordsman, he's an ancient Dhampier master swordsman... the battles would be over without him moving in most cases. Being the case, the movie had to depict the Marcus battles as the key fights, which were cheesy. Even the climatic battle consisted mainly of a weapon lockup under high pressure. Most of the Noble know better than to face off against D and will avoid the battle for cheaper tactics. So, yeah, I wouldn't expect an action movie at all.

-Again, the novels paint a different picture of D. Most times, even male characters find themselves attracted to him. Amano, his character illustrator, has a very finite capability of fitting that persona(http://static.minitokyo.net/view/08/21/278558.jpg). If you were to make a live action representation, it'd be damn near impossible to find an actor (even under heavy CG) to make every girl hot and wet and many guys surprisingly bi-curious. = p

-Lastly, this movie was heavily made to appeal to both Western and Japanese audiences, you can't please two different cultures and tastes simultaneously. Though I find this to be a mistake of film-makers looking for money, you gotta roll with the punches and swallow the differences that somebody else may like while enjoying what you're given.

[–] SkullyD 14 years ago

" I hate a movie I only watched 30 minutes of. Wah wah wah! Why don't you grow a *beep* attention span?"

Sure D's half-breed nature isn't the most original idea, but that's beside the point, as it's done well. Can we talk about "Blade"? That may be the worst handling of the half human/half vampire concept I've ever seen. Basically he's indestructible. Woo hoo.

Honestly, I don't see why anyone would be surprised at the positive reactions to the film. It has a good story (if a little slow paced), excellent voice work, interesting characters and it's beautifully animated. By the way, the "fancy camera tricks" are created by hand, so *beep* you for pretending it's a cheap way to cut around complicated animation. It's actually harder.

[–] silversmith82 14 years ago

OP you really should not be posting movie reviews having not even seen half of the movie. That's like seeing half of the Sixth Sense and then complaining about lack of interaction of the main character with anyone besides the kid... Finish the movie and THEN critique it.

I thought this movie was pretty well done. The animation in this movie is light years better than most of the stuff put out these days not to mention the amazing voice acting. Ok the fight scenes might be so/so but that sort of can't be helped seeing as how any vampire fan will tell you that super ancient vampires/dhamphirs are either A: not going to have to physcially attack or B: attack so fast you won't see it. The brief fight on the roof of the coach illustrates point B.

Ugh, seriously with the current bastardization of the vampire genre going on I'm glad I can pop this movie in and enjoy vampires that have to consistently fight the thirst/burst into flames in the sun instead of glittering/be tragic even if they are "good". Meir's brief description of why he doesn't want to curse anyone else with Vampirism is still one of my favorite scenes from the genre. Alone in darkness, killing again and again despite your best intentions... Then you get the flipside with Carmella IE - Humans are cattle, this is the way of NATURE! Awesome, and YES I KNOW ITS BEEN DONE BEFORE but it doesn't take away how well its done in this movie and how really REALLY good the voice actors are.

[–] apollumi 14 years ago

i just had a similar experience. something seemed a little off from the get-go when the girl is taken and the scene abruptly cuts away (i think maybe the score is the culprit here). oddities in the dialog kept me from getting pulled in by the characters and just left me feeling kind of flat. the animation was definitely good, though, so i kept watching. um, then i met left hand- oh wait, sand rays! oh... ok? D just hopped right over those and left hand is talking again... a lot... please god no.

edit: it occurs to me now that left hand really takes facepalm to a new level.

[–] ikick_a55 14 years ago

Lollll left hand is meant to be outspoken and annoying in case you didn't get that. The voice actor was a very poor choice however, and I definitely prefer the original's.

- Next Gen. Rambo!!!

[–] PostmortemG 14 years ago

@ Jnbfwc: While you really *SHOULD* watch all of the movie before judging it (Since you apparently had some interest in it at the beginning), let me tell you that Bloodlust is indeed a deeply disappointing experience. As a fan of the ultra-violent, blood-and-guts soaked primitive ´80s original, i assure you that Bloodlust only becomes worse as it progresses. It follows the same formula as the director´s other efforts so closely (Demon City Shinjuku, Ninja Scroll, Wicked City, etc.) that it´s sickening. In fact, Bloodlust helped kill my faith and interest in animé altogether - i literally waited years for it to be released, only to be served a piece of uncreative, pseudo-animé garbage that´s neither here nor there. Check out the original... or better yet, check out the old Italian horror/exploitation films (Blood & Black Lace, Salo: 120 Days Of Sodom, Suspiria, Cannibal Holocaust, The New York Ripper, etc.) if beautiful, depraved violence is what you crave. Leave Bloodlust to the kids. =D

"Cain and Abel will go to Heaven... if they can make it through Hell!"
-Los Hijos Del Topo

[–] chaoticxombie 14 years ago

Only thing I didn't like about it were some of the major diversions from the novel. While they were quite similar all together, the ending of the novel just felt more... romantic :P

And the first novel came out in 1983... So saying D's not an original character can bite my shiny metal ass.

"Disconnect and self-destruct one bullet at a time."

[–] Griever_2112 14 years ago

Well Bloodlust, as well as the original Vampire Hunter D movie is nothing like Dragonball, Naruto or those others. Series' and Movies are always two different styles, in quality and story telling so that itself is an unfair assessment.

This is a sequel to an already existing movie, and a manga series so, a complete telling of D's origin would be pointless, not to mention in the others not much is revealed anyway. And you mock the whole half-breed concept as being not original... your right...but nothing, NOTHING in the last 20 years from Hollywood has been a completely original idea. and the first movie was made in 1985, well before Blade became a big name, and the other half-breeds. and then the struggle, his is a silent struggle, yet since you gave this movie not one single chance since you killed it 35 minutes into the movie, you missed the town that wanted to run him out and ready to kill him. You want to know his struggle watch the first movie and you will see it more prone.

"Moreover, all of the action scenes, so far, have been cop-outs.
We either have fancy-schmancy camera tricks so that the animators only need to animate the minimum required to tear someone to pieces, or there is an anticlimactic ending to what ever super-charged attack is about to be used. "

and you are a fan of DBZ?? is that not the series where Planet Namek was going to blow up in 5 minutes, and yet Goku and Freiza's overtly over powered battle got dragged out over 4 half an hour episodes, only to end with Freiza killing himself with his own attack?

and the art style, EVERY ONE HAS DIFFERENT STYLES... you can't expect everything to look like Akira Toriyama's style. Then all anime would be bland, it's like american cartoons, not everything looks like Ben 10, or Danny Phantom, or Avatar...why would Anime. And again going back to character development, they give you a brief overview of the brothers, Leila gets more later in the movie...oh wait, you didn't watch it long enough to see it...and again D is already established.

You say your not bashing the movie, but you are and you admit to never giving it a chance. Go watch Vampire Hunter D and then watch this again...or stick to stuff like Dragonball and Naruto, and leave the grownup anime alone.

Sorry, two's company, and three's an adult movie.