Perfect Creature (2007)

Such a frustrating disappointment

People are voting emotionally.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

I have to admit that I only watched half the movie, that's how it failed to connect with any interest I might have in watching DOUGRAY SCOTT assume a vampire role. Scott's idea of the vampire look is one of dull incomprehension, sniffing the air like a dog and walking through the role like a zombie with nowhere to go.He's at a big disadvantage here because the script and direction leave a lot to be desired. Normally, he's a good enough actor to look as though he has command of a role but this character completely misses any kind of strong interpretation.On the other hand, LEO GREGORY does a fine, snarling job (he can scowl like nobody else I've seen), a more vicious specimen than his brother. The story starts out effectively and looks as though it's going to have the potential of being a vampire story with a twist--but then gets bogged down into one dull scene after another until finally, as a viewer, I had enough.Whether it picks up steam after sagging toward the middle, I'll never know. And I'll never find out because I don't intend to revisit it.

As the author of THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY, whose definitions often turn conventional wisdom on its head, Bierce may find the alternate reality portrayed here for his Victorian years preferable to that era as he actually lived it. The idea that people would go to church simply to donate blood toward the substantiation of their big-as-life guardian angels (aka The Brotherhood) doubtless would make more sense to him than any theory of the transubstantiation of an unseen being's blood. The thought that the division between science and religion never occurred would meet with Bierce's conditional approval (though he might find the attendant risks inherent in the Brotherhood's under-the-table genetic experimentation--unchecked by outside religious scruples--troubling). But the Old Gringo probably would be first in line for a ride on a steam dirigible! TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: The body of noted American author (An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge) Ambrose Bierce, born June 24, 1842, recently was discovered in total cryogenic hibernation at the back of a Central American warehouse. Bierce is expected to be fully defrosted by late 2049 or early 2050. Based on my 85 previously posted IMDb comments and background in Bierce studies, the author's guardians have commissioned me to review a periodically updated list of films to help guide his future leisure pursuits, with the provision that my comments also be made available to the general public.

Written and directed by Glenn Standring, Perfect Creature falls into one of those fantasy, alternate universe timelines where because of genetic engineering and the likes, humans now are living side by side with the more powerful vampires with whom have forged a truce, that is, to never feed on the blood of humans, but instead, get their dosage of plasma through religious rites of sorts.Which serves as an intriguing premises to begin with, except that it had so much going for it, that it failed to capitalize on the wealth of its potential, instead choosing to coast through the expected until a finale made up of standard fare, with too many plot elements than it could handle, with mistrust between the two species of homo sapiens, an influenza virus, and a murderous vampire hell bent on creating havoc by unleashing his own brand of justice to the world.With movies like Underworld and various other genre incarnations that dwell on super- beings, Perfect Creature at best was on par in terms of the visuals, where the filmmakers have created a stunningly looking dark city, which seemed like a cross between Victorian England, except for the vehicles such as zeppelins which crowd the sky. Special effects was rudimentary, and you can feel the lack of slickness in the movements of the vampires, not so much as they couldn't fly, but their essence of speed wasn't properly brought across, and looked quite clunky.The story, bared down to the basics, is about how human detective Lilly (Saffron Burrows) has to team up with a high ranking vampire / priest (yes, you read that right) called Brother Silus (Dougray Scott, who walks really stiff here and nary breaks into a smile), despite her and her team's discrimination against the vampire race. And their common adversary Edgar (Leo Gregory) happens to be a researcher of sorts gone renegade, and with blood relations to Silus, puts a dampener on so called conflict of interest.As an action-fantasy piece, don't expect any award winning acting here, because what thrills are the set action pieces in claustrophobic spaces within dark and dank apartment blocks. However, unlike its contemporary peers, there aren't any fancy gadgets, weapons or moves to wow you, well, maybe perhaps the cool stunt gun that Silus carries which fires off projectile rounds to immobilize his kind. And of course something tells you it's not quite right when the mid-point action sequence trounces the finale which had a distinct lack of excitement.But on the whole, for its mood, settings, and imaginative spin on the vampire genre, Perfect Creature does deserve a watch.

poorly executed.Perfect creature is a clear example of a reasonable that generates a sub par script (I'm thinking shortland street which is New Zealand's stock doctor soap which has been meandering across our airwaves thrilling pubescent girls with ever worsening for the last fifteen years) and not enough money to cover even that as a result the effects are TV quality at best, the acting is slow paced and wooden and the general tone is New Zealand morbid ie there is no emotion other than general peevishness and....Ahhh I grow weary.I've already given it more time than it deserves.