Rise: Blood Hunter (2007)

good back-story, and good acting

Expected more

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

It is not only a funny movie, but it allows a great amount of joy for anyone who watches it.

The Blu-ray that I have is the shorter 97 minute version (UK) I haven't seen the longer Uncut version, and I'm sure that it has a lot more nastiness in it, but I found this version to be very sharp, well put together and tightly paced.I've always liked Lucy Liu and I KNOW that not everyone likes her or thinks that she is that hot. I've enjoyed her in the recent 'Elementary' teleseries and she does a nice job here. The thing that makes her character likable is the she is fully believable in the role. She literally plays a normal person who has been thrust into a VERY NON-normal situation. Chiklis is awesome; that guy is a great actor and does an excellent job with a pretty simple role. He injects a LOT of feeling and coolness into the character, more so than you would expect from that type of role.I thought that the modern Vampire angle was done really well. I frigg'n LOVED the main bad guy; he was SO damn smooth! He was clearly completely Evil, but the way his character was written and the charismatic way he portrayed it REALLY made the role live. What I also really liked and appreciated about the film was that the characters were very believable and had a style of their own; they weren't just stupid, shallow caricatures. They were indeed larger than life Comic Book style characters, but they had a cool vibe to them that worked really well. The story moved along nicely too and definitely carried the audience along with it.The views about this movie are pretty polarized. I don't know if it is primarily because of Lucy Liu or just the story and the way it was done itself, I'm not sure. But, it looks like about half the people love it and half hate it. I'm most definitely one of the ones who loves it. Not getting into any Spoilers or anything, but I liked the way it ended. The overall mood and atmosphere of the movie were nicely balanced between a very slick, modern approach, but at the same time you still get a real Classic, epic Comic Book feel to the film.Since people are so divided about the movie, it's kind of hard to know exactly how to recommend it to others. The things that were appealing to me were primarily the director's style, the way the characters were dimensional and textured, and of course... Lucy Liu : ) Seriously though, it was really the tone and mood of the film that I liked. It had a real Comic Book feel to it which gave it sort of a larger-than-life energy which I personally found very entertaining.I don't like a LOT of the more recent Vampire type films that have come out in recent years. The reason being is probably because I really love the more Classic Traditional approach to the Vampire Story. BUT... when they at least show SOME respect for the Vampire history and lore, even in a modern setting, I personally enjoy it a lot more. In this case, they depicted how Vampires cannot be seen in mirrors, so I kind of liked that little nod to the Vampire Tradition.I guess I would say that if you like a good Vampire story, and you like a stylized approach where the characters really come to life in their roles, and you don't mind the simplicity of the story, then you might have a good chance of liking this movie. Keep in mind though... that if you are more of a fan of the 'TWILIGHT' approach to modern Vampire tales or if you are really steeped in the more Classic, heavily textured romantic style like 'INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE', you might come away from this film somewhat disappointed. Another thing too that I personally liked about this movie was that it approached the story from a bit more of a Modern Gothic angle. So, to me, the film came across as a nice balance or blend of a Classic Gothic style, but with a more slick modern tone, AND without the dumbed down approach of the 'TWILIGHT' films.I hope that this helps to give an overall view of what the movie is like so that you can determine whether you want to take the time to watch it...

Well it felt like a TV-movie better than I expected but nothing new here other than the Vampires are more like those portrayed in The Hunger. Competent performances hold this film up the director even had a pretty good script he just wasn't very good at building suspense, camera work was average giving this the feel of a TV-movie. With a few creative nuances it could have been much more engaging. Caught this on crackle had slept all evening woke up just wanting something to pass the time in that regard it was perfect for a late night or rainy day. Surprise small role by Nick Lachey for 98 degrees fans. Lucy Lieu is one of my fave female actresses to bad she wasn't totally kickin butt, Michael Chiklis plays the grieving dad with very little commitment to the role.

Decent enough vampire movie which turned out less slick-looking than I thought it would be. "Rise: Blood Hunter" is stylishly put together, gently embracing the film noir genre even. With Lucy Liu in the main lead, showing a lot of skin on more than one occasion, as a reporter-turned-vampire hunting down a sect of the undead. There are some fun cameos by Marilyn Manson and Robert Forster to enjoy. The film did somewhat lack a decent climax at the end, though. Classic vampire lovers might perhaps be disappointed trying this one out, as it's got a more contemporary feel to it instead of the Gothic type of vibe I was expecting.

After she's murdered and partially devoured by members of a cannibalistic death cult, investigative reporter Sadie Blake (Lucy Liu) returns to earth as a flesh-consuming, bow-and-arrow-wielding member of the undead bent on exacting revenge on those who killed her.If you can swallow this premise, you might just possibly enjoy this ludicrous, frequently laughable, two-hour-long foray into sadism, cannibalism, vampirism, necrophilia and supremely bad acting. Sadie is at least a ghoul with a bit of a conscience - she feels really really bad when she has to eat someone - so we'll give her points for that, but the movie dedicated to telling her story rates a big fat zero on every other conceivable count.