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Director : Yoshiaki
Kawajiri Right from the word go ‘Vampire Hunter D’ was a wham-bam, thank-you mamma, action-packed extravaganza, a real nice slice of Japanese Hollywood. They have created a movie on screen that is sure to get the attention of the action crazy movie buff fans and prove to them that animation can easily match up to any action-packed Hollywood blockbuster, if not surpass it. The entire crowd at the Australian Premier were found totally involved in the nicely elaborate yet uncomplex plot as the battle and massacre scenes just kept on coming at a fevers pitch as the people left and right of me rallied for "D". "It is the distant future and vampires rule the night. With huge bounties on the vampire’s heads, a class of bounty hunters has emerged. One hunter is like no other, he is Dunpeal, half-human, half-vampire, at war with himself, feared by all, tortured and alone, he is Vampire Hunter D." I think the opening introduction to the movie sums up the prologue of the character nicely. Born of unclean blood and unholy love "D" travels the land killing the unholy vampires and bringing mercy to those turned, for a price. Hired to rescue the beautiful daughter of a rich man, abducted by the powerful vampire Mia for a bounty of $20 million, "D" soon learns that he has competition. He quickly becomes deeply involved in a story involving two accounts of forbidden and hopeless love, and an adventure of moral and emotional complexity. As ‘D’ walks both paths of life and dark you come to understand his isolation as he continues to walk his blood soaked path alone to the ends of time with no-one except his somewhat comical and talkative left hand that embodies his vampire heritage. Complete with fantastic animation, characters and script, great production value and some of the smoothest animation Ive seen, ‘Vampire Hunter’, is an absolute must for the big screen. Gasp’s arose from the audience at times just for the sheer mind-blowing beauty of the backgrounds, especially more-so to the end of the film. This didn’t come as such a great surprise to me however when during the credits I discovered that the background art was done by ‘Studio Ghibli’. Everything that comes from that studio really does inspire great beauty on the big screen and it gave that artistic edge to the action that created a truly entertaining, amazing and unforgettable movie experience. There were many cinematic scenes to the film that really did seem to almost suck you into the movie and many screenings to observe each and every detail of the film. I am unsure as to where the film’s director, Yoshiaki Kawajiri, got the inspiration behind the setting of the film but as some anime fans noted it is very much, Tim Burton & Steven King style work with an uncanny likeness to the ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show’ in some respects. Others thought it was an Arnold Swatsiniger film on steroids, but all agreed it was a great film.
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