REVIEW

DVD Review: BloodRayne Unrated

Written by Matt Paprocki
Published February 10, 2007

If you're spending $25 million to create a film based on a video game, the least you could do is stick to what made the game successful in the first place. In BloodRayne players controlled a sexy female vampire bent on taking down Nazis during World War II. In the film, a sexy female vampire takes down rejects from Braveheart during medieval times.

Somehow loaded with stars from Ben Kingsley down to Meatloaf, this mess is an absolute bore to watch. Loaded with over-the-top gore to disguise the slow-paced, sloppy fight scenes, this one definitely earns its unrated status. The storyline is ripped from an ancient 8-bit video game Castlevania 2, even though that title is in no way connected.

Bloodrayne refers to the lead character, shortened to Rayne in the film. She's on a quest to find a long dead vampire's remains which include his eye, heart, and ribs. To do so she'll need to kill off the miserable performance of Michelle Rodriguez, listen to tripe from the mouth of Ben Kingsley, and brawl alongside Michael Madsen who is far too good an actor to be stuck in this. The same can be said for Ben Kingsley and Kristanna Loken, the latter of whom tries her best in the lead role.

Oddly enough, the characters fit in their respective roles from the game. What's changed is the time period. One would think World War II would be easier to simulate compared to medieval times. This being an effort from director Uwe Boll, it's not that surprising that little here makes sense.

Somehow, Uwe Boll even manages to screw up a softcore porn scene with Loken and co-star Matt Davis. Set in a prison, the gratuitous nudity flies as an open jail cell door is continually open and closed making it impossible to concentrate on what many would probably consider the only redeeming value in BloodRayne.

If you've decided to suffer for the sake of fight scenes, be prepared to laugh hysterically through most of them. Editing in close tries to take care of the obvious missed blows or stunt actors. The final epic struggle for survival (note the sarcasm) has Ben Kingsley swinging a sword maybe once at best while a double handles the rest. It's poorly hidden via camera placed on the ceiling to avoid the showing of his face.

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Matt Paprocki is the former reviews editor for Digital Press. The deep game collection, which spans nearly 30 systems and 2,000 games, lines his walls for research purposes. Matt strives to bring credibility to video game journalism, and to aid the industry in becoming respected with all forms of entertainment media. He currently freelances for GameArgus.com and MultiPlayerGames.com.
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DVD Review: BloodRayne Unrated
Published: February 10, 2007
Type: Review
Section: Video
Filed Under: Video: Action, Video: Adventure, Video: Horror
Writer: Matt Paprocki
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Matt Paprocki's personal site
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