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SYNOPSIS:
Ten years ago, in the remote mountains of Colorado, a young
girl watched helplessly as her family was murdered by a pack
of angry men for the secret they carried in their blood. She
survived by running into the woods, and changing into something
the hunters could never find … a wolf.
MOVIE
REVIEW
After
98 minutes, we still do not understand why the movie is entitled
“Blood and Chocolate”. The only contrived connection
we can link together is the fact that the protagonist is a
werewolf (which means she drinks blood) and she makes chocolates
when in human form. But being the objective reviewers we are,
we did not let this puzzling aspect of the movie meddle with
our review.
Based
on the book by Annette Curtis Klause, this werewolf flick
tells the somewhat boring story of a girl who has to choose
between being loyal to her species and following her heart
when a young dashing man enters her life. Let’s just
say the ending left us asking ourselves: “That’s
it?”
22-year-old
Agnes Bruckner portrays this character without much emotional
ups and downs that could have been injected by a more able
actress. But we did not think that the intended audiences
would care – the starlet is comfortable to the eyes,
and that’s enough. Then there is Hugh Dancy (Savage
Grace, Elizabeth I) who plays her love interest, offering
his good looks for the camera lens.
For a
horror fantasy genre movie, this one does not have much to
offer. The effects are not exactly top-notch, and there aren’t
much gore and blood you’d normally expect from a movie
involving savage beasts. The story is also nothing to shout
about, given its bland treatment.
There
are some nice shots of the jungles where the werewolf clan
meets though, and the way they transform from humans to wolves
is, to put it nicely, lyrically hypnotic. Elsewhere, the scenic
and picturesque backgrounds of Romania complement the romance
factor of the two leads nicely, thanks to Brendan Glavin’s
(Veronica Guerin, Thunderbirds) gorgeous cinematography.
Otherwise,
this movie helmed by female German director Kayja von Garnier
is one forgettable viewing experience – we have not
seen such a tame werewolf flick in a while.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
This Code 3 DVD contains no extra features at all,
not even a trailer. It is odd that only Chinese subtitles
are included.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The disc’s visual transfer showcases the nice cinematography,
while the audio track is presented in 2.0 English Dolby Digital
Surround.
MOVIE RATING:
 
DVD
RATING :
Review
by John Li
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