Blood & Chocolate (the relevance of the film's name to the plot, remains a mystery) could pass off as the work of some amateur director (unfortunately) teamed up with a 'zero' acting skills cast or maybe everyone was just going through a non-creative phase during the entire filming of the film. I have been much more satisfied after sitting through sloppy B grade Bollywood flicks, mainly because I didn't expect anything better from them.
The story is simple, too simple infact. There are no sudden thrills or twists or turns. The only way the movie could be more 'dead' than it already is, would be if a dead person were to narrate the script to us.
Vivian (Agnes Bruckner) is a werewolf, whose parents were murdered by hunters in America when she was a little girl. Ever since, she has lived with her Aunt Astrid and 'trouble maker' cousin Rafe (Bryan Dick) in Romania. The pack leader of the loup-garou - Gabriel (Oliver Martinez), must pick a new 'bride' for himself every seven years. His previous bride is Astrid, but now he has his eyes set on Vivian. Vivian, however, falls in love with a young cartoonist Aiden (Hugh Dancy), who has had a bad past himself. As time passes by, Vivian's secrets begin to get revealed to Aiden through a series of accidents, one being a fight between Aiden and Rafe, which results in Rafe's death. Vivian must now choose between love and her pack.
Agnes and Hugh share no on screen chemistry whatsoever. Facial expressions and emotional display easily slide into negative counts. Oliver is pretty convincing in the first half, but he gets sloppy by the time the film ends. Each actor drags on his own stereotype character with stereotype actions and reactions to a stereotype script with stereotype dialogues.
The transformations from man to wolf are fairytale-ish (in a dull way). There is no passion or hate seen in the eyes of a mother who has just lost her son, even when his killer stands before her. The pack leader is supposed to have a bruised ego, but puts on a calm cool (annoying constant) exterior, making a convincing mafia leader instead. Rafe's friends show no spirit of vengeance for their friend's death. Overall, there is nothing "raw, rough & animalistic" about the film, besides the real wolves, that is..
The beginning is the sweetest part of the movie. The last line is satisfactory.
The entire experience leaves you wondering whether you saw a movie, or whether someone read you a boring story real fast. The movie zips past and I sat staring at the screen straight faced, hoping something interesting would spring up.
Conclusion:
Well.. I'm still waiting and the credits are almost done...
Rating:
3.2 / 10
