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47 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
What does it mean to serve?, July 19, 2007
What does it mean to serve? This is the moral quandry that faces the vampires of the Brotherhood, a race of genetically-engineered beings whose moral duty it is to protect their fellow sentients - mankind. This fascinating reworking of the vampire legend is set on an Earth similar to our own, but with some notable differences. The most important, of course, is the existence of bloodsuckers, who were created by primitive science and breeding projects sometime in the early 18th century. At first, these new creatures were hunted by mankind, burned at the stake and slaughtered. However, they eventually merged somehow with the Catholic (or possibly Anglican) Church, to create a new religion, one with a main tenet espousing vampires as God's servants to mankind. The background of this alternate Earth is a little hazy, and that's the reason why I subtracted a star (I would've liked to know more about this world), but that doesn't detract from the story, which is a neat little tale about a female detective in the city of Jamestown (Virginia? Is this a Kingdom of Virginia? Or an uber-British Empire? A queen is mentioned...) who is investigating a series of Jack the Ripper-like killings with the help of a vampire 'priest', Brother Silas. I won't give away plot details, because this movie is so much fun, you just have to watch it yourself and enjoy! The acting is well-done, with Saffron Burrows (yummy) and Dougray Scott as the leads. Good special effects (airships!) round out what is a very cool little gem of a movie. Why does crap like Transformers get such wide releases, and awesome flicks like this languish in obscurity? It's not fair, I tells ya...
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
tantalizing plot but not quite complete, August 18, 2007
The plot is potentially tantalizing and fascinating. It's a vampire movie with more than a simple twist, it is a 180 turn, the vampires serve humanity (no not on a platter, but as the scientists and religious leaders). The whole movie feels like you are trying to catch up, having entered into the story half way through and having missed lots of important facts and details. This is not a real bother, just takes some time to put things together, the big problem is that the movie also feels like it stops a chapter short of a satisfying ending. The movie revolves around the nature of the brotherhood and the nature of the individual vampires, an individual versus collective motif. The question from the two brothers viewpoints is "is this who i really am?", either the one brother who conforms entirely to the collective's wishes or the other brother who goes rogue and kills. It is a potentially neat and interesting theme. Even to look carefully at a piece of it would make for a spectacular movie. The problem is, despite some excellent photography and set work, the plot is fragmented enough that i really didn't get the big idea that the author intended. Resolving the movie satisfactorially must related the birth of the female vampire to the reason she is hidden from the brotherhood, a point i simply can't seem to fit into the rest of the movie, therefore being left with a serious deficiency. Now if this was a "normal" action movie or vampire movie, i'd ask myself "so what?", they don't rely much on plot and coherence for their value. This movie does, it proposes a view about service, about religion, about society that tries to make a big point, my problem is that i simply missed the point. At this point, i am blaming the movie, not myself. The potential for a blockbuster movie was there, the plot is unique and could have explored interesting ideas. The sets and scenes are visually stunning and make the movie worth watching. But the ending is incoherent and unsatisfactory, like someone ripped the last chapter out of the book i just finished. my rating is a 3 1/2, a 5 for plot potential and scenery and a 1 for coherence.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I want to see more!, May 19, 2008
The look and the feel of "Perfect Creature" was refreshing. It is seldom that I see a movie, these days, that can make me feel the characters emotions and draws me into the story so thoroughly. I certainly would like to see more of Dougray Scott (yummy) to quote someone else. When will a sequel be made?
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