Blood and Chocolate

(warning: MAJOR Spoilers ahead. Even if you've read the book)

Yes, I went to watch the movie. Despite the multiple warnings I've received from forums everywhere that it would be crap. And God might just strike me down with a thunderbolt for admitting this (or well, maybe the legion of angry fanboys who are my friends online)- but I actually enjoyed it. Not on a super high scale. Definitely not as much as I probably would have if the movie had remained faithful to the book, but the movie had its own merits.

Chief of which is cinematography.

The location, which was Bucharest, Romania didn't half annoy me as I thought it would. Sure, an American small town has its merits (think, Sunnydale), but Bucharest is just gorgeous. The whole movie reminded me of a long advertisement, which is bad in a sense, but good in terms of eye candy. Watching the movie has definitely put Romania as one of the 'must visit' places on my list when I tour Europe.

Now uhm, what about the story?

Well, to be honest, it's really not the same as the book at all. The characters have the same name but are essentially very different from their previous incarnations. I wouldn't say that the changes were for the better or the worse- Vivian Gandillon was kind of pretty, actually, I liked Rafe's new character, and well, Gabriel just annoyed the hell out of me with his Italian/Spanish-ish accent (Why? WHY?). In Gabriel's case, it was probably intentional that he would be made more uhm, unreasonable than the one in the book. This is because the movie wants to lead up to a different ending in which Vivian shoots Gabriel with a rifle, choosing to leave with Aiden instead. Aiden, naturally is less of a prick. In fact he has a Rambo moment. :p

Blasphemy, you say? Well, yes, again, this is if you compare it to the book where the major theme was self-acceptance.

The movie seems to center more around the question of who or what determines your future. You, or your family/traditions. That central theme wasn't really fleshed out well enough for this to be considered a 'great' movie, but it's enough eye candy to keep you reasonably entertained for two hours.

Some new concepts were introduced, which kind of intrigued me, actually. For one, Gabriel is like this mob boss figure, which kind of equates into the whole 'werewolves rule the underworld of Bucharest' thing. Pretty nice concept, even if it is recycled from countless vampire stories. Then there's the hunting, which is well, part of where I derived most of my kicks. Gabriel periodically picks out a convict from jail, whom he will take to the hunting grounds, where lotsa werewolves gather. The convict is cut loose, with a gash in his arm for the scent, and the deal is he lives if he manages to reach and cross this one river in the forest. The loup garou wolf out and give chase.

In that sense, the story has a slightly more mature feel to it in that there are no real 'villains' per say. Gabriel is only an ass in the sense that he rules the Pack with a kind of paranoid (but not unfounded) hatred towards humans, that and he obeys the tradition of picking a new mate every seven years, despite the fact that Viv could be considered to be WAY too young for him. For the most part around the second half of the film, Gabriel's actions are motivated by revenge more than anything else. And again, that's not really unreasonable, is it? Aiden killed someone from his family (I won't say who), and now he wants to kill Aiden. Granted, Aiden only killed in self-defense (you could say that the person whom he killed was the real 'ass' in the film), but no one else knows that.

Chalk it up to one big misunderstanding.

I'm not a big fan of Hugh Dancy (Aiden) or Oliver Martinez (Gabriel). Agnes Bruckner (Vivian) was pretty, but not really that great as an actor. The character that I DID like in this film, is Rafe. Yes, the teenager from the Five who had that icky relationship with Astrid in the book. Don't worry though, that rather disgusting element is prevented with him being Astrid and Gabriel's son in this movie. Maybe I'm just a sucker for his (less annoying) accent, but on the whole, I love his character. It's again, totally different from the one in the books, but it leads me to wishing that the director had fleshed out his character more.

Gabriel (left) getting intimate with Aiden (right). Slashfic writers, start your engines!

So yes, Blood and Chocolate was created by the producers of Underworld. But you can stop cringing if you're afraid of a movie filled with gravity-defying stunts and more bullets than even Arnold Schwarzenegger can dish out on a good day- this movie actually focuses more on the Romeo and Juliet-ish theme. Being romanticized is much, much better than having it being turned into a hardcore action flick.

So watch it! Well, uhm, I wouldn't rank it as a 'watch it or die' type movie. But again, it is decent. Probably not worth the cinema experience, but at least worth a viewing after torrenting it off the net. I might have liked it better if they hadn't called it 'Blood and Chocolate', but a different movie with its own title altogether.

Now, Ms Klause, I have made you just a little bit richer. (despite the total lack of control you had over the movie, you SHOULD be getting royalties, right?) Now go out there and write more stories. Hopefully by next time you'd be famous enough to be able to dictate how your movies go.

Extra: An interview with the author, in which she explains why the movie turned out the way it did. [link]

Extra Extra: 'Stupid girl! You are a loup garou!' -the unnamed werewolf who just had to have one more line.