Last night Lisa and I watched my fellow Stuyvesant alumnus Lucy Liu in Rise: Blood Hunter. Liu plays a reporter who is murdered while investigating a vampire cult; she wakes up in the morgue and decides to seek revenge. Along for the ride are Michael Chiklis, playing a burnout alcoholic cop whose daughter was killed by the same vampires, Carla Gugino as a bisexual vampire with a crush on Liu, and Mako in a Renfield role.
I was hoping for Blade– or at least Near Dark-caliber vampire camp. Alas, no. Not since Mercy have I seen such a fine crop of actors so badly debased. They all deserve medals for professionalism—Liu and Chiklis in particular do the best they can with material no amount of acting talent could salvage—but damn… What were you folks thinking getting involved in this travesty at all?
In Liu’s case I sort of get it: it’s a lead role, she’s an Asian-American actress in her late thirties, and beggars can’t be choosers. But Michael Chiklis? What’s that about?
For some reason I was convinced the Mako was dead, while all the while I’ve been seeing his work (Avatar)
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0538683/
PS. How can you not want to watch something called “Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!”
I think most TV actors have a tough time breaking into the movies; my understanding is that studio execs figure “audiences can see this guy for free, so why would they pay money to watch him in a movie?”
And I could easily imagine that, during the early development process, Rise had all the signs that it might be another Blade.