Review Moonchild (2003): Different but beautiful vampire film!

genre: drama, action

Moonchild surprised me. Not ever having heard of Hyde of Gackt (Which was in 2007 when I wrote this review.)  I was not expecting much. The reason I wanted to watch it was because somebody mentioned that it contained some serious action scenes in John Woo style. Normally I am very careful when this is claimed. There is only one John Woo and till this day there hasn't been one director that comes close to his brilliance when it comes to action. The fact that "Moon Child" would feature a vampire convinced me even more. How can you go wrong with gun blazing vampires. Sounds promising and interesting. The first thing I noticed about this film that the pace was considerably slow. It takes it's time to set the mood. In contrast to that you have some nice Hong Kong style action scenes. Giving the impression that this is a full out action movie. But it's not.The core is a drama about friendship and loyalty. The focus is on the characters and their relation to each other. The pop singers Hyde and Gackt do a good job in acting and are very believable as friends. The only problem I had was with the plot. A couple of times they skipped a few years without explaining what happened and why they had to skip. Example: When one member of the gang dies (very dramatic moment) Alexander Wang sees Kei (Hyde) drinking blood of one of the attackers. Without warning and explanation the movie skips 9 nine years and most of the friends aren't together any more. Also without a proper reason given Son (Alexander Wang) and Sho (Gackt) apparently have become mortal enemies and want to kill each other each time they get the chance to. I know that this is done to add some serious drama. Because of the actors it is very effective but sometimes it felt forced. Apart from the flaws in plot there is an ambiance and slickness that makes it hard not to like Moonchild. It is hard to explain why I thought Moonchild is wonderful. But it just is. The overall experience you get is heart warming and sincere!


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