Vampires Suck?: Immortality (aka The Wisdom of Crocodiles)

 Am I up for another sad, emo Vampire Film?  I guess so, since I committed to doing both Films on the Disc. 

This is Immortality, a 1998 Film about Jude Law as a modern-day Vampire...kind of.  The rules are a bit vague, but the atmosphere is there.  The ennui is rife with this one too.

Can this sad Vampire find the one?  Let's find out in the Film's alternate (sometimes Main) Title...

Law is a handsome, mysterious gentleman.  Am I talking about him or the character?

The Character follows people around, observes them and them introduces himself to them.

After seeing him leave the Scene of his last love's body being found, we see him save a woman from suicide by train and they fall in love.

…until he up and bites her, draining her blood.

I guess he wasn't just feeling it.

Man, imagine if that song 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' was just a prelude to him meeting his girl one more time and draining her blood!

The aftermath is painful both emotionally and physically.

For some reason that is kind of, but not really explained, he secretes a long, needle-like shape of blood/crystal from his body in the following days.

He apparently keeps them (along with the diary about each woman), as this happens every time.

You thought your collection was weird!

He finds a new love, but also new dangers and challenges.

Since he reported his 'girlfriend' missing, the Cops now suspect him.  He apparently reported the last one too, since he's kind of dumb (or wants to be caught).

On top of that, he runs afoul of some weird thugs that keep popping up to harass him and Officer Peter Pettigrew.

Has he finally found 'the one?'

Will he still need to kill her?

Will the Cops ever figure this out?

I mean, I could tell you...but I won't.  Just see the Film.

A slow, but solid Film.  Granted- it does take a while to get anywhere.  The set-up/filler parts are shot and written well.  Law plays a good, charming Lead in spite of the fact that he is stalking women to eventually kill them.  I'm not entirely sure how is endgame is supposed to work either.  If he truly falls for them, he won't drain them, I guess.  At the same time, if he doesn't drain them, he dies.  So is the idea that he won't *need* to drain them if he really falls in love?  There's no setup for the idea that he can convert them into Vampires, so its not like he's just picking his future, immortal bride or anything.  One thing that is interesting to see here is the surprising amount of Asian representation in the Film.  It's set in and around London, so it's not the place you'd expect it from.  The key is that it was Directed by Po-Chih Leong (who also did the Cabin by the Lake Films) and he obviously got some of that in there organically.  The Film has a very languid, '90s pace to it.  Films of that era that want to be serious and broody just kind of meander along.  If you're hooked on the premise, it can work.  This one *mostly* works, I think.  I never fully-committed to seeing Law's goals come to fruition (since I wasn't sure what they were exactly), but I don't regret seeing the Film.  Like many Films, its based on a Book, this time with a The Thing-like Cover...

Next time, let's switch back to Chiba, as he finally get around to watching some of these Films I've had for years.  This time, it is a familiar Premise with lots of, well, Speed.  Stay tuned...