Before I put the disc in I thought to myself, “hang on, what exactly happened in Bayonetta?” I then blankly stared into space for a minute trying to remember and coming up blank. Because as amazing as Bayonetta was, the plot was absolute bobbins. And somehow, in trying to tell it in a coherent fashion, Bloody Fate comes off looking worse.
The movie does try to welcome you into this weird world with an opening monologue telling of the battle between angels and the umbra witches. The angels trying to obtain two eyes which in turn will resurrect Jubileus who is going to destroy the world, or something like that. Our hero Bayonetta is awakened after 500 years and is on a quest to regain her lost memories by killing everything with her magical hair powers. Like I said, it’s all a bit baffling, but like the game the movie is really a showcase for the action.
The Bayonetta: Bloody Fate trailer
The opening action scene from the movie is similar in tone to the game, only now it’s taking place in a church as opposed to a cemetery. Despite being an adaptation of the first game, there are a few slight differences like this scattered throughout, none of which affect much. It almost feels like they had to change something so they could add their own stamp to it, but did so little it almost becomes pointless.
What isn’t different though are the voices. All the games voice cast return to lend their talents and jumping straight to this shortly after completing Bayonetta 2 made it all feel official.
While the action sequences are spectacular and really hold the movie together, the problem is that’s really the only thing it has going for it. So much so that while watching all I wanted to do was turn the Wii U on and play the actual game and that’s a massive problem. As excellent as the fight scene between Bayonetta and Jeanne is, I remember it being just as fantastic when I had a controller in my hand.
What Bloody Fate does double down on is the rather gratuitous shots of Bayonetta in various stages of undress. As her hair acts as her weapon (and is also her outfit) it means with every use of it, it comes off, until it’s only covering the more intimate parts of her body. There’s also a bath scene (because it’s an anime), where the camera lingers for a little too long as the hapless Luka stands there gawping.
It’s hard to know who they’re aiming for with Bloody Fate. As it’s a straight up adaptation of the first game there’s very little here that people who’ve played the game wouldn’t have already seen. And if you’re just looking for a good anime action movie then you’ll be left confused by the indecipherable plot. I could only just about follow it because the game was still fresh in my memory.
With some thought the director/writers could’ve come up with a more unique and interesting story set apart from the games, but unfortunately what we get is a rather underwhelming re-tread of the first game.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to play the real thing.
VERDICT: Nay
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