Blade

I didn't see this movie until it appeared on television because I was doubtful about comic flicks. Ever since the "Batman" series, "Spawn," "Judge Dredd," and many other pitiful p.g.-13 bombs, I dodged everything at all cost. I would question in my mind, "why can't someone make a movie that is rated R and stays true to the story, how difficult is that?" And finally my prayers have been answered with Blade. This movie pops right out of the pages onto the screen with sheer violence, blood, martial arts, weapons, fire, the good against evil, etc. Yeah sure a lot of action flicks contain all these goodies, and most of them have bombed. But not Blade, the movie was filmed just right, not going overboard, delivering a good length and never a dull moment. Blade II is cool, but not as cool as the first. Blade is indeed one of the best real comic flicks I've seen in a long time.

Beneath the streets, behind facades, above the law; conglomerations old and new, slash, shear and saw; unseen but all around, vigilant of every sound, taking lives, destroying chances, tooth and claw.

A hero's born to halt the chaos and confusion; to unmask, the guarded secrets of illusion; dressed in black, with sword on back, a mighty strength that others lack, a force arrives to clear the air, remove occlusion.

One of the more accomplished takes on the vampires taking over the world genre, with one of the more accomplished, and even to this day spectacular incarnations of a vampire slayer there's been.

The blood flows proportionally.

It seems to me that a lot of people don't know that Blade is actually a superhero movie on par with X-Men, Daredevil, Punisher and the likes. What all these heroes (and in the case of X-Men hero group) have in common is that they were all conceived in the magical world of Marvel. Blade was originally a normal person (in a blue outfit) who chased vampires because of a personal grudge and eventually facing of with Dracula himself and he was for lack of a better word boring. So boring in fact that the character was shelved and in fact never used in the Marvel universe. At least until he was reinvented.

David Goyer did a stroke of genius when he took the character of Blade and turned him into a leather clad dark knight. He can't take all the credit though and much of this must go to Stephen Norrington as well who with his distinct visual style brings out the best of the character. The Blade character (Wesley Snipes) is pretty amazing in this film and mixes martial arts with Batman like darkness. Snipes is pretty good as the title character and is successful in bringing out the duality and inner demons of the character. He is, however, a pretty rigid actor both in voice and in posture and is only interesting enough for one film (which is clearly seen from the inferior sequels). Kris Kristofferson is good as well and really brings the tormented character of Whistler to life with energy and sense of timing. N'Bushe Wright, however, is fairly weak as a leading lady making her character relatively flat and lifeless. Donal Logue is pretty funny and manages to do a lot with a minor character. German, Udo Kier, should also be mentioned as he brings a lot of finesse and style to the vampire race, probably born of his experiences from playing Dracula. Stephen Dorf provides the best acting in the film and his chilling performance as Deacon Frost stands as one of the best screen villains I have perhaps ever seen.

The story is good and, I feel, renews the vampire genre (something that hasn't been done since Robert Rodrigues' From Dusk Till Dawn) by adding a lot of contemporary elements and maintaining the comic book feel. By saying that the film has a comic book feel does not mean that the film is unrealistic. Far from it. A lot of effort has been put in trying to make the film seem as real as possible. Including the effects which are pretty good for their time. I found the vampire "dustings" to be a very nice touch. In stead of adding a lot of blood when a vampire dies Norrington chose to let the vampires spontaneously com-bust which looks great. The fact that the overall effects were well done adds to the credibility of the film which would otherwise have fallen flat on its face.

As previously stated Norrington has a very distinct visual style that sets him apart from the directors of the following Blade movies. Del Toro is nearly as skilled but I prefer Norrington's style. His style gives the film a very special look and feel but most importantly it gives the film atmosphere. A very tense dark atmosphere which works great in tune with the main character and story. Along with the visual style the music which also works fine and adds a lot to the atmosphere of the movie.

All in all Blade is a very entertaining movie that should probably have had an 8 from me but a few annoying flaws (which cannot be revealed without spoiling the movie, suffice to say, many of them are located near the ending of the film) does that the film must settle with a high 7.

7/10

Hope the summary line won't irritate you that much (it's a little homage to the Chappelle Show/Charlie Murphy, but also to the character Daywalker). But I'll try to put all the things I liked about the movie in one paragraph and everything I didn't like in another paragraph, so it will be easier to read!

Let's start with the good things! The quote "strong bloody violence" (which is used by rating boards, to describe the content of a movie, does fit here very well. This is not a movie for kids! Or for the faint of hearted! It has Blade as a central character (Wesley Snipes is phenomenal) and a crazy enough story thread to hold/justify the action scenes! The original idea is also very engaging and intelligent. The action scenes are great here too.

OK over to the things I didn't like. The overall story is too thin. It's enough as I've written above to hold the action scenes together, but there could be more. And a character like Blade deserves more (imo). The drama therefor isn't the best ... also it's use of clichés doesn't help. Some characters are underwritten ... That's that! :o)

Stephen Norrington's 1998 release "Blade" (based on the Marvel comic character) is the film that arguably lead to the recent trend of comic-book movies. It's success (along with that of "X-Men") caused people to do something they always should have- take comics seriously as an art form and a medium for storytelling. The film is an incredible, Gothic ride with great performances and unique visuals, and should be seen by any fan of action, horror or film in general.

Blade (Wesley Snipes) is a half-human, half-vampire. His mother was bitten while pregnant, and his blood was infected by the vampire virus, granting him some vampire-like powers (such as inhuman strength), although he also suffers from "The Thirst"- the vampire's natural need to feast on human blood, which he combats using treatments and serums, almost like a drug addict. Blade and his mentor Whistler (Krist Kristopherson) spend their nights hunting and killing vampires who feed on the humans.

At the same time, a vampire named Deacon Frost (Stephen Dorf) is plotting to overthrow the noble heads of the various vampire clans, and using them as sacrifices to bring about "La Magra" a vampyric blood-god, to destroy humanity and grant himself untold power. Blade and Whistler (along with help from a pathologist played by N'Bushe Wright) must figure out a way to stop Frost's deadly plans before he wipes out all of humanity.

The film is truly dark and Gothic. Norrington's direction sets an ominous and deadly mood, and the visuals are all well-crafted. The score by Mark Isham is tragic and melancholy, with some nice techno-y action music thrown in for good measure.

Acting is generally good (though Dorf does get a little hammy at times) and everything meshes quite well. The action is nice, though it feels a little staged and over-choreographed, and the visual effects, for the time, were outstanding. I should also mention that this is a violent, violent film. It is the bloodiest of the three movies, and has a lot of gore, which actually almost took me "out" of the movie a few times- some scenes felt campy with the sheer amount of carnage and goo being flung at the screen.

In addition, there are a couple of scenes and jokes that stick out like a sore thumb, and the tone is a bit too oppressive, making this a hard movie to sit through if you are not in the right mood.

I'm giving this a good 8 out of 10. I'd highly recommend it to fans of action and horror. It is a strong vampire film. (Also, a cool note, this movie is one of the several pre-"Matrix" films to utilize "bullet-time", that cool trick where action slows down dramatically to the point where you can see individual bullets whooshing through the air. Just a fun little piece of trivia- "The Matrix" did not invent this trick.)