Blade

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.

Fantastically shot, well paced.. arguably Snipes' most impressive performance to date and lots of fun martial arts fight sequences involving swords and guns - not to mention the unique and timeless soundtrack. Blade is one of my favourite action movies of all time, up there with Die Hard and Predator.

Director Stephen Norrington is what Chris Cunningham (Aphex Twin videos) would have been if he dropped the weirdness and went into more conventional movies.. or if David Fincher stopped with the thrillers and did straight action. It is a massive shame we couldn't see more from Stephen, but at least we have Blade.

Certain special effects haven't aged well (and are in desperate need of a remaster!) but aside from that, this movie is great visually. Norrington's choice of shots, the way scenes are lit is masterful.

The performances he gets out of his actors are great too. It's not surprising Snipes loved the Blade character so much as to later method act and speak to cast/crew in character.. not surprising at all when the first movie of the trilogy this strong (though I pretend Blade 2 and 3 never happened) Watch this movie if you haven't already, especially if you love the 90s aesthetic or if you enjoy vampire-related movies/TV shows. The Blade character is iconic and Snipes was born to play him, and this movie is a 2 hour proof-of-concept for Norrington being the greatest director nobody ever talks about.

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.

A superior vampire action movie, featuring a very impressive Wesley Snipes. The martial arts (stunts) are amazing and so are the groundbreaking visual effects. The musical score is magnificent and really drives the whole experience through a roller-coaster ride, of over-the-top blood-letting. Excellent supporting performance from Kris Kristofferson, in the part of his side-kick whistler. 'Blade' is not just any movie that is made and then goes away. Subsequently the whole look and feel of this picture, has been highly influential in the Horror/Sci-fi genre.

Blade was only a foetus when his mother was attacked by vampires and left for dead. When he is born he is born a half-breed. As an adult he has been joined by Abraham Whistler, a vampire hunter, to fight the secret war against the vampire culture. He hunts the impure-blood vampire Deacon Frost who plans to summon La Magra - the Blood God.

Now approaching it's second sequel, this film was a dark surprise to me as I didn't expect too much from it. The plot sees Blade hunting a dangerous vampire seeing to unleash the power of La Magra and take vampires from their shadows into the real world; we also get a bit of back story as well. This plot gives all the best lines to the vampires and not enough good scenes with Blade himself. I like Blade for the same reason as I like Batman - they are both messed up superheroes of a sort. The film tells us how Blade was created but it doesn't delve deep enough for my tastes - only once or twice did I really get a feel for his cruel, darker nature (`Please, I only work for them'). I suppose this was to be expected and it certainly manages the darker tone much better than the Batman films did (in the long run).

The action is good although it never really gets to the peak of the opening nightclub scene but is good nonetheless. Some of the effects in the final fight are a bit lacking and they make the usual horror movie mistake of showing too much and having it be less effective than the build up and suggestion of the monster was.

Snipes doesn't exactly display a great emotional range here but he is good in the title role nonetheless. He is a commanding presence and physically good at the action stuff. Dorff is pretty good as the main vampire - he is slick and plays it well to be a good representation of the `new breed' as the script requires. Kristofferson is cool and Wright is sexy while still being a good actress! The support cast contains no real standouts; Lathan is no more than a cameo and isn't really good while people like Lords only stick in the memory due to their name and not their performance.

Overall this is an enjoyably slick vampire/action movie. The end product may be more style than substance but the character of Blade is darkly interesting, even if neither Snipes nor the film really give too much away in terms of his inner workings. I have yet to see the sequel but I would hope that it keeps the same dark tone that makes this film stand out.