Blade (1998)

Blade: Directed by Stephen Norrington. With Wesley Snipes, Stephen Dorff, Kris Kristofferson, N’Bushe Wright. A half-vampire, half-mortal man becomes a protector of the mortal race, while slaying evil vampires.

“Stephen Norringtonu0026#39;s 1998 release u0026quot;Bladeu0026quot; (based on the Marvel comic character) is the film that arguably lead to the recent trend of comic-book movies. Itu0026#39;s success (along with that of u0026quot;X-Menu0026quot;) 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.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBlade (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 u0026quot;The Thirstu0026quot;- the vampireu0026#39;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.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAt 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 u0026quot;La Magrau0026quot; a vampyric blood-god, to destroy humanity and grant himself untold power. Blade and Whistler (along with help from a pathologist played by Nu0026#39;Bushe Wright) must figure out a way to stop Frostu0026#39;s deadly plans before he wipes out all of humanity.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe film is truly dark and Gothic. Norringtonu0026#39;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.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eActing 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 u0026quot;outu0026quot; of the movie a few times- some scenes felt campy with the sheer amount of carnage and goo being flung at the screen.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIn 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.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIu0026#39;m giving this a good 8 out of 10. Iu0026#39;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-u0026quot;Matrixu0026quot; films to utilize u0026quot;bullet-timeu0026quot;, 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- u0026quot;The Matrixu0026quot; did not invent this trick.)”