Blade, a review by Jon
Blade
4 out of 5
Blade (Wesley Snipes) is a half-human, half-vampire, the "Daywalker", waging war on a secret society of vampires with help from Whistler (Kris Kristofferson). He rescues a doctor from a vampire attack and her skills with blood may help find Blade a new serum against the thirst that tortures him. Meanwhile Frost (Stephen Dorff) is trying to bring about a vampire apocalypse...When great comic book based movies are discussed, somehow Blade always gets forgotten. And it really isn't fair because it still holds up as one of the best. The story format of a martial artist vigilante with cool weapons and a faithful (if foul-mouthed!) assistant could be seen as a Batman clone and the style is very much like Nolan's two films. In fact, Christian Bale could do worse than throw in a couple of Blade's lines, because the tone is no less serious, but the dialogue certainly lightens it. And interesting that it came out a year before The Matrix. It matches that film for coolness and bares comparison with the plot (chosen one, prophecy). They certainly go to the same tailor, all black leather and sunglasses, and buy similar CDs, but surely a year is too tight to accuse the Wachowski's of ripping it off? But the likeness is uncanny, especially when Blade tells Karen the world she knows is a "sugar-coated topping" hiding the "real world". Actually, no, if they did copy it, The Matrix would have been far more entertaining with less po-faced exposition...
Because Blade is coldly lit, sombre and dark, but very entertaining with solid action throughout. The ending is silly and stretches the CGi past breaking point, but up to that point the plot produces some wonderful set-pieces and Norrington has a great eye for imagery; the "Blood Bath" opening, the freaky oracle vampire, the library, etc. You can see why it would attract Guillermo Del Toro to the sequel. Some criticise the villain, but I though Stephen Dorff did a good enough job and he is at least supported by a gang straight out of an 80s action thriller (and that's no bad thing). All the characters are memorable, especially Kristofferson's cranky old Whistler. The fights and lightly used gore also make this one of the last properly successful comic book films for adults.
Stephen Norrington really couldn't have done much better and I find it odd that he would go on to direct the pathetic League of Extraordinary Gentlemen which doesn't have any subtlety at all, and was such a bad experience he exiled himself. He is apparently working on a new version of The Crow and on this evidence it's an excellent idea. I look forward to smacking people in the face with my Blade DVD when they make the inevitable accusations that he's ripping off The Dark Knight!
(From Jon's Marathon of Horror! 2009 on October 4th, 2009)
Users: 0
July 03, 2025, 05:09:52 AM
Member's TV Reviews