Blade 1998

I partly wanted to see the new Ghost Rider movie, but after reading several reviews for it, I didn’t much want to go out and see it in theaters. So things didn’t work out and at the last minute I put in Blade. I think I made the better decision. Of course if I want to stick to my schedule and have this finished by midnight it means that I only have half an hour to write this. So for those of you reading this, you can see what me writing quickly and without being able to do a second take on it later. Of course I always have the option of going back in and editing, but that’s not worth mentioning right now. Also, if you read this early you got to see this without most of the pictures, lucky you.

Anyway Blade is more of a vampire action movie than a superhero movie, but it is based on a Marvel comic book and it’s pretty frikkin good. One thing I really liked about this movie from the start is even though it’s the first movie, it’s not an origin movie. There’s just a brief scene at the beginning that shows Blade being born to a dying mother with a large vampire neck wound. Then it jumps ahead to where he’s a full fledged vampire hunter. Of course there’s an outsider in the form of a doctor so the audience eventually gets to find out how Blade ended up where he is now. I thought this was handled really well, the exposition was given out in smaller chunks and so many things were set up where everyone around him just knew what was going on. Especially the scene where Blade goes and gets the ingredients for his serum from the apothecary. The two know each other, they have a history, but they don’t have to spell it out with tons of exposition, you can just tell by how they treat each other.

There's a lot this scene says about Blade without having to actually say it.

I should probably take a moment to mention a little bit about Blade for those that might not know. I’ve seen all three movies, probably shortly after they had come out but I don’t think I’ve seen any of them in theaters, and I also don’t know anything about the comics. Anyway, Blade is a half vampire with all of their strengths and none of their weaknesses, unless you count the thirst for blood as a weakness. His mentor slash father figure is Whistler played by Chris Kristofferson, now an old man dying of cancer with a leg brace who makes all his weapons. He has to take the serum I mentioned earlier in order to suppress his thirst for blood. Blade is of course played by Wesley Snipes who is a perfect fit for this character. He has a great look, great fighting style, and great attitude.

Honestly, there’s not a whole lot I didn’t like about this movie, it’s very stylish, the special effects mostly hold up pretty well. There’s a couple CGI shots that look a little dated, but most of it is pretty subtle for its time and all the practical effects totally hold up. Deacon Frost is a great villain played by Stephen Dorff. He’s more or less the hip new vampire in the vampire council that’s bringing in new ideas at the same time as he’s bringing in old ideas in the form of an ancient prophecy to awaken the blood god.

A vampire so cool, he doesn't even need to wear sunglasses.

But whatever, it’s all just an excuse for Blade to kick some major vampire ass, and he does it in spades. There’s several action setpieces in this movie and they’re all excitingly choreographed with a nice mix of gunplay, martial arts, and of course his signature swordwork. There’s also a bit of science mumbo jumbo that’s helped by the doctor slash kind of love interest slash outsider. From what I remember about what others have said about this movie, she is the weakest link. But personally I enjoyed her. She comes around to Blade’s way of thinking pretty quickly and progressively holds her own to become a valuable ally by the end. I thought the progression was believable and I liked the low key romantic tension. It wasn’t an overt love story, but you could tell that she… I wouldn’t go so far as to say that she loved him, but she had some minor feelings towards him. Instead of culminating in a love scene or even a kiss, since this is a vampire movie it culminated in her letting him feed off of her. The only part that I didn’t as much care for is that they played it up as if he had drank too much from her, and yet she was still holding her own as if she hadn’t lost way too much blood during the final battle. Although as I was looking for pictures of her, I never noticed that she spends the entire movie with pretty much the same expression on her face.

Give me shock! Good, now give me fear! Good good, now anger!! Yes! Perfect! Cut! Print! Check the gate!

I especially enjoyed the little bits of humor thrown throughout the movie. It wasn’t too much to make it over the top and slapstickish, but it almost always made me laugh. Like early on when Blade tells off the police officers that were firing at him, to Frost joking that he was going to cut off his henchmen’s hand again, to Blade silently mouthing “What the hell” when Frost joined himself back together after he was bound with the blood god. At least at the moment, I can’t really think of anything in this movie that I didn’t like, and I’m really looking forward to watching the next two Blade movies. I will still do my best to catch the new Ghost Rider, and when I do, the review will be posted as soon as possible. Until next time, this has been Bubbawheat for Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights.