First Great Marvel Movie

Rating: 8/10 (2 April 2010)

Before Bryan Singer came along and blew our minds with X-MEN or Sam Raimi wow'd us with SPIDER-MAN, director Stephen Norrington created one of the first good Marvel comic adaptations with BLADE. The series follows the half-human/half-vampire Blade in his on-going battle against the undead with the aid of his mentor Whistler. In the film, Blade confronts Deacon Frost, a vampire who's become fed up with his people's desire to remain in the shadows of humanity. He plans to summon the vampire blood god La Magra and allow vampires to rise to their rightful place over the humans. BLADE is Norrington's first major directing gig and he brings us a killer action/horror film to debut one of Marvel's coolest characters.
With few exceptions, the casting in this film was terrific. Wesley Snipes truly is Blade; I can't think of any other actor that would've personified the character anywhere as well as Snipes did. He's got the cool demeanor, hint of humor, and wicked martial arts skills to bring to the role. Kris Kristofferson's gruff attitude was an inspired choice for Whistler and Stephen Dorff was fun as Frost. The character of Frost reminded me a lot of Kiefer Sutherland in 1987's THE LOST BOYS which probably made me a bit biased because of how fun a movie it was. Dorff was equal parts crazy, arrogant, and evil: all the best qualities in a comic villain (especially a vampire comic villain).
The action in this movie is awesome, with plenty of martial arts (all vampires know martial arts?) and slicing/dicing. Blade's got a nifty arsenal of toys at his disposal, including his glaive, his sword, and a compound called EDTA that had been cooked up by his hematologist associate Karen Jenson (N'Bushe Wright). The EDTA makes for some gory endings for a couple of vampires that cross Blade's warpath. The film's weakness comes in the form of the CG, which has not aged well. Nearly all the CG in the film stands out and pulls you right out of the movie, especially the wraiths in the La Magra summoning scene. I don't know if it was a lack of funds or time but the visual effects still needed a great deal of work.