Vengeful Vampire

Rating: Null/10 (7 March 2002)

From the opening scenes of "Blade", we are left under no illusions as to what the film will deliver. New Line's first attempt at a comic book franchise in the "Batman" ilk is a stylish, loud and highly entertaining escapist film, enhanced by superb combat scenes and a drastically macho performance from star Wesley Snipes. A vampire superhero is an exciting premise for movie and comic book fans alike and fortunately "Blade" delivers the necessary punch required in this genre, one that often misses the mark on the big screen.
"Blade" draws on some famous figures of popular culture, including Batman, The Crow and Dracula. Vampires have held huge appeal for cinemagoers for decades, so coupling this with a vengeful Batman-style vigilante results in a character who we have empathy for but are also frightened by. Wesley Snipes' hushed tough guy acting style delivers, despite his one-dimensionality near the film's end.
Blade is introduced in a fighting scene at the start of the film. This opening scene is effectively shot. It sets the tone of the film perfectly with its pumping electronic soundtrack, quick cuts and over-stylised mise en scene. Blade deals to the bad guys with surprisingly fluid and effective martial arts, as well as his arsenal of semi automatic weapons and throwing knives and, of course, stakes. No gore is spared in this opening scene, in fact the whole film is a gore-fest. It's the type of film "Fangora" fans would drool over.
From here the story reads very much like a comic book. The vampires are presented as an underground corporation of super-humans who live, for obvious reasons, in the shadows and conduct their business like a multinational. Blade saves a pathologist named Karen Jenson (N'Bushe Wright) who was unfortunate enough to be bitten by a vampire. She comes up with a cure to make Blade a human (he currently survives on injections of serum), but just as his cure is around the corner a new vampire leader named Deacon Frost (Stephen Dorff) plans to take over the world in a diabolical scheme to resurrect a Blood God'. Silly is the right word, but in this genre it works well.
Blade's human sidekick is Whistler, played by Kris Kristofferson. Whistler's got an air of the Old West about him and the duality between his character and the cold and urbane Blade works effectively well. Of all the other characters apart from Blade, Whistler is the most believeable. Wright's character is drastically underdone. She pouts from scene to scene and does not offer much in the way of dramatic delivery. Dorff's Frost is deliciously over the top and while the scrawny thesp holds his own, his physical presence cannot match Snipes for a second. Udo Kier, who many people will recognise from vampire movies of the 1970s, plays an interesting role as the slightly camp Dragonetti, leader of the pure' vampires. All characters, including Blade, are given minimal time to develop, but this is an action movie, so we forgive director Stephen Norrington for this failure.
The special effects in "Blade" are very good as is the art direction, set design and makeup. The film is tightly edited and shot in a series of blue, yellow and white filters and Norrington often employs a level of colour de-saturation to emphasise the Vampires' pasty complexions. The soundtrack is effective and is generally thumping deep trance, in keeping with the violence and action the film delivers in large doses. There is plenty of blood and guts, including some slightly disturbing scenes involving a UV lamp and a rising sun.
By the conclusion of the film we feel that any more action would deter from the film's effectiveness. As far as action / comic book movies go "Blade" is one step above the norm and is something most film fans can sink their teeth into.