Hunting Season Begins

Rating: 8/10 (21 September 2018)

It's not often we get a great origin story to a well-written and severely determined vampire hunter with a deadly purpose. "Blade" is a gory and violent, non-stop action picture that jumps from the DC comic books and shines brightly. Wesley Snipes may have found his best role and the best performance of his career.

It's about a vampire hunter named, Blade (Wesley Snipes), whose mother was bitten by a vampire while she was pregnant with him. As a result, she dies, and he lives only to inherit some differences like being able to walk in the sunlight. While living on the streets, Blade is taken in and adopted by his mentor and weaponsmith, Whistler (Kris Kristofferson) where he sharpens his lethal skills under Whistler's tutelage. After destroying a vampire nightclub, Blade rescues a hematologist, Dr. Karen Jenson (N'Bushe Wright) after she is bitten, in an attempt to save her. Meanwhile, a young vampire, Decon Forst (Stephen Dorff) has declared war on the human race when he tries to awaken a blood god - La Magra, that puts Blade at the top of the hunting game. The only problem is, Decon needs Blade's blood, the blood of the daywalker.
Blade's origin story is well written and fascinating that I must give it up to David S. Goyer for writing the movie and doing a good job. After seeing the character in action, it makes you wonder who Blade is and what his real purpose is. Is he looking for his mother's killer or is he merely attempting to kill all the vampires, the thing he hates most? We learn a little from the opening of the picture and Whistler fills in the blanks later on as to who he is and how he came to be. Blade is a composite of a characters study because there are so much detail and background for him that the movie is not long enough to tell it all but Wesley Snipes takes the role and dives head first into the character.
Mostly this is an action movie with some brilliant special effects. The source material comes from a comic book with a superhero feel, but since Wesley is an accomplished martial artist, it looks even better. He punches, kicks and slices threw vampires, and it's quite entertaining to see. There are several fight scenes in the film, but one fight scene is virtually a bloodbath as body parts burn while others are shot off, come undone and ripped apart. The opening sequence in the vampire nightclub is not only a bloody battleground, but it's got an old-school Hong Kong action style feel to it. One Vampire has his head kicked into a wall light while another is shoved into the ceiling by his chin with Blade's stakes.
Throughout the picture, we don't know what's Blade's real intentions are. Something inside him is eating away, and it seems like he is searching for his mother's killer, but we don't know, but we feel there is something more. He is left mysterious. Deacon Frost is the nasty vampire pest that thinks he is above everyone and proceeds to awaken the blood god to become invincible. Deacon looks to be eternal not just the whole "walk in the sunlight" routine.
Snipes hit an emotional range with the character. He is a commanding presence and makes those afraid of him go running into the night, well most of them. You can believe that Wesley is physically good at the action. The Climax sets Blade inside a temple where the monsters all gather together to figure out his weakness and trap him in a casket-like machine to acquire his blood. This action does not go according to plan and Blade takes the final stage with Deacon. Before we see the outcome, we see a character who is vulnerable as well. We know Blade is not the superhero he is supposed to be but a man dying to escape from what he is and possibly become human.