Old Blood, New Bottles

Rating: 6/10 (8 August 1999)

Is there anything more ridiculous yet still fascinating than vampire movies? I cannot explain their almost 100 year old appeal but Blade is another in a long list which I enjoyed and here is why.
First there is a style twist in Blade combining 40's film noir with vampire conventions. (In a much stranger way Dark City also tries for this kind of look.) Second, our vampire is the opposite of the usual sophisticated blood sucking aristocrat. Blade's central character is a Schwazenegger Terminator macho antihero except that Wesley Snipes can act.
Add some martial arts, lots of shooting, vampire mumbo jumbo, gross zombies and you have an above average action film. There is a Ghostbusters apocalyptic subplot that I was able to ignore almost through the entire movie until it overwhelms the story. But soon that was finished and Snipes went on with being cool.
Speaking of Snipes, he just oozes a menacing intensity. Coupled with Kris Kristofferson as the grizzled side kick and N'Bushe Wright as the damsel in distress and you have the foundation for Snipes to be his big, bad self.

Blade is basically an action film that has the right mix of movie styles to make it worth watching.