Repeated views certainly make for average appeal.

Rating: 5/10 (20 September 2016)

Unfortunately the years have not been kind to Blade, and for me at least, the less said about the sequels, the better. When this first hit the screens I loved it simply due to the constant action, however watching this now just leaves me with a very real feeling of "meh".
To be fair, as a comic book adaptation, Blade works a real treat. I was never a fan of the comics, but from what little I do know, this stays faithful to the comic legend, his origins, his skills and abilities, but leaving the comic book lore behind for a moment, as a movie and in retrospect, it just no longer works for me for a number of reasons. The action in of itself is relentless and bloody. There's enough gore to suit most horror fans and enough action to satiate most needs on first viewing, and that can often be enough to initially love this for what it is. The fighting is choreographed as well as any ballet but it's when you delve a little deeper into what's really going on that the love eventually fades.
I can accept that as a person who was endowed with vampire strength, giving him heightened senses and coupled with his skills with swords, knives and all manner of weapons would make him a formidable opponent, but to be completely unbeatable is little far fetched and honestly, quite boring. What's the point of watching a hero go about his business if there's no Achilles heel for his enemies to exploit? Watching Wesley Snipes effortlessly smack people and vampires around like they were rag dolls, reminds me of any Jet Li or Steven Seagal movie where no matter the odds, they win every fight, they never get a scratch or even manage to break into a sweat. It becomes a little monotonous to watch after a while to see that the only time Blade takes a hit is when his hands are tied, and with his regenerative ability, merely getting punched in the face a few times is the same as ripping off a band-aid; it might sting for a second but who cares?
All the vampires know about Blade and refer to him as the "Daywalker", so they know what he's capable of yet they all insist in taking him on one at a time. The opening sequence in the abattoir/underground night club has the whole crowd all pent up with blood lust yet Blade dispatches many with ease like it's a day at the beach while the others all run screaming for the exits. I could never get why these blood-thirsty vampires never attacked him en masse. Persistently going one on one seems redundant and suicidal. I also take issue with every group of vampires acting like bumbling fools when confronting Blade. None of them seem to be able to shoot straight and even when there's ten or more with machine guns, no one manages to get a shot off before Blade shoots them all. Whether they're vampires or human familiars, watching them stumble around trying to kill or capture one man gets frustrating. I'm not watching a comedy so why the Keystone Cops routine?
Vampires are supposed to have super speed and reflexes, something that's witnessed in one scene where Deacon Frost dodges bullets, yet everyone else manages to get shot, stabbed, punched and kicked with minimal effort. We are also told that while crosses don't actually work, sunlight does, however that's rendered moot by some good ol' fashioned sunblock. So apparently vampires can be Daywalkers too if they wear an SPF 50+. Although the jury is still out on whether you need to wear a motorcycle helmet with the visor down, or just the sun-block and no sunglasses. It's the same sun, but do you need to protect your eyes or not? Make up your minds.
I felt that Kris Kristofferson was totally miscast in this as the shuffling perpetual angry and irritated senior citizen and partner to Blade. Despite his tech prowess, Whistler is completely useless in this, even more so in the sequel and seems to only serve as some kind of joke to old age.
I was going to give this only 4 stars but had to increase it by one simply due to N'Bushe Wright. She's so hot in this and whenever this is on late night TV, she at least makes this watchable. Sanaa Lathan is also not too bad to look at as Blades' mother, (despite her being 10 years younger than Snipes), so having them both in a film that's getting worse with age is at least one redeeming factor. My growing distaste for Blade may be in part due to the excessive and saturated feel that vampire movies have had on audiences. Along with the Underworld movies, the Twilight Saga and various other random vampire flicks that have done the rounds in the last 10-15 years, overload and boredom was inevitable. Blade isn't a bad movie by any means, and is worth a look if you catch it on TV when there's nothing else on.