Kinetic, Bloody, & Extremely Cool

Rating: 10/10 (11 August 2005)

Blade is the movie that made me start collecting movies. I had seen a little bit of it when I was 12 and it gave me nightmares. But four years later, I rediscovered it when I bought the DVD and it quickly became one of my favorite films. What I saw blew my mind: This movie was absolutely awesome! It had everything a kick-ass action movie should have and then some! Blade is a dark, bloody, testosterone-filled action film from start to finish with a character that epitomizes badass.
The opening scene in the nightclub sets the tone for not only this film, but for the entire Blade series. The action and fight scenes in this movie are intense, kinetic and well-executed with crazy stunts, impressive martial arts, and blood and ash flying everywhere. Blade has a wild arsenal with some truly amazing weapons, particularly the stake launching shotgun and the glaive (S-shaped boomerang thing) that he uses to their full potential. Blade moves so fast that sometimes it seems like a blur of leather and silver. Throughout the entire film Blade stylishly deals out insane amounts of punishment and death in some very inventive ways, especially with the E.D.T.A., a chemical that causes vampires to explode (use your imagination). You'll be cheering for Blade as he destroys any and all vampires that get in his way.
This movie is very bloody. Vampires nastily disintegrate into ash after being blown away or impaled. Limbs are chopped of many times. Vampires literally rip out your throat when the feed on you. And did I mention that vampires explode into chunky heaps of blood and guts? If you like blood and gore, this movie will satisfy any gore-hound.
Wesley Snipes IS Blade. No other actor could be Blade. He has the look, the voice, the demeanor, and the badass personality to make Blade entirely believable and extremely cool. When he puts on the leather trench coat and the sunglasses, he becomes Blade. In this movie, Snipes evolves the character of Blade and shows some of his human side, but not before killing as many 'suck heads' as possible. Stephen Dorff as Deacon Frost does a great job, even though he doesn't pose too much of a threat to Blade because he is so small and pale. Dorff has the menacing and brutal Deacon Frost down perfectly. N'Bushe Wright does a good job as Karen, as does Donal Logue, who provides plenty of comic relief after his repeated run-ins with Blade. Kris Kristofferson is excellent as Blade's hardened mentor Abraham Whistler. The guy is at least 70 years old, but he could definitely beat the crap out of someone half his age.
Stephen Norrington shot the movie very stylishly. Everything has a blue-gray industrial feel to it, which suits the dark, tortured character of Blade perfectly. We only see daytime once or twice the entire film, which I thought was great, since it's how Blade and the vampires live. Norrington also stages some truly spectacular scenes, like in the subway and in the temple of La Magra. I really enjoyed his use of fast forward shots that show the city turning from day to night. Very nice, Mr. Norrington.
Followed by two sequels: Blade II in 2002, which is just as awesome and also extremely stylish, and Blade: Trinity in 2004, which is also pretty good.
The Bottom Line:
Blade is an outstanding action movie, with kinetic action, great special effects, a top-notch performance by Wesley Snipes, and a dark and gritty visual style. One of my top ten movies.