A Marvel-lously enjoyable vampire flick.

Rating: 8/10 (27 April 2020)

Long before the Marvel Cinematic Universe was a thing, director Stephen Norrington gave us Blade. Based on Marvel's comic-book series about a vampire hunter who is part bloodsucker himself, the film starred Wesley Snipes in the title role, with Stephen Dorff as his nemesis, nasty vampire Deacon Frost, who is attempting to take over the world by resurrecting an ancient 'blood god'.
Norrington does a great job in translating the comic to screen, delivering wonderfully choreographed fight scenes, plenty of stylish visuals, a smattering of gore, and a pounding techno soundtrack, with only a smidge of unconvincing CGI to occasionally ruin the effect. Snipes, a solid actor and skilled martial artist, fits the character to a 'T'; able support comes from Kris Kristofferson as Blade's mentor Whistler and N'Bushe Wright as helpful hematologist Karen, who is unwittingly caught up in the battle between good and evil.
Also joining in for the fun are cult favourite Udo Kier as 'pure-blood' vampire Dragonetti (who has the best death scene of the film), Donal Logue as Frost's rowdy right hand man Quinn, and Traci Lords as sexy vamp Racquel (whose screen-time is all too brief, her character destroyed in the film's blood-soaked opening nightclub scene).
8/10. Still holds up as a very worthy Marvel movie.