Norrington is a genius

Rating: 8/10 (22 April 2006)

You'll not find a better pop corn flick, no matter how hard you try. Blade is an excellent film from the Kung Fu inspired fight scenes to the acting of Wesley Snipes.
Blade is a Daywalker, a human with some vampire powers. He has their strength and their regeneration power, but also their thirst. He hunts vampires for a living and that's pretty much the plot. In this film, he goes up against the villainous Deacon Frost who wants to put an end to mankind once and for all and rule over them. Even though Stephen Dorff won't strike you as the coolest villain ever, he is still way more memorable than anything the other Blade films will offer.
Kris Kristofferson plays Blade's mentor Whistler who is an aging vampire hunter himself. Even though Kristofferson is just an old country singer, he's definitely ideal for his role. Some of his lines are just golden.
Stephen Norrington definitely cooked together one of the best action films I've ever seen. Now it's not something that will etch itself onto your mind and stay there forever but as far as dumb action films go this is great. The action scenes are obviously inspired by kung fu films where western slug fights are matched with eastern camera controls. Not an abuse of quick cuts that Hollywood films usually prefer and instead we get a full view of the fight which is very effective.
Other than that, Blade is in this film much different than in the lackluster sequels. Here he is an animal, his hatred for vampires is obvious and he'll do anything and kick anyones ass to get them. Again, this was not present in the sequels where Blade is instead a show off. He spins his sword in nine different cool ways before finally cutting and nobody knows why. That's why you should see this film, and avoid the sequels at all costs. Norrington is one of the best action directors out there, and it's to bad he hasn't done more films.
Rent or buy this film. But at least see it. It's an excellent pop corn action flick. As good as you'll find, actually.
8/10