Stunning effects and action. Blade is perfect popcorn pleasure

Rating: 9/10 (27 April 2006)

When a young man is taken by his mysterious girlfriend to an underground rave, little does he know that she is secretly a vampire and that all of the other 'ravers' are blood sucking beasts. But don't worry- there's Blade to save the day.
And spectacularly so.
Blade. armed with a sword, shotgun, handgun and shuriken type weapon, rips through half of the occupants, taking them out in a flash of brilliant effects and expertly staged hand to hand combat. The vampires disintegrate into dust and Blade moves on.
This opening action scene is one of the best ever, and sets a dark but constantly entertaining tone for the rest of the movie. Directed by Stepthen Norrington, who went onto make Sean Connery flop LXG, Blade came out before The Matrix and in terms of coolness, beats Keanu's film hands down.
When vampire Deacon Frost (Stepthen Dorff) plans to resurrect a long dead vampire god, Blade and his mentor/sidekick Whistler (Kris Kristofferson) use their heavy arsenal to stop him. With doctor Karen Jenson onboard (N Bushe Wright) Blade also searches a cure for his thirst. No, not that kind of thirst...
Blade, played to understated perfection by Wesley Snipes, is a half blood, or 'daywalker'. His pregnant mother was bitten before giving birth to him (it turns out later it was Frost who bit her) and he has been given all of the strength of a vampire, and none of their weaknesses (daylight, garlic, silver). Unfortunately he also has their thirst, and he uses a garlic compound to quell his thirst. Snipes is physically able to perform in the film, and with Blade a man of few words he has no problem conveying the human emotions.
Kristofferson is effective as Whistler, and his death scene late in the movie is accompanied by superb melancholic music. Dorff, while not the beefiest of bad guys, is able to give Frost a youthful exuberance and cocky persona that sits as a perfect opposite to Snipes and his brooding.
Wright is decent support as the token female, working away on a cure while also letting Blade bite her when he can't find any serum. Donal Logue is annoying as Frosts sidekick, but thats the point. However, when he finally gets his comeuppance its a great comedic moment as he charges at Blade and gets decapitated by an acid edged piece of rope.
The fights and effects are superbly staged, with the nightclub massacre one of the highlights of action film history. The gleaming white tiles end up blood splattered as Blade takes no prisoners. Later Blade jumps off as building, grabs onto a speeding train and gets put in some kind of ancient tomb style device. The action never lets up, and Norrington delivers well with his limited budget.
Blade, unlike some other action heroes, decides to take a life when he could easily spare it. When launching his one man assault on Frosts headquarters, he annihilates the human bodyguards of Frost and discovers one on the floor lying injured. Blade points his shotgun in the guards face, and the guard shouts 'no! i just work for them!' before Blade blasts his head off. Its an incredibly powerful moment, coming after Whistlers death and filling Blade with anger and a lust for revenge. He is a great hero, but not infallible.
This is a great action movie, and there is no chance of someone watching it and being left bored. Its perfect Friday night entertainment, and deserves to be loved.
A splendid action epic.