A brilliant start to a brilliant trilogy.

Rating: 8/10 (22 June 2005)

I have now seen all three BLADE movies so I thought I'd review them all now. This, the first film of the series, did not disappoint me when I saw it for the first time. My parents had seen it ages before I did and gave me their opinion. I agree with them on some things and disagree on some others. For instance, they complained that Stephen Dorff was pretty unconvincing as head vamp Deacon Frost. I personally thought that Dorff was very good in the role and could be very menacing at times. But this is Wesley Snipes' show and he is excellent as our hero, the half human-half vampire Blade. Known as the Daywalker, he is the bane of the existence of the vampires who have their fingers in many pies of human society. Adding excellent support is Kris Kristofferson as Abraham Whistler, Blade's mentor and weapons creator.
The cast overall is very good and the action scenes, such as a battle in a vamp nightclub at the start and Blade's final assault on Frost's stronghold are staged brilliantly. Stephen Norrington is, in my opinion, an excellent director and he delivers the goods with this movie. As a fan of muscle cars, I'm also glad that Blade has some cool wheels here (a black Dodge Charger). My only gripes would be that Frost's minions, with the exception of the luckless Quinn, can be pretty faceless at times and that I think Frost should have turned into a giant monster for the final fight as was originally planned. That aside, this film kicks off the BLADE trilogy excellently and I'm glad that David S. Goyer was the writer for each one as the world he creates is truly stunning.