Best of the Blade films

Rating: 8/10 (4 March 2008)

Yes I know, that's saying a lot (or not much) but it's true.
The first Blade, to me, is comprised mostly of introducing the audience to Blade and explaining this version of the Vampire. These vampires are not affected by religious icons unlike Vampires in other works of fiction, just as an example. I also thought Stephen Dorff didn't pull off the arch-villain too well. He always comes off as a bit snotty and I just couldn't accept him as this mastermind to bring about a Vampire god. Maybe I'm being too critical, who knows.
In Blade 3, the villains across the board seemed like amateurs compared to what he faced in previous films. Even Stephen Dorff was more believable than Parky Posey or the rest of that bunch. Dominic Purcell as Dracula or Drake....nah, not buying it. Hey, I like him in Prison Break but as the original vampire, I think they could have found someone with a little more depth. Hey, the guy who played Dracula in Van Helsing pulled it off perfectly. Also, there was just too much comic relief from Ryan Reynolds whom I could not buy as a vampire hunter. Every line from him was a joke, it seemed. Plus, they killed Whistler...again. Kris Kristofferson(sp) had little more than a cameo in this film simply so they could bring in eye candy with Jessica Biehl (sp). She did alright but it wasn't anything special.
Now, take Blade 2. The villains were believable. The acting was good for the most part and the plot was interesting and deep enough. Basically, after Blade tracks down Whistler who has become a vampire himself, he is recruited by the Vampires to help fight a new common enemy, the reapers. The reapers are a mutation of the vampire virus that creates a creature more powerful than the vampire and harder to kill. Blade agrees to team up with the Vampires to hunt these creatures until it turns out that the head vampire has set this all up to create the next step in the vampire evolution. That's a pretty brief synopsis.
What makes this Blade film different is that there is actual character development for Blade. He develops, if nothing else, a respect for vampires and even a possible love interest with a Vampire woman. This was starkly different compared to the other films where Blade is just a constant brooding individual who never changes.
The special effects are great; no more of that obvious computerized blood that made Blade 1 almost silly at times. The fight scenes are great and come on...any film that has Ron Pearlman in it is going to be good.
Blade 2 just had a different feel to it.