"There are worse things out tonight than vampires." (Blade (DVD))

Member Name: Jake Speed

Product:	Blade (DVD)
Date:	16/09/08 (184 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fast paced action fun

Disadvantages: Bit dated in places

Wesley Snipes is 'Blade', a vampire hunter who just happens to be half vampire himself in Stephen Norrington's slightly dated but fun action film from 1998. Blade, according to the blurb, has the power of an immortal, the soul of a human and the heart of a hero. With his vampire powers, sunglasses, trusty sword, high-tech weaponry and fondness for black leather clothing, Blade battles a covert vampire infiltration and takeover of human society in this slick, bloody, silly and enjoyable slice of comic book nonsense.

Blade begins with a great set-piece. A young man is taken to a secret rave but eventually realises everyone is a bit weird, not to mention unfriendly. Blood comes out of a sprinkler system above and drenches everyone as techno music thumps away. This sequence looks great on DVD. Everyone is a vampire except the young man. They start to beat him up and reveal their fangs but he is saved by the entrance of Blade who proceeds to shoot the place up and kick the $*%* out of about two thousand vampires.

It's good high-octane fun and there is much more in this (no pun intended) vein in Blade. Norrington shows some genuine flair with the fight scenes as vampires dissolve into glowing CGI embers after being dispatched by Blade.

There is a bit of backstory stuff in Blade that slows the film a little but never terminally. We learn that Blade's mother was bitten by a vampire when she was pregnant - hence his powers & hatred for 'bloodsuckers'. Blade has one advantage over vampires - he is able to move around in daylight. To the vampires he is the 'Daywalker' and a mythic figure, not least because he is always killing them.

Blade has a secret wharehouse HQ (not unlike Bruce Wayne's in The Dark Knight) where his only friend Whistler (Kris Kristofferson) serves as a mentor and makes all his weapons. He's like a foul-mouthed country and western cross between Alfred in Batman and Q from the James Bond films. Kris Kristofferson is good fun here and seems to be enjoying himself as the grizzled Whistler. "Catch you f***ers at a bad time?" he asks the vampires after rescuing Blade in a very destructive manner.

In Blade we learn that vampires secretly control more and more of society. They are biding their time until the day arrives when they take over for good and use us for 'cattle'. It seems very few people are actually aware of this but luckily Blade is on the case. There are humans who work for vampires known as 'familiars' who have a tatoo on their necks like a barcode to indicate they are 'property' of a vampire. This central premise that vampires are real and gradually taking over the world is good fun and adds a bit of extra atmosphere to Blade, also making you root for our hero more. "You better wake up," says Blade. "The world you live in is just a sugar-coated topping. There is another world beneath it - the real world."

Blade's battle becomes more complicated in the film when the villain Deacon Frost (Stephen Dorff) takes control of the vampire world and begins a quest to awaken a vampire God that will endow him with unstoppable power. Young scamp Frost is ruffling a few feathers with the stuffy elder vampire community. "We should be ruling the humans, not running around making back alley treaties with them," says Frost. "These people are our food, not our allies."

If Frost is successful in his God quest the game will be up for both Blade and humanity...

Despite the vampires, Blade is definitely more of an action film than a horror film. It's actually a lot closer to a superhero film than anything else with Blade like an amped up version of the nineties cinematic Batman. The film is very stylish in places although you may find the fast cuts and slow pans a bit overdone. Everything is geared to making the film rattle along at an entertaining pace and it does this. Blade also has a definite Hong Kong feel to it in places and while Wesley Snipes is not Jet Li, the fight sequences are great fun and the lead actor obviously put a lot of effort into doing them himself. There is a scene near the end for example where Blade beats up dozens of Frost's minions to techno music that is both funny and great fun.

There is also a bit where Blade arrives in a lobby and shoots the place up taking out dozens of police/guards that strongly reminds you of the similar lobby scene in The Matrix, although perhaps not quite on such an epic scale. Did the makers of The Matrix watch Blade before they came up with that? I have no idea.

Nit picks? Well the CGI does look a bit dated in places, especially a few of the blood splats. The effects haven't completely held-up here and there. And of course Stephen Dorf, who is just one of the most self-satisfied and rubbish actors ever to step on a film set. However, he is playing the villain here, and while not the most threatening villain ever, Dorf's ability to be annoying works to the film's advantage. You want Wesley Snipes to beat him up all through the film.

Snipes himself is great fun. He isn't a great actor but he's a great action star. His deadpan quips, done with a voice that sounds like it needs a packet of Strepsils, are pretty funny. I loved the moment where Blade approaches a vampire club and is asked if he has an invitation by a burly bouncer. "Invitation?" muses Blade. Cue the next shot of the bouncer crashing into the club through some glass!

Donal Logue as Quinn, Frost's henchman is also a good laugh. He chews the scenery up as he battles Blade and has his hand cut off countless times. Udo Kier also pops up as a vampire elder and you sort of wish he had a slightly larger role in the film.

So overall, Blade is a funky, fast-paced slice of bloody comic book action nonsense that rattles past in an entertaining fashion.

Good fun.


My one disc edition has the following extras:

Trailer
Deleted Scenes
Cast & Crew Stills/Text
Special Effects Feature
Designing Blade
Behind the Scenes Feature (51 minutes in length)

Summary: High-octane