Blade (1998) starring Wesley Snipes, Kris Kristofferson, Stephen Dorff, N'Bushe Wright, Donal Logue, Udo Kier, Arly Jover, Traci Lords directed by Stephen Norrington Movie Review

Blade (1998)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Wesley Snipes in Blade (1998)

Snipes Swipes at Vamp Types

I know "Blade" has been knocking about in comic books for a long time and the movie was released back in 1997 but wouldn't it be fun to transpose the character in to the more recent "Twilight" movies, it would have saved a lot of misery letting Blade loose on the Cullen clan. Anyway with that little fantasy aside we get down to "Blade" a vampire super hero movie which spawned two sequels and a series. Well on one hand "Blade" is entertaining because we have the super cool Wesley Snipes wearing armour akin to Batman and kicking a lot of butt, sending suck heads up in flames whilst working with the equally cool Kris Kristofferson doing a bit of a Sam Elliott impression. But whilst the action is cool as are the effects which go alongside them the actual storyline is not so good and sort of gets lost in the mix.

It all started in 1967 when he was born in the emergency of a hospital after his mother was bitten by a vampire. But he was born different, a mutant mix of human and vampire which means he can go out into the sun and he was also born with a want for revenge. The man is Blade (Wesley Snipes - Murder at 1600), one cool dude on a mission to destroy suck heads and along with Whistler (Kris Kristofferson - Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid) are doing a good job of it. But when he rescues a doctor called Karen (N'Bushe Wright) after she is bitten by a vampire he finds himself getting ever close to the heart of the vampire organization, the evil minded Frost (Stephen Dorff).

Kris Kristofferson in Blade (1998)

So let's start with why "Blade" is entertaining and that begins with Wesley Snipes playing it ultra cool, looking slick and kicking lots of vampire butt. It is a memorable character which is well teamed up with Kris Kristofferson who has the perfect look of a wily old vampire hunter who probably grew up on a ranch. The two together are a great team and there is just the right amount of sarcasm between them. Plus of course there is N'Bushe Wright as Karen who has just the right amount of attitude so that she isn't just a cliche.

Then there is the frequent action with Blade being the ultra cool kick ass hero who enters a room packed with vampires fearless of what may happen. It is sharp, quick, well edited and with just the right mix of gadgets and old fashioned weaponry. And more importantly just the right amount of humour as well from vampires losing limbs to the various characters which Blade finds himself up against.

But here is the problem with "Blade" it is 2 hours long and doesn't have the strong enough storyline to support the length. The story ends up unimportant for the most and whilst we get introduced to the evil Deacon Frost and his nefarious plans to bring an apocalypse whilst becoming the leader of the nation it only really comes to the fore in the final half hour.

What this all boils down to is that "Blade" is entertaining and works mainly because of Wesley Snipes playing it ultra cool as the titular character. But it is a movie out of balance with the storyline struggling to grab your attention in the midst of a lot of action and amusingly blood thirsty special effects.

Tags: Vampire Movies


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