Blade

Blade

Blade: There are worse things out tonight than vampires.

Ah Blejd (eng. Blade…ako se slažete, zadržao bih originalan naziv, nekako je više kul 😁)… 

Maybe some younger (TikTok) generations wonder if there were superheroes before the year 2000. (In the voice of an old man from anient times): "Aaaaaah, my children, superhero movies used to come out once a year, and they weren't all popular superheroes, nor was it high-budget production, nor was there green screens for computer enhancements... listen, my children, to the legend of superheroes before the two-thousandth year..."

Meet the titular hero. Blade is a dhampir, something between a human and a vampire... let's say, a human with vampire powers (strength, speed, endurance, heightened senses), but without their weaknesses (neither garlic nor sunlight nor holy water bother him). Additionally, he is a vampire hunter, who logically hunts vampires, blaming them for his mother's death. However, he does not approach vampire extermination like a hysterical brat, but as a true professional who seemingly enjoys making vampires' lives miserable.

Blade doesn't have many allies... actually, his only ally is the old Abraham Whistler, who is like a father to him in a way and helps him with weapons, information, and also takes care of his health (to ensure our titular hero isn't overtaken by his thirst for blood). 

And so... on one side is Blade, on the other side are the vampires. However, one vampire is currently very interesting to our vampirator (get it? Vampire + Terminator? No? Okay, I'll leave the room...), and that is Deacon Frost.

Frost is a very specific vampire. Besides running a rave club for vampires, he doesn't show much respect towards pureblood vampires of the old school (who have their "Council" where they discuss the most important issues), who do not want to expose themselves too much to humans but live from the shadows. Although Frost is a member of the "Council," he is not a pureblood vampire but has a large number of followers among young vampires. However, Frost also has a hidden ambition to become the most powerful vampire with the help of an ancient script. 

A girl also gets involved in the conflict between Blade and Frost, and that is Karen Jenson, whom Blade saved from being turned into a vampire (or a meal) by the vampires at the last minute... and Karen is also a hematologist, which can be of great help in finding a potential cure that prevents infected (by bite) victims from becoming vampires... and maybe even find a cure that can control Blade's ever-present thirst for blood. 

Whether Blade will stop Frost from creating the most powerful vampire ever, you'll find out in the first part of the movie "Blade". 🦇 

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the first "Blade" movie became a cult classic (despite average ratings), which did many things right. With a box office gross of 131 million dollars (and a budget of 45), "Blade" was actually the first "Marvel" film that was truly seen as a successful (and profitable) live-action comic book adaptation, which later gave "Marvel" the boost to boldly enter future adaptations.

Additionally, this showed that even an R-rated superhero movie (not for viewers under 17 years) could perform well in theaters. Moreover, "Blade" is a (superhero) action horror with martial arts elements, where vampires aren't some goth emo wimps who can be pale-faced models for "Timberland" (I'm just guessing, who knows what they'd model for), but brutal bloodsuckers who can look quite nasty (both figuratively and literally). There's blood everywhere, vampire eliminations are brutal, a real Mortal Kombat for the audience. And in some scenes, the vampires are really disgusting, making the horror element in the film quite strong.

"Blade" also showed that an origin story (how someone became a superhero) doesn't have to be explained in the first part (so the audience better understands the hero and his motives) and can last almost the entire film. In a few minutes, we learn that the titular hero's mother, while heavily pregnant, was bitten by a vampire. Blade was born prematurely, and the doctors barely saved his life, but his mother didn't survive. Period. Next scene, thirty years later, Blade bursts into a vampire rave party with sprinklers (note, no water coming out of the sprinklers) and throws vampires everywhere. The audience has already forgotten the origin story and enjoys the action on the screen.

"Blade" also did a good job on the visual aspect (the film was released before the year 2000). The film has a pretty dark atmosphere, almost comic book dark (with its unique style). Vampires come in various (human) forms, from elegant and measured to bloated, aggressive, and disgusting, and it significantly diverged from, for example, how Bram Stoker envisioned his literary "Dracula." And what little CG elements were added still hold up well. 

A bonus is the excellent music. The film focused on a darker tone of music, excellently navigating through rave (the club music is well done), which followed hip hop, techno to electronic music, giving the film a great pace.

The action elements might be the trademark of "Blade" movies. The film is largely defined as a martial arts movie, and for good reason. Blade isn't unfamiliar with firearms, but there's nothing sweeter for him than slicing vampires with his handmade blade or beating them up with his unique martial arts style (a mix of Shotokan karate, capoeira, hapkido, ninjutsu, boxing, Jeet Kune Do, kung fu, and more). One of the reasons for successful choreography is that Wesley Snipes (who plays the titular hero) has been practicing martial arts since childhood. All in all, for action lovers (especially at the beginning and end of the film), fun is guaranteed.

We come to the acting. 

Wesley Snipes... our former tax evader breathed life well into this sarcastically talkative John-Wick-style exterminator of bats. Sometimes cool and cold, often with unusual outbursts (in the film, you'll occasionally notice strange comments or facial expressions from Blade), and sometimes angry, Wesley Snipes interestingly portrayed this eccentric dhampir. In fact, it's not an exaggeration to say that it's his iconic role in his career and something he's most recognized for (the only films besides the "Blade" series that remind me of Snipes are the cult "Demolition Man" and "White Men Can't Jump"). From today's perspective, maybe it wasn't such wow acting, but for the late 90s, in an action horror superhero film, it was more than enough. Although there are anecdotes that Snipes behaved on set as if he were Blade (method acting).

Stephen Dorff as Deacon Frost... well, this actor really has a strange acting career (acted in over 100 films). He had more success as a very young actor ("The Gate," "The Power of One"), this film perhaps brought him the peak of fame (like, Best Villain MTV Movie Award), then nothing special with later films, and only in recent years we've seen him in better films and series ("True Detective," "Botched"). Although his role as Deacon may not be too developed in this film, Dorff did a solid job. Obviously, others noticed this too, as there was talk of a spin-off film about this ambitious vampire (the actor stated that he would still be interested in making the film if the opportunity arose).

The film also had an experienced member of the older generation of actors in the character of Whistler, played by Kris Kristofferson. The country music legend (inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame) was a solid addition as Blade's ally.

As for N'Bushe Wright as Karen... meh, somehow lukewarm and not a particularly memorable character.

The film's director is Stephen Norrington (interestingly, he directed a total of four films in his career), and the screenwriter is now quite well-known David Goyer (worked on the "Batman" trilogy with Christian Bale in the lead role, "Batman V Superman," "Man of Steel," "The Sandman," "Call of Duty" video games, and more).

To sum up the "Blade" film... actually, the essence was already written in the middle of the review. Simply put, the film did a lot of good. It encouraged the film industry to dare to make more R-rated (or at least flirt with R-rated) dark superhero films ("Watchmen," "V for Vendetta," "Constantine," "The Punisher," and others). It made it clear that African American actors can be (superhero) action stars. It also showed that horror elements don't have to be only for sci-fi or certain thrillers, but action (to be precise, superhero) genres can utilize them well.

The film has always been in some underrated category, which is a bit unfair to this title. It did a lot of good things, both as a film and for the film industry and superhero genre.

Watch it (again), you won't regret it. 

And finally, a few interesting facts: 

• * When the talk about making the film began, the film executives considered that only three actors could carry this film: Wesley Snipes, Denzel Washington, and Laurence Fishburne. But David Goyer already saw Snipes as the best choice in his mind. 

• * At the time he was offered the role in this film, Wesley Snipes was open to the idea of playing Black Panther.Black Panther) 

• * The role of the villain Deacon Frost was offered to Jet Li, but he declined because he wanted to work on "Lethal Weapon 4." 

• * Legendary Stan Lee had a cameo in this film but was cut from the final version.

• * In the "vampire history" of the film, it was decided that the cross would have no effect on vampires because they posed a simple question: "Would the cross 'work' on Jewish vampires?" 😂 

Dear reader, does any other famous dhampir come to your mind? 😊 😊 

Trailer 

Imdb | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic 

Format: Film 

Premiere: 1998 

Runtime: 120 minutes