Blade (1998)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Stephen Norrington

Writer (WGA):

David S. Goyer (written by)

Release Date:

21 August 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

The power of an immortal. The soul of a human. The heart of a hero.

Plot:

A half-vampire, half-mortal man becomes a protector of the mortal race, while slaying evil vampires.

Plot Keywords:

Vampire | Blade | Blood | Revenge | Vampire Hunter

Awards:

4 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Wesley Snipes	...	Blade
Stephen Dorff	...	Deacon Frost
Kris Kristofferson	...	Abraham Whistler
N'Bushe Wright	...	Dr. Karen Jenson
Donal Logue	...	Quinn
Udo Kier	...	Vampire Elder Dragonetti
Arly Jover	...	Mercury
Traci Lords	...	Racquel
Kevin Patrick Walls	...	Officer Krieger
Tim Guinee	...	Dr. Curtis Webb
Sanaa Lathan	...	Vanessa Brooks
Eric Edwards	...	Pearl
Donna Wong	...	Nurse
Carmen Thomas	...	Senior Resident
Shannon Lee	...	Resident

Also Known As:

Blade, the Vampire Slayer (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong, pervasive vampire violence and gore, language, and brief sexuality.

Runtime:

120 min | Germany:110 min (cut version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Russian

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS | DTS-Stereo

Certification:

Malaysia:18SG | Portugal:M/16 | Philippines:R-18 | Brazil:14 | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Belgium:KNT | Canada:18A | Finland:K-18 | France:-12 | Germany:16 (cut) | Germany:18 | Hong Kong:IIB | Ireland:18 | Japan:PG-12 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R18 | Norway:18 | Singapore:M18 | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | UK:18 | USA:R (certificate #35159) | Iceland:16 | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Company:

Amen Ra Films

Trivia:

Wesley Snipes became attached to the project because he was in discussions with Marvel Comics to be Black Panther, a project that is still pending as of 2005.

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: The vampires do not seem concerned at any time about the damage caused to their original Bible, despite its importance historically and to their immediate plans. That's because it's the information and not the artifact that's important, and the information has all been stored on Frost's computer.

Quotes:

Dr. Karen Jenson: You been listening in the whole time?
Blade: Keeping radio contact.
Whistler: Think I'd let him run loose without a chaperon?

Movie Connections:

Featured in "I Love the '90s: Part Deux" (2005)

Soundtrack:

Rainbow Voice

A palatable offering of Snipes and dice

Blade is everything Spawn wanted to be and wasn't. While Spawn was a loud, obnoxious, incoherent mess that should have stayed in Hell with its erstwhile hero, Blade is a relatively subdued (it's nice to actually hear the soundtrack), stylish, well-directed movie that actually tries to build empathy and pathos into the characters. While both are adaptations from comic-books, only one is a page-turner.

Blade, or Eric as his mom calls him, but which superhero would command respect with the name Eric, is half-man, half-vampire, made so by his mother, who survived a vampire attack long enough to give birth to him. This gives Blade a certain edge in his understandable grudge against vampires, "all of our strengths and none of our weaknesses" as his main vampire nemesis attests. The aforementioned nemesis is Deacon Frost (Stephen Dorff) who wants to unleash a vampire apocalypse on the world, decrying the Mafia-type approach that has served vampires so well up to this point - "humans are our food, not our allies," he explains. Blade is aided by his mentor/weapons specialist Whistler (Kris Kristofferson) and a female hematologist he rescued, Karen. Her expertise lends her to both create anti-vampire blood, and a possible cure for Blade that would make him fully human again. Although one gets the sense that Blade's fate isn't entirely tragic. He relishes kicking vampire butt.

The movie Blade succeeds for two reasons. It's technically polished, with good acting, excellent directing and production design, and awesome special effects - the way the vampires turn to skeletons and blow away like dried parchment when they die is way cool. There are three accomplished action sequences, the opening party scene which Blade inconveniently crashes, a brush with death on a subway, and the final conflict, with some special effects I can say, as a movie seasoned veteran, I've never seen before. The second reason is that Blade understands the inherent pull of the vampire myth. Vampirism represents a life given to sin, essentially. They are sensual creatures, dependent on flesh and blood for survival, shirking the light, and yet eternal, like evil fleshly lusts the Bible warns about. Vampires are not tragic, like Interview with a Vampire would have you believe, but fun, cool, and sexy. That's their power. Is not sin sexy? why would it be tempting otherwise? Vampires are cool because they live in sin without paying its consequences - death. But for that reason, they are the enemy and must die. For sin is, in the final analysis, bad. This essential good/evil conflict must be there for this type of story to work. Spawn had neither this nor the technical excellence Blade has, which is why it sucks so bad. Blade reminded me of another good vampire movie, Bram Stoker's Dracula, by Francis Ford Coppola. They would make good companion pieces on video.