DVD : Blade [1998]

Rating: - "If you wanna survive you better learn to pull the trigger""
After just watching Matrix I was expecting another load of nonsense from this film. Another Sci-fi. However I was pleasantly suprised, and from that day on the original Blade has been and still is my all time fave film.

Wesley Snipes is simply brilliant in this, I've never seen a cooler character than Blade. From his cool sword moves to his funny sarcastic comments "You've met Mr Crispy at the Hospital, what do YOU think!".

In a way I think that Blade is slightly under-rated, however that's not necessarily a bad thing, who knows, if Blade had been more successful the sequels might not have been as good!

I've re-watched all Blade films to the point that I've learnt some russian sentences. And to anyone thinking of purchasing this film or all 3 films i strongly recommend that if you haven't seen it by now you really should!

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Rating: - VERY STYLISH AND ENTERTAINING
It seems to me that a lot of people don't know that Blade is actually a superhero movie on par with X-Men, Daredevil, Punisher and the likes. What all these heroes (and in the case of X-Men hero group) have in common is that they were all conceived in the magical world of Marvel. Blade was originally a normal person (in a blue outfit) who chased vampires because of a personal grudge and eventually facing of with Dracula himself and he was for lack of a better word boring. So boring in fact that the character was shelved and in fact never used in the Marvel universe. At least until he was reinvented.

David Goyer did a stroke of genius when he took the character of Blade and turned him into a leather clad dark knight. He can't take all the credit though and much of this must go to Stephen Norrington as well who with his distinct visual style brings out the best of the character. The Blade character (Wesley Snipes) is pretty amazing in this film and mixes martial arts with Batman like darkness. Snipes is pretty good as the title character and is successful in bringing out the duality and inner demons of the character. He is, however, a pretty rigid actor both in voice and in posture and is only interesting enough for one film (which is clearly seen from the inferior sequels). Kris Kristofferson is good as well and really brings the tormented character of Whistler to life with energy and sense of timing. N'Bushe Wright, however, is fairly weak as a leading lady making her character relatively flat and lifeless. Donal Logue is pretty funny and manages to do a lot with a minor character. German, Udo Kier, should also be mentioned as he brings a lot of finesse and style to the vampire race, probably born of his experiences from playing Dracula. Stephen Dorf provides the best acting in the film and his chilling performance as Deacon Frost stands as one of the best screen villains I have perhaps ever seen.

The story is good and, I feel, renews the vampire genre (something that hasn't been done since Robert Rodrigues' From Dusk Till Dawn) by adding a lot of contemporary elements and maintaining the comic book feel. By saying that the film has a comic book feel does not mean that the film is unrealistic. Far from it. A lot of effort has been put in trying to make the film seem as real as possible. Including the effects which are pretty good for their time. I found the vampire "dustings" to be a very nice touch. In stead of adding a lot of blood when a vampire dies Norrington chose to let the vampires spontaneously com-bust which looks great. The fact that the overall effects were well done adds to the credibility of the film which would otherwise have fallen flat on its face.

As previously stated Norrington has a very distinct visual style that sets him apart from the directors of the following Blade movies. Del Toro is nearly as skilled but I prefer Norrington's style. His style gives the film a very special look and feel but most importantly it gives the film atmosphere. A very tense dark atmosphere which works great in tune with the main character and story. Along with the visual style the music which also works fine and adds a lot to the atmosphere of the movie.

All in all Blade is a very entertaining movie that should probably have had an 8 from me but a few annoying flaws (which cannot be revealed without spoiling the movie, suffice to say, many of them are located near the ending of the film) does that the film must settle with a high 7.

7/10

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Rating: - Wesley Snipes is unbelievable in this movie
This is a great movie. Wesley is perfect in the role of Blade and Stephen Dorff makes an excellent baddie. It's fast paced, hard hitting from the very beginning and always has me gripped to the end. The fight scenes are brilliant as are the effects. I think the reason I liked it so much was the humor of the characters, it was done in a way that although the film is great it doesn't take itself too seriously.

Many films have been made with vampire subject matter being the main focus. It seems everybody has their take on vampire lore, be it the cross, the silver, the garlic, the aversion to sunlight, whatever. Some of those ideas are included here. The storyline is familiar... a group of vampires conspire to take over the world, with one person (mainly) standing in their way. Blade (Wesley Snipes) lives for the sole purpose of the destruction of the vampires masses, who have slowly but surely moved into the world, and share it with humankind. For the most part, the human race is blind to the fact that vampires exist all around them. The vampires have even taken familiars, people who aspire to be vampires and do the vampires' dirty work for them to show how worthy they are of eventually being "turned."

I just loved the special effects in this movie as well. From the blood-soaked vampire-style rave, all the way to the inevitable fight scene at the end. There's certainly enough blood and gore to go around, but after all, this is a vampire movie. The various shapes and sorts of weaponry Blade uses are fairly unique, and not generally used in contemporary action films. Snipes have more flair with a decked-out sword than he does with, say, a machine gun. Plus, there's so much more thought that goes into fighting with a blade than just blowing someone away. "Blade" isn't exactly like the comic books, but it is a great adaptation to this movie.

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Rating: - Wonderful Comic Book Adaption
When I first saw Blade on the big screen I had to immediately buy tickets to see it again, it has one of the best opening sequences of all time. A hot looking girl lures a geeky looking guy into an underground techno club inside an abbatoir with a slightly more sinister purpose. To a pumping remix of New Order's 'Confusion' blood rains from the ceiling onto the dancefloor and the clubbers become vampires. Just as they are about to tear the poor chap to pieces, Blade (Wesley Snipes) arrives and kills everyone (except the geek). Awesome.

The film continues to rocket along at high pace with incredible stylish fight scenes and violent action. Snipes is perfect as Blade, Dorff is great as the evil Frost and Kristofferson is a nice touch as Whistler, Blades vampire killing mentor. The movie is let down by the ropey special effects of the final showdown. The whole ending is a too far fetched and the computer generated graphices are horrendously bad. Apart from this Blade is great entertainment and is on par with the wonderfully dark Batman movie.

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Rating: - AMAZING !! !! !! !!
Blade is the bets film of its year by miles and has a great cast! Blade was origonally a comic and this is a great, very dark, adaptation of them! It has a unique blend of a great story, bloody violence and great acting (with a decent sound track to mix)!
The first thing that struk me by this is how much violence there is in it! It isnt exatly 'Cannibal Holocaust' or 'BrainDead' but its certyanly soomething for a comic book adaptation!
The story is great considering it was inaspired by a comic book! There are many twists and great fight/action scenes along the way! It was really filmed with style too, helped by a cool soundtrack!
The cast (as i said earlier) is good and Westley Snipes acts the best ive ever seen him in this trilogy!
For the action fan this should be a trat as it has loads of it, even though it comes under the category of a horror. There are loads of cool weapons for Blade to use (with extreme skill) and the fight scenes are among the best! (as with the sequel)
There is a bit of a debate over weather this is better than its sequel, i cant make my mind up really as i love bloody films (this may be the main reason why i love a film and hate it), this film has lots of gore but Blade 2 has loads of action, way more than this! You make your mind up!
I would highly reccomend this to anyone who gets the chance to see it! This film doesnt have a double disc edition yet but this single disc edition has a surprising amount of extras worth seeing!
Id buy it if i were you!