June 2003

Blade
Reviewed by: The Dweeb

Features: Widescreen 2.35:1 Color (Anamorphic) Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital Surround

Interactive Animated Menus Original Theatrical Trailer Isolated Score with Commentary by Composer Audio Commentary Featurettes: - La Magra - Designing Blade - The Origins of Blade - The Blood Tide Pencil to Post House of Erebus Cast and Crew Bios and Filmographies Enhanced Features for your PC: - Original Screenplay - Access to the script - Blade highlights - Web links and more
Theatrical release: 1998
DVD released on 3/5/2002 by New Line Home Entertainment
Running time of 120 minutes

Starring: Stephen Dorff, Kris Kristofferson, Donal Logue, Wesley Snipes, N'Bushe Wright

Director: Stephen Norrington

Plot synopsis from IMDB.Com:
When Blade's mother was bitten by a vampire during pregnancy, she did not know that she gave her son a special gift while dying: All the good vampire attributes in combination with the best human skills. Blade grew up to be a vampire hunter for revenge on his mother's death. The vampires, who managed to infiltrate nearly every major organization, need Blade's very special blood to summon La Magra, the blood god, in order to reign over the human cattle, as they call us.

I tend to watch popcorn action movies with the intention of not getting much out of them, or worse, just turning them off because they are crap. Blade, on the other hand, as well as its successor Blade II, does not, pardon the pun, suck. This early comic book adaptation became a hit and probably started this latest phase of comic book movies flooding out of the Hollywood backlots we're seeing right now. I'm afraid that many of these new attempts may not be as good, because they could possibly lack the most important element in film, a good story. What makes Blade so good is not the effects, or the action, but the characters in them.

Blade takes the vampire genre and gives it a modern twist. There is no more plain vanilla good versus evil, Blade ends up in more of a gray area. At first I thought, oh another blood sucker vampire flick, and then all these swords, guns and kung fu showed up. Cool! Yeah it can be gory, but hell Blade kicks serious butt. Along the way we even learn a little more about vampire history. Yes, some of the things in here are predictable and you can see them coming a mile away, but it was still enjoyable. Check the brain at the door please.

Wesley Snipes redeemed his career in this movie I think, coming off a string of mediocre roles in a bunch of forgettable crap. This is a showcase for his talent as an action star, what a badass. He really doesn't care much for anyone else's problems, and is completely engrossed on his self proclaimed mission to kill as many vampires in sight. But, somewhere under his cool armor and teeth, he still has some heart left. He decides to save Dr. Jenson (N'Bushe Wright) from death only because she reminds him of his mother. Not that he would remember what his mom would look like right after birth (that point did stick in my craw a little.). Oh well.

One thing I did notice, there is a huge difference in terms of digital effects quality compared to the sequel. The stuff at the end with all the blood and ghosty things just didn't work for me. It looked too fake, which is unfortunate. You would think even in 1998 they had excellent digital effects back then, but I guess the budget was probably not there to tweak it up a notch.

But, the quality of this cheaply priced DVD is very good. It has an excellent transfer of the film. The sound and picture are clear. I didn't notice much grain, and the bass is pumping at the opening scene in the club. There are also lots of extras for those who want to delve deeper into the vampire mythos in this series. Lots of interactive items are included as well as the standard extras. Overall, it's a good package.

Reviewer's Opinion: BUY IT!!