Like X-Men this is another film adaptation of a Marvel comic story - one not to be missed by any fans of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'.
>>>BACKGROUND<<<
The character first appeared in Marvel comics in 1973 and is a tragic figure who represents the last hope for mankind in their war against a vast army of vampires.
We only know him as Blade but we find out that he was orphaned at birth, his mother being bitten by the vampire, Deacon Frost, while in labour. Due to the circumstances of his birth Blade became immune to the bite of vampires and wanting revenge, became a vampire hunter. In the original story his first prey was Dracula himself who he eventually managed to hunt down and destroy in Japan. Dracula is soon resurrected by his servants and a protracted struggle begins. Blade did not work alone but with a team of fellow vampire hunters including Rachael Van Hesling, Morbius 'the living Vampire', Dr. Strange, Ghost Rider and Blaze formed the 'The Midnight Sons'. This group pursued all vampires and eventually hunted down Frost.
>>>THE FILM<<<
The film broadly sticks
to the comic character however some important differences exist.
***The Cast***
Blade/Eric played by Wesley Snipes .... Deacon Frost played by Stephen Dorff .... Abraham Whistler played by Kris Kristofferson .... Dr. Karen Jenson played by N'Bushe Wright .... Logue played by Quinn Donal.... Dragonetti played by Udo Kier ....
***THE STORY***
We join the story when Blade is an adult and an experienced Vampire hunter. Following the Marvel storyline we find out that Blade's mother was bitten by Deacon Frost when she was carrying Blade but instead of this conferring immunity to Blade it partially turned him in to a vampire. Blade gained the super human strength possessed by vampires but was also afflicted him with a lust for blood. It was only when as a wayward youngsters he was taken in by Abrahm Whistler, a fellow vampire hunter that Blade managed to control his impulses by the use of blood serum and thus began his quest for revenge.
In the world there is an uneasy balance between the long established Vampire dynasties and the earth authorities (although ordinary people don't know of the existence of vampires). The vampires keep a low profile and in return the earth authority will turn a blind eye to the odd human being sucked dry by the vampires. Deacon Frost, a sort of renegade Vampire, not of the pure blood kind but one who was born human and then 'turned ' by a vampire bite, has decided that it is time for vampires to take over the world. To the displeasure of the true born vampires he sets up a chain of vampire clubs where he provides victims for vampires to indulge their blood lust, but this is only the beginning. His real plan is far more sinister.
Blade breaks in to one of Frost's clubs and destroys all the vampires. Unfortunately one is not totally killed it gets taken to hospital mortuary were the unfortunate Dr. Karen Jenson a haematologist, is bitten and only saved from death by Blade returning to finish off his work. Fearing that she will turn Blade takes her back to his secret base where Whistler treats her but only manages to slow down the onset of vampirism for a short time. However Dr. Jenson herself sets about finding a treatment and eventually cures herself.
In the meantime Frost has betrayed his fellow vampires and plans to use the heads of all the true born dynasties as sacrifices to bring to life a mythical vampire demon that is so powerful that he will be able to take over the world. In order to complete the ceremony Frost has to capture Blade whose unique blood type will act as the trigger for the arrival of the demon and confer to it the ability to exist in daylight.
After luring Blade to his hideout by kidnapping Dr. Jenson, Frost captures Blade and completes the ceremony turning himself in to the Vampire demon. Blade almost dead manages to escape and face the demon in a last ditch battle to save humanity.
>>>MY OPINION<<<
The 'Blade' in the film is a sort of beefed up Buffy with lots of lethal weapons to create more mayhem amongst the vampire population. He has a silver tipped Samurai sword, silver stakes that are thrown like daggers, UV lamps that burn the vampire skin and is of course, a martial arts expert with superhuman strength to fight hand to hand with the vampire. The look of the film reminded me of the 'Matrix' especially the tightly choreographed fight sequences and one slow motion bullet-dodging scene in particular. This film is great fun and doesn't take itself to seriously. Snipes in excellent as the leather clad super vampire hunter and the special effects are definitely up to scratch. We see vampires being vaporized by silver stakes or being blown up and splattered by chemical bullets and well as one being incinerated by sunlight.
Don't analyse the plot too deeply this is very much a visual feast. Stephen Dorff is very menacing as the renegade vampire and Kris Kristofferson lend good support. I don't think Snipes's acting skills are stretched in this but he looks great in the action sequences and in the end that's all that matters. The ending suggests a Blade 2 was supposed to be on the way but as yet 3 years on nothing has happened. A pity!
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Production Year: 1958 - Horror - Director: Robert Day - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Anthony Dawson, Jean Kent, Boris Karloff
The recipe forBladeis quite simple; you take one partBatman, one part horror flick, and ... more
two parts kung fu, and frost it all over with some truly camp acting. What do you get? An action flick that will reaffirm your belief that the superhero action genr...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
A blood-chilling, action-packed thriller about modern day vampires unlike any previously ... more
encountered. Wesley Snipes is BLADE, the ultimate vampire hunter, an immortal warrior who possesses the superhuman strength and cunning of a vampire, but shares no...
The recipe forBladeis quite simple; you take one partBatman, one part horror flick, and ... more
two parts kung fu, and frost it all over with some truly camp acting. What do you get? An action flick that will reaffirm your belief that the superhero action genr...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
A blood chilling action-packed thriller about modern day vampires unlike any previously ... more
encountered. Wesley Snipes is Blade the ultimate vampire hunter and immortal warrior who possesses the superhuman strength and cunning of a vampire but shares n...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
Advantages: Great action, great story, some of the best characters ever created. Superb modernisation of the vampire myth. Disadvantages: None. It's great.
superpricee 27.08.2001 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Blade (DVD)
![Blade [DVD] [1998]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78542679.jpg "Blade [DVD] [1998]")
Oct 8th, 2001
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