Blah, blah, blah - I'm bored and etc. Anybody got a car they want washing?
Blah, blah, blah - I'm bored and etc. Anybody got a car they want washing?
Member since:03.10.2000
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I liked the sound of Blade when I first heard about it way back in 1998. It sounded different, unique, and had a new slant on things (well, vampire things), but why were HMV forever trying to flog it off? Hmmm, best avoid it and spend my hard earned pennies elsewhere. Skip forward to the shiny new millennium though (slipping off the Bacofoil suit and leaving the flying car in the hover driveway naturally) and Blade has now been snapped up by the ever worsening terrestrial market. Oh well, there's nothing else on so let's see if invested wisely in that collector's edition of Jaws The Revenge (which I bought instead). Surely the sight of Michael Caine in shorts shouting 'blaaady' at everyone couldn't be beaten.
Born to a vampire bitten mother, half vampire/half human Eric has grown to become the vampire hunter Blade. Along with his superhuman powers (a combination of vampire and human attributes), Blade uses hi-tech gadgetry and science to thwart his vampire foes and rid the world of this blood sucking scourge. Top of list if villains is the ruthless Deacon Frost, leader of a group of 'impure' vampires that are preying on the innocent and the vampire who killed Eric's mother. When Dr Karen Jenson is attacked and bitten, Blade uses her to track down Frost and soon discovers that something big is going on. Vampire lore tells
of an all powerful vampire lord who can be brought forth into the world using an ancient ritual. Such an event would spell certain doom for the planet but can one half man half vampire beat the odds and save humanity?
Marvel comics Blade character may not have been as well known as some of the company's other characters but Marvel did have a certain talent for moving their characters off the page and onto the screen. Yes the 1970's Incredible Hulk was lousy and Spiderman was laughable but they retained more of a comic book feel than their DC rivals Superman and Batman. This is not important though as we're interested in the man Blade and as I'm not au fait with the comic book incarnation, I'm going into this just as blindly as you are.
Stylised to hell, Blade instantly feels like a comic book character but so what? The background and 'history' are just as shallow and 'coincidental' as you'll find anywhere else but luckily the creators don't try to 'improve' this. While Batman was 'enhanced' by the gothic vision of Tim Burton, Blade very much feels like a complete package that hasn't been messed about with by Hollywood. The characters are larger than life, the production is suitably bold and dynamic (but never cartoonish as in Adam West's Batman), and it moves at the breakneck speed that whips you up. There are very few of the 'sentimental' moments that slow Superman down and Blade is meant to be high octane excitement all the way...and it is.
Blade himself is the epitome of cool and his sunglasses never leave his face (even at night) but in the hands of Wesley Snipes, Blade is exceptional. Snipes combat skills are well used here and the fight scenes are stunning in their complexity and fluidity. Snipes may not have the most challenging role emotionally but he's very much in his action element and you can't help but warm to him (in a macho kind of way). We all want to be able to do triple spin kicks, punch some bloke in the face, kick some serious vampire butt, and then deliver a throwaway line, and Snipes does that for us brilliantly. Ok so I have a soft spot for the guy and certainly consider him to be the best of the current Hollywood hardmen (just compare him to van Damme, Seagal, or even Arnie and you'll see that he just has a certain ease and confidence that seems to be lacking in the other fighting machines).
Stephen Dorff gets his teeth into the role of Frost and while Mrs TheNeil coo-ed and ahh-ed over him I was very much of the opinion that he got the job done. Not outstanding, but in no way bad, Dorff makes a good nemesis for Blade but doesn't have enough real impact here to be a truly memorable bad guy. N'Bushe Wright is passable as Dr Jenson but really has very little to do, but at least Kristofferson gets more to do here than he did in Planet of The Apes.
Intended to be 100% action from the first moment, Blade is not the goriest of films ever made and indeed as a horror film it's pretty lame but it's not the sort of film that you'd call 'family' entertainment. The action and violence is non stop and while this should make it inaccessible to a younger audience, it's great for the rest of us. Yes I did actually say that - it's great.
Now I'm an avid film fan and could list a huge long list of 'proper' films but Blade wouldn't be amongst them. It's pulpy, trashy, nonsense and has zero in the way of character development, emotional trauma, or indeed anything 'worthy'...but it's great none the less. Blade can very much be seen as one of those films where you can slip your brain into neutral and just go along for the ride, and that's where it works. It's never going to change the world or alter our perceptions but so what? It's mindless, escapism and at that it works brilliantly. It grabs the audience by the lapels and tears us into a world of vampires, flashy fights and implausibility. We get whipped up by the fight scenes, cheer for the good guys, and boo at the bad guys. So what? It's a comic book and this is a great translation of that comic book mentality onto the big screen.
Stephen Norrington keeps things moving along at mach 1 and doesn't let the action let up for a minute. The resultant picture is loud, noisy and in-yer-face but simultaneously the perfect comic book. The effects are well done but I do wonder why the man Blade never gets a drop of blood on him? Ho hum
Personally I loved it and was more than happy to sit through it (despite running at nearly two hours long). The story is simple but enlivened by wonderful set pieces and effects, and the entire cartoon mentality is brought to life wonderfully. Far better than the later, bigger budget X-Men, Blade just feels better. The characters have that certain something, the cast are good (and Snipes is fabulous), and the final package is just downright entertaining. Yes it's brainless, but do I care? Nope
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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
Another good one, I watched it recently (again!), when it was on TV, it was as good as the first time! One thing I did notice was a figure climbing up the side of one of the skyscrapers – Spiderman maybe?
Ariel 19.10.2001 12:27
What's not to love about cheesy vampire action flicks! - nb have you seen Razor Blade Smile? which is firmly in the same category, although I rmember it as being much funnier than Blade.
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: Check Site. 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)
Advantages: The film rocks, loads of features on the disc which are well presented and entertaining, great video and sound transfer, just a stonkingly good DVD all round Disadvantages: Umm...well the film is going to be too 'cartoonish' and gory for many and with this many extras you could lose an entire Friday...umm, like I did lol
wampyrii 18.01.2003 (28.01.2003)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Blade 2 (DVD)
![Blade [DVD] [1998]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78542679.jpg "Blade [DVD] [1998]")
Oct 8th, 2001
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