This film is the fore runner of the modern Marvel Cinematic Universe plain and simple.
I have to start this article by saying that I’m not the greatest Wesley Snipes fan in the world, but I like to give credit where credit is due.
Wesley Trent Snipes is BLADE.
Blade is Snipe’s signature character and for now no one has demonstrated that can follow his iconic portrayal of the character other than perhaps Michael Jai White.
I was very familiar with the character of Blade from Marvel Comics “Tomb of Dracula” (Premiered in Issue #10.) comic and wasn’t much impressed with his original incarnation as the brooding loner armed with teak wood knives. Blade was more of a supporting character in the book.
I seriously balked when told that Blade had been licensed by New Line Cinema. I wondered at the time why the Fantastic Four, X-Men or Spiderman hadn’t been made into movies first.
“Blade?!! … Who the F—k is Blade?!!” …. Yup, that was my initial response when told of the Blade movie and that LL Cool J was attached to star.
Why was I so cynical about a black superhero being up on the big screen?
Three Movies come to mind.
Steel “starring” Shaquille O’ Neal
Blankman “starring” Damon Wayans (seen here with David Allen Greer)
Meteor Man “starring” Robert Townsend
These preceding films had taken the idea of a Black superhero and turned it not on its ear, but over onto its ass, effectively making the notion of said black superhero a joke in and of itself. Why would I think differently if told about Blade at the time?
This made it easy for writer David S. Goyer and filmmaker Stephen Norrington to come in and essentially make the character they’re own.
Wesley Snipes was eventually cast as the title character bringing his own style of “street” and “style” to the project.
On Friday August 21st, 1998… Blade was released and the comic book movie renaissance commenced in earnest after the movie racked up an extraordinary $131,183,530 in profits, a movie based on an unknown supporting character with an untested Action star as its lead.
Impact (Culled from Wikipedia)
Blade was one of the first successful comic book based films to be released after the disastrous performance of Batman & Robin. Its success convinced Marvel to develop the X-Men film series as well as the Spider-Man film series.
RETROSPECTIVE REVIEW(S):
THE BLADE FRANCHISE Reviewed in 2 parts
Blade
Release Date: August 21, 1998
Studio(s): New Line Cinema Marvel Enterprises, Amen Ra Films, Imaginary Forces
Distributed by: New Line Cinema,
Budget: $45,000,000
Gross Revenue: $131,183,530
Produced by: Peter Frankfurt Wesley Snipes Robert Engelman Andrew J. Horne
Written by: David S. Goyer
Based on the Marvel Comics character created by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan
Featuring: Wesley Snipes, Kris Kristofferson, N'Bushe Wright, Stephen Dorff, Donal Logue, Arly Jover, Tracy Lords, Sanaa Lathan & Udo Kier
Effects by: Flat Earth Productions
Special Make-up by: Greg Cannom
Music by: Mark Isham
Cinematography by: Theo Van De Sande
Editing by: Paul Rubell
Directed by: Stephen Norrington
Plot:
BLADE begins with the origin of the title character detailing his tragic birth in a particularly gory scene. The audience is witness to the aftermath of a vampire attack on one very pregnant Vanessa Brooks (Sanaa Lathan). The scene of the attending doctors holding what appears to be one very oversized newborn still creeps me out to this day.
What I like about Steven Norrington’s direction is that he takes the obligatory “origin” story and runs it through the entire course of the movie as a subplot that has a nice if rather clichéd payoff in the latter third of the film.
From that moment on the audience is thrust into what appears to be a fairly straight forward action movie. We sit in with one hapless guy out on the town for the night with an exotic beauty (Tracy Lords) well out of his league. She’s a vampire and she’s appears to be taking her clueless victim to the equivalent of a BYOB style rave.
I have to admit I wasn’t expecting much out of this film, but the crisply cut and hyperkinetic trailer had lured me in for the kill. I went to this film expecting disappointment. But I was pleasantly surprised by the attention to detail lavished on Blade. Definitely more bang for your buck as the film establishes a HIGHLY STYLIZED and SURREAL look that immerses you from the moment you start watching.
Note: The BLOOD RAVE set piece is one of the most effective cinematic introductions of a Super Hero that I have seen in a long while (Note: The latter Batman in Batman Begins springs to mind.). In this scene we are introduced to the adult version of Blade and given all the information we need about the character and his methods.
Plain and Simple: BLADE is one BAD Mutha’
Snipes interpretation of the character sticks closely to its comic’s counterpart as Blade is presented as a literal living nightmare to the vampires, his presence causing riotous chaos. Blade’s single minded assault on what appears to be hundreds of vampires is something to behold for its militaristic simplicity and its animal like viciousness.
Blade doesn’t view the vampire as anything other than a target and it shows when he goes into action. He slices through their ranks like a force of nature sparing no one undead.
Wesley Snipe’s stoic demeanor and near mute silence in the opening scenes necessitates the need for a character for the audience to relate to. We’re given this avatar in the form of hematologist Karen Jensen (N'Bushe Wright) who is the epitome of “Wrong Place, Wrong Time”.
Karen works the night shift at the local hospital when one of Blade’s victims is unfortunately delivered to the ICU. This vampire’s subsequent rampage through the hospital is eventually abated by Blade, but Karen’s bad karma leaves her bitten and infected by the creature.
Special Note: Greg Cannom’s make-up effects are outstanding in this film. The vampire known in the movie as Quinn (Donal Logue) is a mess in this scene somewhat resembling the brain eating zombie from 1985’s Return of the Living Dead. I was relieved when I heard Logue’s voice emanating from underneath the makeup.
Fortunately Karen Reminds Blade of his long dead mother and he takes Karen to his hideout where she is further ensconced in this strange parallel world she never knew existed. She meets Blade’s mentor and unlikely father figure Whistler, played with mercurial intensity and an intermingled Good Ole’ Boy esthetic by Kris Kristofferson.
It is through these interactions that we learn of the activities of Blade’s current nemesis, vampire auteur Deacon Frost (Stephen Dorff).
In the Blade cinematic universe there are multiple types of vampires, each with their own abilities. Some are born vampires and known as “Purebloods” while the lesser of the species are simply “Turned”. It would appear that the latter type cause most of the trouble thus unwittingly attracting the attention of our hero.
Frost is of the latter variety. Stephen Dorff portrays the character as kind of a world weary bad boy with aspirations of grandeur. His character is inherently cerebral and deceptively vicious in latter portions of the film. Goyer’s script gives Frost a simple objective that makes sense considering the established hierarchy of this surreal world.
Deacon Frost wants to be “more”. He simply wants to be respected by his peers the only way he knows how …. Become the most Powerful Vampire of all.
Will he succeed?
I won’t spoil the plot for anyone reading this review that hasn’t seen the movie. BLADE is definitely worth the price of admission and I recommend it for those who are looking for a GOOD comic book movie, ACTION movie or a decent Horror film.
BLADE (1998)
**** (Four Stars out of Five)
The successful opening and accumulated gross of the first film demanded a sequel and a continuation of Blade’s saga. David S. Goyer penned the sequel and Guillermo Del Toro was hired to direct the sequel. Wesley Snipes fortunately returned for the sequel.
Blade II
Release Date: March 22, 2002
Studio(s): Marvel Enterprises, Amen Ra Films, Imaginary Forces, Justin Pictures, Milk & Honey Pacific Title and Art Studio
Distributed by: New Line Cinema,
Budget: $54 million
Gross Revenue: $155,010,032
Produced by: Wesley Snipes, Peter Frankfurt & Patrick Palmer
Written by: David S. Goyer
Based on the Marvel Comics character created by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan
Featuring: Wesley Snipes, Kris Kristofferson, Leonor Varela Ron Perlman, ThomasKretschmann Danny John-Jules, Luke Goss Donnie Yen & Kris Kristofferson
Effects by: Flat Earth Productions
Special Make-up by: Greg Cannom
Music by: Marco Beltrami, Additional: Danny Saber
Cinematography by: Gabriel Beristain
Editing by: Paul Rubell
Directed by: Guillermo Del Toro
Plot:
In the sequel to “BLADE”, the title character is forced into what one could call a “marriage of inconvenience” when the Vampire Nation gives him an “offer he can’t refuse” in light of the emergence of a new race of predatory creatures …the Reavers!!
I knew of Del Toro through his films Cronus and Mimic and didn’t know what he would bring to the table. I considered the first film to almost be a stand alone piece. Could BLADE II top the original?
Del Toro responded to this very question by making a sequel set almost completely in the surreal, quasi-real world of the vampire nation. There is almost no interaction between normal humans and the undead in this film with the exception of the human familiars, Kristopherson & one or two supporting characters.
Turns out Del Toro made the right choice.
BLADE II finds the title vampire hunter continuing the good fight, this time in Prague where he is searching for a long lost friend. Del Toro directs the proceedings fast and furious allowing his subordinates and craftsmen ample time to do their jobs to great effect.
The industrial blues and sterile whites that dominated a lot of the previous film have been heightened with some new colors to it's palette. The new look screams and radiates humidity. Everything for the most part is a hot mess of semi-muted green & yellow hues.
Also of note is how the action scenes, in particular the hand to hand combat has been sped up to mixed results. Some of it just looks like an off screen person has his hand on the fast forward button. Things move along briskly enough so this can be ignored for the most part. In some shots an unconvincing CGI-stunt man is used and this is a problem. Most of these shots do not work.
Other than these few points, BLADE II works as an Action film and in particular a TRUE comic book movie. The great thing about the proceedings here is that the plot once again is not over complicated or waited down with a lot of needless exposition. Everything that is in the film is just enough to tell the story.
In BLADE II, a NEW strain of vampirism has emerged amongst the ranks of the undead reaching pandemic proportions. Blade teams up with a team of highly trained vampire warriors to find and destroy the strains progenitor: Jared Nomak.
Del Toro even finds time to casually work in a “Don’t Trust Anybody” element in this film chiding the viewer to figure out who the traitor is amongst the heroes. There is always a lingering tension in the air between Blade and his foes turned temporary allies.
One the proceedings get going, it becomes clear that Del Toro is directing BLADE II in a similar vein to ALIENS as the infected outnumber the heroes by the hundreds.
Of particular note here are Luke Goss and Ron Perlman. Each of these actors embody different aspects of the “Creature of the Night”. Goss portrays the Nomak as a somewhat Noble & Honorable Individual who is mostly dangerous when under the influence of the thirst. Perlman however is the atypical “Bad Guy” who is looking to do serious damage to Blade at the first opportunity.
Note: Check out Perlman in the “Can you blush” scene.
This time around Blade even finds a little time in-between vampire mayhem for sort of a romance with Leonor Varela’s Nyssa, a vampire princess in charge of his unlikely allies: The Blood Pack
Note: I really like the look of the BLOOD PACK. They’re kind of like a weird supernatural version of the X-men.
Last but not least, I can’t conclude this article without mentioning that BLADE II seems to be one of the few superhero movies with a decent END FIGHT. Over the course of the film it is established the Nomak is almost more than a match for Blade in every respect.
Watching that end fight is worth the price of admission alone!!
Can BLADE stop the Reaver’s from infecting the world with their Rabies like virus?
Who is the traitor in their midst?
Will Blade come to terms with is vampiric nature?
Will he close the deal with Nyssa?
You’ll have to watch the DVD to find out!!
BLADE II
*** (Three stars out of five)
End of Part one
… Shadowgeek10 returns to the shadows once more …