Blade (1998) Movie Review
Blade (1998) Movie Review
Blade is a loud and ugly haunted house of bloody action that manages to remain slick and explosive despite its obvious structural flaws. I’d wanted to see it for a long while; as a young fan of comic books, the movie appealed to me partly because of its dark and edgy look and partly because of my existing appreciation of the “Blade” mythos. I never quite got around to it, though, and as I found myself looking for a movie to watch and review that had a Halloween-esque feel to it, Blade seemed like a perfect option. It’s getting closer and closer to Halloween every day, and because I’d reviewed movies for the holiday in the past, I though it would be nice to carry on that tradition. While Blade isn’t exactly horror, it does feature a lot of vampires and murder and stuff like that, so I think it’s appropriate enough. Wesley Snipes, who plays the titular Blade, has slowly become a sleeper favorite of mine; after enjoying his performances in movies such as Major League and White Men Can’t Jump, I only became more interested in what this movie had to offer. And while what it has to offer focuses much more on style rather than substance, Blade is still a movie that delivers and serves its purpose well.
The film follows half-man, half-vampire “daywalker” Blade (Wesley Snipes), who makes it his personal mission to hunt and kill other vampires across the country. After Blade shoots up a nightclub full of vampires in Detroit, the police take the corpse of a surviving vampire to the hospital, unaware of how dangerous the vampire in question, Quinn (Donal Logue), actually is. At the hospital, Quinn attacks several doctors before Blade shows up, where he saves a doctor named Karen Jensen (N’Bushe Wright). Karen is bitten, meaning she is liable to turn into a vampire at any moment, but Blade spares her life and takes her to his weapons-maker and partner-in-crime, Whistler (Kris Kristofferson) for treatment in hopes of curing her of her new disease. Being a vampire isn’t curable, though, as Blade has discovered through years of injecting himself with a serum that calms his natural thirst for blood. To make matters worse, Quinn retreats back to his superior, the young and well-known halfblood Deacon Frost (Stephen Dorff), who runs a small empire of other relatively young, aggressive vampires who are out to turn as many humans into vampires as possible. Blade and Frost get into a chess-match scenario of sorts, where each one makes their next move in hopes of eliminating the other. Lives are sacrificed, blood is spilt, and boundaries are crossed; but in the end, only one half-human half-vampire reigns supreme over the peace and safety of the crime-ridden streets of the underground United States.
Blade is, for the most part, entertaining and fast-paced, but can sometimes take itself a little too seriously and try a little too hard in the wrong areas. Some of the horrific violence can get a little unsatisfying after a while – how depressing does this movie really need to get? After watching a few hundred vampires get shot to death, the effect becomes less impressive. Additionally, the script is fairly underbaked and the dialogue isn’t very rich whatsoever. It doesn’t help that Wesley Snipes seems to almost find joy in delivering his lines with as little emotion as possible. Enough with the tough guy shtick! It can be hard to find a character to relate to in this movie. Karen Jensen, the only character that we are really able to connect to, barely bats an eye after she almost dies at the hands of vampires and is suddenly thrust into a merciless web of underground crime and murder. My main criticism of Blade is that it doesn’t really take its time. It doesn’t take much time to connect with its audience, make its characters more fully realized, or lay out its needlessly complex yet paper-thin plot.
It may sound like I kinda hated Blade, but I really didn’t. It has lots of great action sequences and the direction is extremely smooth. Wesley Snipes kinda phones in his performance, but his effortless charisma keeps the movie’s occasionally tiring negativity afloat. Kris Kristofferson’s appearance as a seasoned vampire-killing veteran is also welcome, and N’Bushe Wright doesn’t do a bad job, either. I also like how much of a certain tone and vibe Blade establishes; the movie represents the nightclub scene of the late 90’s and almost seems to be a movie version of the heart-pounding techno music and gritty hardcore rap of its time (its soundtrack includes contributions from Mystikal, Mantronik, DJ Krush, and Gang Starr). Visually, the movie is a real experience: the special effects are honestly kinda terrible but effective in their own way, and the dark world created by the film is enhanced by the black-and-red color scheme and shiny lights the movie prominently features. It is also easy to notice how Blade, released in 1998, has influenced a whole other generation of movies that have come after it. Most notably of these is The Matrix: both have lots of high-tech action that combines hand-to-hand combat with firearm weapons and shootouts, rebellious characters in tight black suits and leather jackets that have to hide their activities from the unaware civilization around them, and a dirty, edgy techno-club feel to them. Other movies that are obviously influenced by this movie include the original movie in the X-Men series, which copies Blade’s entire style in some ways, and smart sci-fi adaptation films like Watchmen and V For Vendetta. While perhaps not the most creative movie of all time, Blade probably deserves more recognition for its impact on the action and science fiction genres throughout the 2000’s.
Safety chart:
Violence: 9/10 - This is a very violent film, complete with lots of blood and some gore. Shootings, stabbings, vampires violently biting humans, explosions, mutilations, and more are included. It’s kind of a bloodbath.
Language: 8/10 - Lots of strong, frequent cursing.
Drinking/smoking: 5/10 - Some drinking and some smoking, but it’s not something that the movie focuses on.
Blade isn’t one for the family but if you like action movies and like the idea of a film that has lots of edgy horror fighting, then this movie might just be for you. I know I enjoyed it, even though it can be a little disheartening and somewhat underdone in terms of writing. However, the director did a good job and it’s a great film to watch if you’re trying to get a solid idea of what late 90’s action movies were like. Blade is frenetic and wild, and if you ignore some of the unneccessary plot complications then it’s very fun as well. I’d give it a B- as a grade. Even though it doesn’t make us truly cheer for him, Blade’s struggle fighting against his inner vampire is something that shines through all of the movie’s glossy scariness: fighting the worst side of ourselves is something that almost everyone can relate to.
