THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Due to the fact we grow up accepting vampires are dangerous creatures, we never thought of the possibility they could be protectors until Marvel Comics made that possible through Blade.
PLOT
The 1998 film follows the titular protagonist formerly known as Eric Brooks who was born a vampire when his mother Vanessa (Sanaa Lathan) was bitten by one when she was pregnant 30 years prior. As an adult, he is a one of a kind ‘daywalker’ where zero weaknesses yet all abilities of a vampire. After raiding a rave club held by another named Deacon Frost, one vampire named Quinn does escape and gets taken to a hospital and ends up biting a human hematologist named Karen Jenson. When he scares him off, Blade takes her to his compound where he lives with his mentor, weapon smith Abraham Whistler. The latter explains they’ve been waging a secret war against said monsters by using based on their weaknesses. With Karen’s bit mark, she is insisted by both men to leave the city. At a council held by pure blood elders, Frost is rebuked for trying to start incite said war and is deemed socially inferior due to not being a natural born. When Karen returns to her apartment, she gets attacked by a familiar named Krieger (Kevin Patrick Walls) until being subdued by Blade and is used by him for information leading to archives of a vampire bible. When Krieger reports back to Frost, he is killed for his mistake and the latter ends up killing an elder and strip the rest of the council in response to their disrespect. By next nightfall, Blade confronts a record keeping morbidly obese vampire named Pearl (Eric Edwards) who reveals Frost’s intent to summon the blood god La Marga with a ritual where 12 pure bloods are needed and the daywalker’s blood is the final key. He is almost captured by Quinn, but gets to escape with the assist of Whistler. At his compound, Blade injects himself with another serum that suppresses his urge to drink blood, but his overuse is now causing a lack of effectiveness. Karen would then start experimenting with anticoagulant EDTA in hopes to find a replacement, only to discover it explodes when exposed to vampire blood. She does still manage to synthesize a vaccine for the infected, but can’t deem it to work for Blade himself as it will take years for her to cure his bloodthirst. Frost calls him out for a truce, but the daywalker easily turns him down knowing he needs him for the ritual. Frost & Quinn later find Blade’s hideout and infect Whistler when abducting Karen. When Blade returns, he helps his mentor commit suicide to prevent turning. Upon following Frost to his penthouse, he would be stunned to find Vanessa still alive to reveal not only was Frost the one who bit him, but she also was brought in by him. When they take him to the Temple of Eternal Night to perform the ritual, Karen gets dumped in a pit to be devoured by her ex-boyfriend Curtis Webb (Tim Guinee), who became a zombified vampire bit by Quinn the same night he bit her. When she escapes, Blade’s blood gets drained and she allows him to drink hers in order to recover. This would help him in the long run as he would kill the likes of Quinn, Vanessa and many vampire minions before making Frost overdose on EDTA just as he achieved La Magra’s powers. After leaving the temple, Karen offers giving him the cure but he turns as he prefers continuing his crusade against vampires, knowing that his mortality would make him vulnerable should he take it and insists for her to make a stronger dose. The film ends with Blade and Karen parting ways before continuing said crusade in Moscow.
THOUGHTS
Since this came out the year I was born, it took a while for me to see it and boy was it worth it by the time I did. Director Stephen Norrington broke the barriers on what superhero adventures look like and then some as it is a ballistic blast throughout. Each action scene is well edited in an intentional fast paced vibe. The visual effects and production/costume design age well by the day. It was impressive of a view to see vampires disintegrate, but being in awe of a ritual temple was a whole other ballgame. Vampires are still scary because their motive on seeking blood for immortality remains the same. However, it’s still a surprise that their greatest threat is one that’s identified as one of their own. Wesley Snipes defined the 90s with the films he starred in, which makes it fitting for him to close out the decade with this role. This is one of his best performances to date because he owns it in making Blade a protagonist who feels cynical, but is stoic enough to put others before himself since his intent to slay vampires is to make the world safer. Due to being born one, he was ashamed of who he was and had to hide that part of himself at every given chance. He avoided using his abilities because he was afraid to become what he sought out to destroy. But once he got cornered and had no choice put good use of his advantages, he accepted the fact he should embrace who he is rather than make his differences dormant, thus becoming this story’s central theme. He turns down the serum by the end because he accepts the advantage he has and prefers appreciating it from here on out. Considering all the bad he has to put up with, it’s a relief he has people who remind him the world is worth fighting for. I may have not been a fan of Kris Kristofferson’s music, but he was a great choice to play Abraham Whistler. He’s his own set of badass because with him having nothing left to lose, he’s fearless in helping Blade til he reached his end. And since he took him as a son, it gave him a new set of motivation on protecting a new family he never thought he’d get. It definitely was a bummer when Frost severely wounded him because he’s the closest thing Blade had to a dad, thus choosing to fight in his honor without him. It’s easy to identify Karen as a damsel in distress since trouble quickly came her way, but proves herself to be resourceful when using what she knows to try helping Blade. It’s not a surprise he went out of his way when he usually would leave victims to die after getting bit, because he thought of how innocent her mother was and saw that in her. She gives gratitude in wanting to cure him and although he doesn’t take it, he does appreciate her display of gratitude. With her expertise, it’s a shame she didn’t become a new companion to travel with. Despite the allies Blade had, there was one other vampire that reminded us how dark the world is. Stephen Dorff was excellent as Deacon Frost because he’s the most sadistic of vampires the protagonist has ever put up with, especially when alter discovering he’s the one who inadvertently made him who he is. What differentiates him from other villainous vampires is that he decides to take a big chance on consuming superiority and was close until Blade outsmarted him. When you get a blind loyalist like Quinn due to how Donal Logue makes him a cocky one who gets a kick out of the pain he causes, you can bet he was pretty close to it. Of course there more out there that wanted something similar to what they wanted, it wouldn’t change the fact Blade would be there to set things straight. This movie is an overall blast you’d expect from superhero films, but even the beginning of Marvel’s greatness in Hollywood had questionable moments storywise. Going from the top, how does the first human not leave as soon as he sees a human body in a bad before going any further in the slaughterhouse? I know he’s horny for the redhead that ends up being a vampire, but no one should be that desperate to get laid. And why was there only one human brought to the rave? Ain’t no way the dozens of vampires that were in the rave were gonna share one guy for blood. I don’t even blame Blade for getting irritated of severing Quinn’s limbs everytime he goes toe-to-toe with him since he’s trying to get to Frost. But if he’s that tired of him, he can just kill him anyway and either wait for a new right hand man or Frost himself to come after him. And talk about total luck in throwing Karen out the window across the street and onto another rooftop that had pillows. Imagine how bad it would’ve been if there weren’t any pillows and she landed on debris. I know society sucks when it comes to ignoring serious situations go down in public, but it’s pretty crazy how no one other than Karen reacts when Blade is confronting Krieger outside her apartment. They even go about their day later when a little girl runs away from him after he saves her or even when Frost was holding the child hostage. I mean I’d be a little suspicious seeing shit like that. And how did Karen steal hospital equipment undetected? I can bet that Whistler helped her, but it would’ve been useful to see how he did so. Then again, how the hell does Frost find Blade’s hideout? This is important to ask because Frost spent most of the time getting the ritual ready. If it’s because of Karen’s bite mark being traceable by all vampires, that should’ve been said so. Lastly, why doesn’t Karen become affected of the sunlight after Blade bites her? She didn’t use the vaccine yet so if his bites don’t matter due to being a daywalker, that should be clarified as well. Other than that, this movie kicks all the right amount of ass. In short, Blade is a superhero classic for breaking from the norm you’d expect from said genre and deserves it flowers for paving Marvel’s way to be a dominant studio in Hollywood. If the combo of superheroes and vampires is something you were aching for, see this now.
Comments