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Created Nov 15, 2008 04:00PM PST • Edited Nov 15, 2008 04:55PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Really Great 4.5

   In the world of comics, Blade was kind of a nobody. Sure, he was a cool idea, but he never really got beyond that in my eyes. Now a lot of that could just be that I came into comics well after Blade hit the scene in the 70’s. Cool idea – half man, half vampire – but whatever. That whatever turned into “great googly moogly” once I saw Wesley Snipes cutting vampires in two. This movie took a cool idea and made it a kick ass reality. A spectacular blend of horror, action and drama, this is also a comic book movie through and through – not only in concept, but Snipes is a superhero, no doubt.

   From the opening scene in the Bloodbath dance club, this movie introduced a whole new way to look at vampires. These were no longer creatures of the night who stayed in the dark and preyed on the living. Vampires became an entire society outside our own of junkies and power castes. In this world, vampirism is to some a disease and others a mark of nobility. They own blood banks for their own survival as well as cops and politicians. This is a world just a step aside from us and if vampirism was a reality – a world that we would absolutely become. You can read my review of the sequels to Blade, the fantastic Blade 2 and the horrendous Blade: Trinity.

4. Acting

   Really Great 4.5

   The acting in this movie for me was spot on. There was just the right amount of cheese to pull off the horror and superhero aspect, but it never goes over the top. These characters feel real. They are put into fantastic situations, but what they do feels right and you don’t doubt it. Deacon Frost is a fantastic villain for Blade and they play off each other very nicely.

5. Male Stars Perfect 5.0

   Wesley Snipes (just like Blade) wasn’t even really a blip on my radar before this flick. I knew who he was and I was slightly familiar with his work, but not much past that. So I went into this with no expectations. Snipes was calm, cool, mysterious, tormented and just the biggest, baddest mother around. His physicality was tremendous and for being a bulkier guy, moved very quickly and fluidly. It’s very obvious that Snipes has training in martial arts outside of this movie. Now I don’t think Snipes is a great actor – he’s good, but not great. In the role of Blade, however, he just fit really well and really held a great personality for the guy.

   Stephen Dorff is punk rock gang lord Deacon Frost in the vampire world and he was fun as hell to watch. He’s got the snide little attitude that makes him both likeable and unlikeable at the same time. He’s a threat to the vampire infrastructure as well as to the human world. He wants more power because he sees humans as cattle. “These people are our food.” He’s arrogant and cocky, but he’s got the ambition and the following to back him up. The final fight between him and Blade (with its excellent choreography) was a tremendous finale to the film. At no point do you not believe the threat presented by Frost.

6. Female Stars Very Good 3.5

   N’Bushe Wright as Dr. Karen Jenson was not great, but not bad either. When she tries to be tough, she pushes it a little too far but to a large extent that is the character. She’s forced into the world of vampires after she is bit and Blade rescues her, so she’s supposed to be a little out of place. She adds a realism to the world as well, discovering that vampirism is a disease and that one of the effects is that the blood of a vampire can’t transport oxygen. That means they need to feed on blood that can in order to survive. Cool idea. Makes sense. She did what she needed to do and moved the story along nicely.

7. Female Costars Great 4.0

   Arly Jover is great as Mercury. She’s the strong female that’s beside Frost at every step of the way. She comes off a little bit “whore-ish” but more so is a manipulative alpha female. She makes Frost’s following – his posse if you will – that much more believable.

8. Male Costars Perfect 5.0

   Kris Kristofferson as Whistler is fan-freakin-tastic. Whistler has been fighting vampires for decades after his own family was slaughtered by them and is the guy who saved Blade and gave him a chance to use his unique heritage to make a difference in the world. He’s old, grizzled and tough as nails. This is the guy who has seen a lot in his life and you can tell just by looking at him. He’s a great father figure and partner for Blade. A fair comparison is that Whistler is Batman and Blade is Robin – only not in the weird “I’m training this kid to fight beside me in green underwear” way but in the “I’m training someone to take my place when this life finally catches up with me” way.

   Donal Logue is always the sidekick in movies, but this is the first time I remember seeing him that way and is probably the best. He’s the right amount of funny “I’m gonna be a naught god.” and still is able to kick a little butt along the way. Definitely the sidekick/entourage for Frost though. Without that friendship he’s just another vampire.

10. Film

    Perfect 5.0

    I love how this movie looks. Its slick and stylish as a movie in the 90’s should be, but it also integrates the gritty, dirty horror into that world. The fight scenes were spectacular and there were things that I had never seen before. Again, this is a very convincing world not too far removed from our own.

11. Direction Perfect 5.0

    I think Stephen Norrington did a great job with this movie. The fights were pretty as hell. The scenes are very memorable and the actors did great jobs. Take a look at the opening Bloodbath scene and watch as they dance and fight covered in blood. You don’t forget that scene. The thing that I am most impressed with is the way Norrington filmed the faces. Instead of putting an actor’s whole head in the frame, he cuts the top of their head off so the focus is on their mouths. That way you can see their fangs. So much acting by Dorff and Snipes is done with their mouth. It was very cool to see and a very clever idea. Naturally we tend to go to an actor’s eyes to relate to them and see their emotional responses. Norrington forces us to do otherwise.

12. Play Perfect 5.0

    Awesome dialogue. Memorable catch phrases and great story explanation. Its funny and natural, never losing the drama or intensity of the situation. Very well delivered especially by Dorff.

13. Music Perfect 5.0

    I was never a fan of techno until this flick. Its got the hard thumping beats that get your heart going and matches the pace of the film every step of the way. There was a lot of collaboration between rap and techno on this which at the time was pretty new and it came out very nicely.

14. Visuals Perfect 5.0

    The fighting was beautiful. The “ashing” of the vampires (though greatly improved in Blade 2) was very cool to see in this one. The city is dark and gritty and feels very comfortable for the story. Again, there are scenes that will stick with you long after you see it and you’ll keep thinking “Man, that was cool.”

15. Content

16. Edge

    Sordid 3.4

    Definite edge. Of the three Blades, this one is most rooted in horror and as such carries more violence and profanity. Its not what you remember about the film after the fact, but it is there for sure.

17. Sex Erotic 3.0

    Not too much at all. There’s really only one scene toward the beginning of the flick where Donal Logue is being “pleasured” at a party. There is no nudity, but it is a very suggestive 10 seconds.

18. Violence Savage 4.3

    Pretty darn. But its a vampire/horror movie and its all done in context. Its not really gratuitous – well no more than it needs to be for a vampire/horror flick.

19. Rudeness Profane 3.0

    This is a dark, scary world that these characters operate in. When they talk, they talk as you would expect. Its rough and uncut.

21. Reality

    Supernatural 3.2

    Even though this is a vampire movie, part of what makes it good is how closely it is based in reality. While there are fantastic elements to be sure, they are all tied to what we know in the real world.

22. Circumstantial Glib 2.0

    The station in life that Whistler and Blade hold is real. They are set up in an old warehouse that is not only inconspicuous, but is also something they can afford. They support their operation by taking from the vampires they kill and admit as much within the movie.

    The power structure within the vampire nation is also very real. It’s old money running things and new money doesn’t like it. Its very political and real. The only part of the flick that I can’t roll with is that there was this great big temple under their feet that the old money somehow just forgot about. Doesn’t make sense to me. Works for the movie, but in reality don’t really think so.

23. Biological Supernatural 4.0

    “All of their strengths, none of their weaknesses.” Blade is half vampire and half human. He’s superhumanly strong, fast and agile with a tremendous healing factor. While they do base the vampirism in reality as much as they can, there really isn’t an axplanation for the strength, the speed or the aversion to sunlight. The garlic and the silver you buy a little bit more because its an allergy. . . . a VERY strong allergy.

24. Physical Supernatural 3.5

    People physically aren’t that fast or that strong and they certainly don’t “ash” when you kill them.