Blade, I like him, I do. I like him a lot. A stunning variation on the usual vampire flick, this movie is literally something else. Blade was first introduced to comic book fans in 1973 as a supporting character in Marvel Comic's Tomb of Dracula. Over the years, the character has been built into a franchise. Blade has now been born in the cinema. Rumors of Blade 2 are abroad and once you see the movie you'll know why. I hope they are realized for everyone's sake.


There are few opening movie sequences that actually hit the spot with me, the opening to Blade has style and an ambiance that set up the movie as a whole. Slow moving happenings of the hospital in which blades mother is going to give birth. Sounds are somewhat muffled and you get a sense that you are perceiving the surroundings through Blade's dying mother. This scene sets up Blade's dark side. As we know every 'superhero' has to have a dark side. His mother has just been bitten and is pregnant with Blade so you can almost guess the outcome. A half vampire to wreck havoc and revenge upon the lives of the fanged ones. Such an uncomfortable hybrid leaves blade with a thirst… yes you know the thirst I'm talking about. YES, that's right, the red stuff flowing through our succulent veins.


Blade has a …er… well, I suppose you could call him a sidekick but he has class. They have a 'good arrangement'. Abraham Whistler (Kristofferson) is this vampire hating comrade, A marvel at making new impressive weaponry for Blade's crusade to rid the world of vampires. An old guy you begin to like and become somewhat dependent on as the movie progresses.


Anyway, back to the subject at hand. Wesley Snipes suits this lead role to the ground. There's just something more reassuring about a samurai sword wielding, take no prisoners, deadly cool vampire slayer.


A little different than the traditional crucifix-waving, stake driving vampire-hunters you might think. You'd be damn right. The blood-suckers however are relatively similar to the 'old style' type except not as dark and foreboding as one might want from a vampire movie. The badies (the vampires) are bad, very bad but lack something on the evil front. It has to be said that the usual vampire movie is about fear of the unknown and trepidation of this very evil. The vampire is kept well hidden from the audience, Good is used against this evil, hence the holy water and crosses. Blade however abandons these tarnished standards for a vampire movie and takes a stab in the dark. This blind stab hits something, the wants of many a movie go-er. The action sequences are almost unparalleled. They are cool, fast and numerous so you don't really have time to think about anything but the action. Sometimes you will notice a jolt or jerk in the camera movement just as Snipes Delivers a fierce blow to an vampirish adversary, This technique seems to deliver that extra punch. Wesley Snipes' confidences in his roles and his real martial arts expertise combine to form a powerful and believable vampire slayer.


Deacon Frost (Stephen Dorff) is the main bad vampire, a pallid looking fanged one if I do say so, but intelligent nonetheless. This intelligence leads to discovery of an ancient vampire blood god (La Magra). So ensues the tedious process of breaking an archaic vampire code and hence bringing the god to life. He is not, however a true vampire, but a bitten human. Frost is a young but worthy opponent and with the help of a god…WOOooo we'll say no more! If decapitation, burning, slicing, dicing, maiming and kicking the undead shit out of the … er undead, is your thing, then this movie is a definite must. Frankly I don't care what type on genre you are into, Go and experience this phenomenon yourself, before the second one comes out. (A marvelous soundtrack accompanies this work of art)

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