Blade Review
by "R. L. Strong" (areles AT geocities DOT com)September 4th, 1998
"BLADE"
Review by R. L. Strong
Rated R 121 minutes
New line Cinema presents an AMEN RA FILMS production
in association with Peter Frankfurt a Stephen Norrington Picture
Wesley Snipes Stephen Dorff "BLADE"
Kris Kristofferson N'Bushe Wright Donal Logue
Co-Producers: Andrew J. Horne and Jon Divens
Costume Designer: Sanja Milkovic Hays
Music by Mark Isham
Edited by Paul Rubin, A.C.E.
Prodcution Designer: Kirk M. Petruccelli
Director of Phography: Theo Van De Sande, A.S.C.
Executive Producers: Stan Lee, Avi Arad, Joseph Calamari, Lynn Harris
Produced by Peter Frankfurt, Wesley Snipes, Robert Engelman
Writen by David S. Goyer
Blade and Deacon Frost characters created for Marvel Comics by Marv
Wolfman & Gene Colan
Directed by Stephen Norrington
Translating the world of the graphic novel or comic to the screen has
never been an easy task. Most filmmakers don't understand the
intricacies and character development which are the life blood of this
form of art. Most films of this type either go for high camp ('Batman
& Robin'), or wallow in excessive nihilism ('The Crow'). With the
release of New Line's new film "BLADE", there is hope that the genre
may becoming more involving.
"BLADE" opens with a young woman in 1968, her throat torn open going
into labor. Flash forward to present day New York, where a young man
is being led to an underground rave by a ravishing young woman (Traci
Lords). Once inside the club, the young man is buffeted and confronted
by most of the congregation. Shortly thereafter, the true purpose of
this gathering is revealed when the D.J. turns on the stage lights
illuminating a banner which read "Bloodbath". Immediately, the
sprinkler system inside the club starts spraying everyone with
blood. It is now that the young man realizes that he is going to be
the next victim of a troupe of vampires.
Screaming for his life, the young man cowers in the center of the
club. Suddenly everyone steps away from him except for one lone man in
black. The rain of blood stops. As the young man looks up, he sees
Blade (Wesley Snipes) standing in front of him. He picks the boy up
and tells him to get out. Blade systematically starts to kill and maim
all of the vampires in the club.
Blade is half human/ half vampire. The product of his mother's death
at the hands of a vampire. He has become a one man demolition squad,
determined to eradicate all vampires. It seems that the vampires (in
the mythology of this film) have existed along side man for centuries,
working with high ranking officials to gain monetary control of the
worlds riches and power yet never venturing out into the open,
preferring to remain secretive and unobserved.
This conflicts with the desires of one vampire, Deacon Frost (Stephen
Dorff) who plans to rule the world of man by reviving the ancient
demigod, the Blood Demon.
The plot for "BLADE" is very complex and invigorating. For once, here
is a film of fantasy and action that wants you to pay attention to
it's plot. While not being as tightly constructed as it could have
been, "BLADE" earns a nod for attempting something different. While
there are marvelous plot constructions in the film, and the action
scenes are some of the best we've seen on U.S. screens in years,
"BLADE" ultimately fails to deliver the promise of it's goal, by not
having a soul.
The problems with "BLADE" are two-fold. Firstly, it's plot is so
intricate and delicate that the slightest misstep causes one to forget
relevant pieces of information. Secondly, scenes and characters are
developed without any emotional content.
Wesley Snipes is a fine actor, possibly one of the cinema's most
underrated performers. But here, in "BLADE", he is not called upon to
do anything other that stand stoically and / or fight. N'Bushe Wright,
is fine in what is basically a woman in distress role. Again the same
situation exits for her performance as for Blade, no one is remotely
concerned about their fate. This is brought to fore most painfully by
the character of Abraham Whistler (Kris Kristofferson), Blade's weapon
supplier and mentor. Whistler, it is revealed near the end of the
film, to be dying of cancer. But there is no urgency to the character,
no rush to complete his calling. It's as if everyone is not the least
bit concerned with their own impending demise.
This brings us to Stephen Dorff as the vampire Deacon Frost. Mr. Dorff
is riveting. He is one of the best screen villains since Gary Busey in
the original "Lethal Weapon". When Mr. Dorff is on-screen, "BLADE"
comes to life (if you'll pardon the pun).
The Cinematography by Theo Van De Sande is remarkably inventive. There
is a subtlety of color used in the film with the exception of blood
(which has never been redder). There is a very interesting use of
under-cracking during the fight scenes, reminiscent of the action
films from Hong Kong which give "BLADE" the kinetic energy that it
needs. All of the tech credits are very well served in the film. The
art direction and special effects are models of both creativity and
function. The demise of the vampires as they are killed is remarkable
inventive, eliminating the always troublesome flaw in most films of
this type, ie: the massive amounts of severed body parts that no one
ever seems to question or find.
Director Stephen Norrington has staged an interestingly flawed
film. Some scenes drag out for much longer then they should strictly
for shock value (the torture of the horribly obese Vampire Librarian
with an ultra violet lamp is a prime example). Other scenes are
glanced over (Karen's realization that she may yet become a vampire
and have to take her own life). And one glaring misstep relating to
Blade's past which has no emotional dimension to it at all.
Blade is one of those films which is really hard to review. These are
filmmakers that obviously cared about what they were doing and worked
hard to deliver a spectacle equal to their desire. While "BLADE" looks
and moves with a great amount of energy and style, what it really
needs.. is a beating heart.
On a scale of *****, "BLADE" rates **1/2
Copyright 1998 R.L. Strong
Nothing in this review may be copied of duplicated either in whole of in part, without the express written permission of the author.
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
