The Marvel Movies: Blade (1998)
The signal of the "modern era" of Marvel movies was the release of "Blade," ironically one of the more obscure characters in the Marvel Universe and a hybrid half-vampire, half-human. (His mother was bitten while pregnant with him, then delivered before her transformation was complete.)
As the tagline says, he has all of their strengths, none of their weaknesses: He can walk freely in sunlight but thirsts for human blood. He resists, however, with the aid of a serum developed by his mentor, Whistler (Kris Kristofferson), that temporarily slakes his thirst.
Armed with a variety of silver weaponry — including stakes, blades and a sword, as well as automatic weapons loaded with silver bullets — Blade seeks to rid the world of vampires. Oh, and he's a martial arts expert, too. Bad news if you're a vamp.
Meanwhile, we learn that there's a hierarchy of vampire elders — "purebloods" who were born vampires — who have made a treaty with humans. This doesn't sit too well with young rebel vamp Deacon Frost (Stephen Dorff, who succinctly tells the elders, "For f**k's sake, these people are our food"), whose secret back-alley nightclubs serve as traps for humans.
Frost has a plan for taking over the Vampire Nation as it were, then, with the help of an ancient vampire prophecy, the entire world.
Blade, meanwhile, has rescued a bitten woman (N'Bushe Wright) who reminds him of his mother he has pity on. Whistler helps Blade cure her by injecting her with garlic before she turns. Luckily for Blade, she's a hematologist; he's starting to develop a resistance to the serum.
Snipes is born to play Blade. His martial-arts prowess is on full display perhaps better than in any of his other roles, and he has the presence to pull off the character. The action sequences are the film's highlight: fast-moving, unrelenting, brutal, bloody and exciting.
Dorff plays Frost as an arrogant douchebag who is nonetheless maybe just good enough to get what he wants.
Screenwriter David S. Goyer, who went on to become the pre-eminent comic-book movie writer in Hollywood, and director Stephen Norrington create a nihilistic world where innocents are the pawns of the powerful, humans are actually in league with vampires and daylight will not keep a human safe.
The film is infused with a synth-pop soundtrack that underscores the wild fight scenes, some of the best in any comic-book film.
There's also a sharp, dark wit, much of it surrounding Frost lackey Quinn (Donal Logue), whom Blade tells in the film's opening scene, "I'm getting sick of cutting you up," then proceeds to abuse for the rest of the film.
Blade also bullies vampires and their human underlings, beating information out of them. At one point, Blade and Karen come upon the grotesque, obese Pearl, the vampire record keeper, and torture him with a ultraviolet lamp, charring him to a crisp.
In that way, Blade is a similar character to the Punisher, making it even more interesting that a decent film could never be made from that character when Blade has two very solid films.
The film uses up some of its goodwill in the finale, where Blade's battle with Frost descends into supernatural silliness, but overall, "Blade" is one of the stronger entries, setting a high standard that only gets better in the sequel before falling off in the third film and short-lived TV series.
Next time: Hugh Jackman tells us "Snikt"!
Previous Marvel Movie Entries
Conan the Barbarian (1982) Conan the Destroyer (1984) Red Sonja (1985) Howard the Duck (1986) The Punisher (1989) Captain America (1990) The Fantastic Four (1994) Blade (1998)