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September 06, 2005
Blade (1998)
by max314
Blade (1998)
When you have a dude who is capable of kicking you in the balls so hard that while lying on the floor you body rises almost six feet in the air, it's probably safe to say that said dude is pretty darn bad-ass.
Meet Blade. Half man, half vampire, balls-to-the-walls bad-ass.
After the explosion-heavy action fests of the 80s and 90s that had fallen into the Hades of cliched and boring gunfights, and hand-to-hand combat that had more cuts than Patrick Bateman's bod, it was a breath of fresh-air to see a Hollywood movie that pulled no punches and was oozing with style. All this with black actor in the title role as he effectively paved the way for all other comic book adaptations after him from X-Men and Spider-Man to Batman Begins and Superman Returns.
Stephen Norrington's take on the Blade character and subsequent cinematic franchise redefined the 'cool' factor of comic book movies. It had a stylistic integrity and a solid cinematic grounding that allowed for a fantastic urban, visceral, kinetic and exciting action adventure film to grace the screen. He may have been the guy behind the sensibility of the Blade character, but it was undoubtedly the charisma and savvy of Wesley Snipes' talent that truly defined the character on a moment-to-moment basis. Even in the abysmal third installment by writer-turned-director David Goyer, it seems that Snipes' spirit is the only thing that offers the movie some lift out of complete mediocrity.
With this awareness of style comes the incredible cinematography. At once kinetic and off-beat, visceral and elegant, fun but frightening, Norrington's Blade oozes style at every corner. Of course the film is not without its flaws, but as long as art is subjective, a 'flaw' is merely in relation to the viewer's interpretation of what constitutes cinematic fallibility either within or outside the context of the film in question.
Of the three movies that comprise the 'trilogy', the first film's advantage of being able to maintain the tension of an expositional opening act and being able to adhere to Campbell's 'hero' outline means that it is easily the most fluid, efficient and gripping of the three installments. Del Torro's talent would see that the script-weak sequel would still be thoroughly entertaining, but it is the first movie that is the truly defining Blade experience if only because you can see the originality and the passion everywhere you look in the movie.
In terms of supporting performances, Stephen Dorff does the villain thing with a sense of relish and fun suficient for such a role adding the slant of youthful rebelliousness to the usual formula, and Kris Kristofferson plays the coolest possible granddad you could imagine. And let's not forget one of the biggest characters in the film: the fight scenes. There is something so unique about the modified Kali-esque martial art that Snipes executes with such grin-inducing finesse that you can't help but sit in your seat giggling with childish glee as Blade pulls his sword out of the wall and stands ready for the inevitable final confrontation with Dorff's Deacon Frost.
I know that the term 'visionary' isn't a term one often hears for action-adventure movies, but with such a distinct vision so obviously permeating this film, there aren't that many satisfactory substitues that one could think of.
Score: ****
Posted by icine.org at September 6, 2005 03:11 PM