His Name was a Sharp Cutting Edge

Wesley Snipes beats down vampires in 1998's Blade. Poorly written and with average direction, this one at least has some good action sequences and good performances.

Snipes sure is great as Blade. Adopting a gravelly voice and stoic demeanour--broken up by the occasional wicked grin--he's believably intimidating and quite fast with his fists.



Kris Kristofferson is captivating as his mentor, Abraham Whistler, and Stephen Dorff, as the villain, Deacon Frost, isn't too bad. He has a somewhat Near Dark/Lost Boys punk vampire vibe which jives with him leading a coup against the "pureblood" vampires led by Udo Kier.



Kier is playing another laughably ineffectual vampire here, similar to the one he played in Blood for Dracula. Only in Blood for Dracula, there was a point to it and at least that character attempted to put up a fight. As Dorff asserts his dominance, the purebloods placidly but uncomfortably shuffle to their dooms with the attitudes of tourists being told they can't take the scenic route.



It's nice to revisit some typical '90s production design but, I must say, there's an awful lot of paper in this fantasy version of New York, or whatever city it's supposed to be.

Blade is available on Netflix in Japan.