BLADE
Kicked my ass
Let me tell you how high my expectations for John Carpenter's Vampires are. I hope, and expect, that it will tower head and shoulders above this movie. But I loved this movie.
Wesley Snipes isn't much of an actor, dazzlingly psychotic performance in Demolition Man aside. His acting in this movie mostly consists of lowering his voice about two octaves and adding a rasp. But hey, that's enough, for this role. All he really needs to do here is look cool.
Blade opens with one of the most blood-soaked scenes since the climax in Dead Alive - and then brings in a guy with a shotgun and a sword!
Yes, it's Blade, the vampire slayer. And you can guess why he's here. And he's all out of bubblegum.
I have largely mixed feelings about comic book movies. But this one hit all the right notes. It's exciting, and gruesome, and violent, and amusing, loaded with great camerawork and visuals. Blade may not be a fleshy character, but he's sympathetic enough, and at moments seems to genuinely enjoy himself as he hacks and blasts his way through the dwindling vampire population. As he should.
The villains were really interesting in this one. The vampire-world presented seemed to be a conflict between the old guard of movie vampires (hiding behind the scenes, elegant, soft-spoken, preying upon humanity) and the 90's kind (whiny, spoiled brats, sulky, bitter, sexually and otherwise decadent). And yet, the new kind of vampires were made sufficiently interesting by Dorff and his goofy- ass sidekick and their blonde squeeze.
The action in this flick was wild, wild, wild, with a number of "Wow" moments. I understand that Snipes did some of the martial arts choreography. He may not be able to act, but that boy sure can move.
The plot leaves a few questions, though. I'd appreciate a little more information regarding this Blood God - in a pure horror movie, the lack of information might make things creepier, but this isn't really a horror movie. And where did Dorff get his own sword from? CGI was also somewhat overused, although it was mostly pretty inventive (esp. with skeletons popping out of people's mouths and flying away).
Still, highly, highly recommended. I see a boost in sword sales in the future.