Blade

Summary

“Quinn- I’m getting a little tired of chopping you up.”

Growing up, I was a big fan of Marvel Comics. The Nineties were a golden age for comic books with some of the best artwork (John Romita Jr., Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane) and some of the best writers (Frank Miller, Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman) all turning out incredible works. I was obsessed with the Marvel superheroes and villains, collecting all of the comic book cards that were flooding the market and soon proved to be completely worthless. My favorite comic book series at the time was The Punisher, which I bought and read every single month at the local comic book store. The other series that I enjoyed included X-Men, The Amazing Spider Man (only when McFarlane did the artwork,) and Batman from DC Comics. As a child I could not for the life of me understand why so few comic book movies were being made. There were the Richard Donner Superman movies, the Tim Burton Batman films, and not much else. In 1998, David Goyer wrote a script revolving around the Marvel Comics character Blade for New Line Cinema. Wesley Snipes signed on to play the day walking vampire killer. The film was intentionally an R-rated celebration of the darker side of Marvel. It was a box office success that spawned two sequels. For myself, it still ranks as one of the best comic book adaptations, so I was happy to see that Warner Bros. were giving the film a 4K UHD release.

1967- A pregnant woman with a neck wound is brought into the emergency room. Her name on her admission tag says Vanessa Brooks. Vanessa’s baby is taken from her as she lies on the operating table without a pulse.

Now (1998) – Racquel and Curtis (Tracy Lords and Tim Guinee) head to an underground rave that she knows about. Passing through a back room in a facility housing a kitchen, they walk past numerous butchered animals being rolled out. They arrive at a guarded door and she speaks a language to the bouncer. Inside, electronic music is blaring and attractive people are dancing under the strobe lights. Then the sprinklers turn on and rain down blood on all the patrons of the club. Curtis realizes that he is actually surrounded by vampires. Fangs out, they begin beating Curtis and he crawls on the floor, arriving at the feet of Blade (Wesley Snipes.) Blade is a vampire hunter that is known to his opponents as the day-walker because he can survive in sunlight despite having vampiric blood. Blade quickly dispatches many of the vampires in attendance at the club, and when killed their bodies disintegrate into ash. Blade seeks out a vampire in attendance there named Quinn (Donal Logue) to get some information from him. He pins Quinn to the wall and lights him on fire before escaping out before the police arrive. The charred body of Quinn is taken to a hospital. Unbeknownst to them, Quinn is still alive. He attacks a male doctor and bites a female doctor – Dr. Karen Jensen (N’Bushe Wright.) Quinn escapes and Blade takes the doctor out of the hospital. He brings her to Whistler (Kris Kristofferson) and explains her situation to her. They work hard to try to reverse the effects of the bite. Whistler has cared for Blade for years with a rudimentary serum that has staved off some of the thirst for blood that could overtake Blade otherwise. Whistler is also a weapons expert that has designed numerous weapons for Blade. Across town – Dragonettie (Udo Kier) presides over a council of vampires. Most of the vampires in the council are pure blooded – born as vampires. Deacon Frost (Stephen Dorphf) owns nightclubs, including the one Blade had raided, against the advisal of the council. They also take offense that Deacon is not a pure blood vampire, but simply a human being that was turned into a vampire. Deacon has a plan of his own that involves translating ancient texts and performing a ritual that would awaken the blood god.

Blade is still an extremely fun action film to revisit. The script by David S. Goyer is funny and well paced – crafting Blade as a mixture of Shaft’s cool and humor, Yojimbo’s swordsman mystique, and Batman’s reliance on gadgets and sleek gear. The script starts off with the sequence at the blood rave which still ranks as probably my favorite opening scene from any Marvel film. As far as superhero films, this opening sequence would only be topped by the opening sequence in The Dark Knight, which Goyer also wrote. Goyer really understands how to write these films and expects the audience to be fairly mature. I would say that the superhero movies he has written for the most part are not aimed at kids, and Blade is definitely aimed at adults. After watching the film, I was definitely struck by the realization that Marvel Movies appeal to me more when they go for the R-rating and allow the characters to curse. I have enjoyed watching the more recent Marvel Studios films with my kids, but it was nice to watch one that was firmly aimed at my age group.

The actors cast in the film are all perfectly suited to their roles. Wesley Snipes absolutely nails the part of Blade, and I don’t know that there is an actor that I would rather see in the role. He carries the film on his shoulders with ease. Stephen Dorff is great as the pretty boy villain Deacon Frost. I wish that he would have more roles like this, because he was a lot of fun to watch here. Kris Kristofferson is always fun to watch onscreen and his older, wiser, tough-as-nails persona works well in the role of Whistler. Both N’Bushe Wright and Arly Jover are good in the film as well. Donal Logue is awesome in the movie as Quinn and steals every scene he appears in. I think that director Stephen Norrington did a great job of directing the actors in the film, and the film looks cool thanks to some sleek cinematography by Theo van de Sande.

As one might expect, not everything that worked for the film in 1998 has aged well. Some of the stylized moments of the film that worked then seem out of place bow – such as when the film speeds up sequences very quickly for no real reason. Luckily, these moments are few and far between. The film’s digital effects never looked super realistic even in 1998, but some of the effects in the finale portion of the film have aged pretty poorly. These are the only two things that I can imagine anybody knocking about Blade. Blade essentially proved that there was a mature adult demographic that would gladly spend money to watch a comic book movie done right. The later work by David S. Goyer with Christopher Nolan is some of the best writing ever seen for comic book adaptations. Blade remains an extremely entertaining and enjoyable action film.

Video

Blade arrives on 4K UHD with a transfer from Warner Bros. presented in 2.39:1 aspect ratio with and HEVC 2.1 Native 4K encode. The new presentation of Blade is a significant upgrade from the Blu-ray release, but it is not without one issue that weighs down the overall presentation score. The film displays signs of digital noise reduction. While this is not the most extreme case of DNR, it certainly stops the film from living up to the level of detail that it could have attained. That said, the film still holds up visually and looks the best it has ever looked on this new format. I just hope that in the future DNR will not be applied so heavily on releases that arrive on the 4K format. While reading this, I would not let the DNR hold you back from considering a purchase because the visual uptick from the prior releases is still very significant.

Audio

New to this 4K UHD release is a brand new Dolby Atmos track. I thought the Atmos track sounded fantastic as I watched the film the other night. Dialogue is crystal clear and the action sequences benefit from the well configured surround landscapes of the film. The highs and lows are effectively engaged. This track is first class in every regard.

Supplements:

4K UHD Disc

• Audio Commentary – actors Wesley Snipes and Steven Dorff, screenwriter David S. Goyer, producer Peter Frankfurt, production designer Kirk M. Petruccelli, and cinematographer Theo van de Sande.

• Isolated Score Audio Commentary with composer Mark Isham.

Blu-ray Disc

• La Magra: this is a pretty great piece that looks at the initial conception of the film and then discusses how the ending of the film was significantly altered. The original ending is shown, and boy was it bad!
• Designing Blade: a look at the design elements used in the film.
• Origins of Blade: A Look at Dark Comics: David S. Goyer, Stan Lee and Wizard magazine’s Gareb Shamus discuss how comic books began to shift towards an older demographic. A pretty cool piece.
• The Blood Tide – a discussion of the importance of blood in mythology and literature.
• Theatrical Trailer

Overall Scores:

Video – 4/5

Audio – 5/5

Supplements – 3.5/5

Overall – 4.5/5

Blade was one of the first comic book adaptations that fully committed itself to an R-rated approach. With a sharply written and well paced script by David S. Goyer, the film still holds up over twenty years later. That isn’t to say that some of the special effects and stylistic decisions made in the film have aged very well, but I can’t imagine anyone that is interested in revisiting the film will find those elements to be an annoyance. Wesley Snipes and Stephen Dorff both shine in the film and it remains one of my favorite Marvel Comics adaptations. The new 4K UHD release by Warner Bros. features a significant upgrade visually and a fantastic new Dolby Atmos track. The supplemental package is enjoyable and is ported over from the prior Blu-ray and DVD releases. Recommended.