Some of the people who knew me growing up might be surprised to hear this, but I was a HUGE fan of Blade back in the day (around my early teens). I have vague memories of stumbling across this film on TV (along with Blade II) and being spellbound by what I saw. Didn’t understand half of it, didn’t even know that Blade came from Marvel comics, but I did know I was watching something amazing!

As I understand it, Blade was the first Marvel movie to be successful, setting the stage for the X-Men films, the Fantastic Four films, and, many years later one could argue, the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It all started with Blade. For those not familiar, Blade is a Daywalker, a half-vampire who spends his nights hunting down and killing every vampire he can find. Unlike regular vampires, Blade can move about in daylight, and he has some nasty weapons in his arsenal. The movie sees Blade come up against Deacon Frost (Stephen Dorff) who has plans of his own for the vampire world. Along the way, Blade is forced to take Dr. Karen Jenson (N’Bushe Wright) under his wing (so to speak) and teach her the basics of vampire fighting after she’s assaulted and bitten by a vampire herself.

When I sat down to watch Blade again, it had easily been fifteen or sixteen years since I’d last seen it, so I’d completely forgotten how badass this film is. Despite being 22 years old, the film doesn’t feel dated in the slightest, though I will concede some of the CGI effects haven’t aged that well. Even then, it’s a “blink and it’s over” sort of issue, and I feel like I’m nitpicking by even mentioning it. Seriously, the CGI for the most part looks pretty good for being created in the late 1990s, which is a testament to how hard the filmmakers worked on this film at the time. As good as it must have looked then, it looks so much better upgraded to Blu-Ray (and I can only imagine how it looks in 4K).

Wesley Snipes OWNS every scene he’s in. As soon as he appeared in full Daywalker mode, I instantly realized why everyone had been campaigning to have Snipes reprise his role in the MCU somehow. I mean, my God….the presence he has as Blade is unreal. You don’t see his fangs until very late in the film (unless I missed it), but there’s no mistaking that Blade is something more than human from the moment he’s introduced. He’s also such a badass with that sword, I loved watching every single fight scene. Also, while I have no doubt Mahershala Ali will make an AMAZING Blade, I sincerely hope that Wesley Snipes appears in the MCU Blade film in some way, shape, form or fashion. This is something I NEED to happen.

I love that the “everyman” role in the film is taken up by a woman. I think that’s why I found it so easy to watch this film as a teenager, I could identity with Karen, and that fear of confronting a world that is suddenly nothing like what you expected it to be. N’Bushe Wright turns Karen into a complete and total badass by the end of the film, even when she’s taken captive, she doesn’t lay down and take it. She fights back, and for that reason alone I will defend Blade as one of the best comic book movies ever made forever.

I also have to praise Blade for creating a vampire society that feels frighteningly plausible. The gist is that vampires have permeated every layer of human society imaginable. In fact, it’s quietly implied that vampires are well on their way to running human society as a whole, albeit from the shadows. Once this fact is laid bare in the film, you start to look twice at every person our heroes pass, and it’s actually enough to make you slightly paranoid.

And again, I have to go back to the intensity that permeates this film. This might come out wrong, but there’s a rawness about Blade that isn’t present in the MCU, and it sets Blade apart in a good way. What I mean to say is, because they were still sussing out how to turn Marvel stories into good films, there’s a raw, immense crudeness about Blade that leaves one with the impression of something much larger lurking in the shadows (the MCU by comparison is much more finely tuned). It was just so refreshing to see a film like this again, and I hope the new Blade film carries over some of this intensity and rawness (which is possible since this is the film that’s introducing vampires to the MCU, assuming Morbius doesn’t count).

Having seen Blade upgraded to blu-ray, all I can do now is hope and pray that a similar upgrade is being done for Blade II and, yes, even Blade Trinity (I’m a completionist, it’ll bug me if I don’t upgrade the whole trilogy).

Let me know what you think about Blade in the comments below and have a great day!

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