B- | A vampire hunter chases down vampires in windy Los Angeles. Directed by Stephen Norrington Starring Wesley Snipes, Stephen Dorff, and N'Bushe Wright Review by Jon Kissel |
Oddly important despite the presence of a monstrously obese archivist vampire, Blade is both a throwback and a harbinger. After the inter-species love of Howard the Duck and the license-preserving Fantastic Four of the early 90’s, Blade is the first earnest attempt at a movie based on a Marvel Comics character and its success would greenlight the X-Men, Spider-Man, and the big screen TV show that is the MCU, though the latter now also requires small-screen participation to stay up on everything. It’s also rich that first-out-of-the-gate Blade features a Black lead, a feat that would be recreated only twice in the ensuing 23 years. The culture moving backward in terms of onscreen representation is more galling due to the fact that Blade was both successful and pretty good as an action/horror flick. Stephen Norrington’s subpar and sparse career as a director notwithstanding, Blade provides a good deal of dumb fun.
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