PSX NATION: welcome to the world.

There is a conflict brewing among the twelve tribes of the vampire ruling council, an ancient organization designed to keep the nighttime creatures successfully alive in today's modern society. One of these creatures, the cocky and impatient Deacon Frost (Stephen Dorff), wants to annihilate the human race by deciphering the Book of Erebus (a vampire bible) and unleashing a supernatural apocalypse on the world known as 'La Magna'. Along with his gang of vampire thugs, including right-hand man Quinn (Donal Logue) and Mercury (Arly Jover), Frost begins working on a plan to assemble the heads of the vampire ruling council in a certain place at a certain time to let his evil plans come to fruition.

The only one that can stop Frost's evil plan is Blade (Wesley Snipes), a half-man half-vampire creature born in 1967 to a dying pregnant woman bitten by a vampire. Blade's known as a 'Daywalker' because he inherited a vampire's strengths (speed, immortality, etc.) but not its weaknesses (inability to walk out during the daylight, etc.). Along with Abraham Whistler (Kris Kristofferson), the good Samaritan that fixes his weapons and prepares serum potions to keep the vampire side of him from taking over, Blade stumbles upon a young Hematologist named Karen Jenson (N'Bushe Wright) that might be able to cure Blade of his vampire DNA for good. But will becoming human do any good to humanity if Frost takes over the world by activating 'La Magna'? And will Karen, who's been bitten by Quinn, turn into a vampire by the end of the movie or be able to help Blade defeat Frost? An even better question is how does Blade get to afford such cool gear. He shoots bad-ass machine-guns and drives either a kick-ass bike or a refurbished black Camaro, all stuff that puts Batman's expensive gear to utter shame.

But seriously folks, let's get back on track. Based on a cult comic book that has since become mainstream, "Blade" tells a pretty decent good-vs-evil story but is wise-enough to keep it in the background to concentrate on giving the audience what it wants from a comic book movie adaptation. That 'it' the audience wants is RELEASE, that indescribable joy an audience feels when it sees something fun and outrageous being done in front of it by good guys it has grown fond of and bad guys that are outrageously cool. Many hero movies throw monster special effects sequences or elaborate stunts trying to give the audience these 'release' moments, but without characters worth giving a damn about they come across as phony and lethargic ("The Phantom" and latter "Batman" live-action movies come to mind). Maybe it's just the inherent coolness of fighting vampires (perennial movie villains since the silent days of motion pictures), or that New Line Cinema and the movie's writer (David S. Goyer), director (Stephen Norrington) and producer/star (Snipes) were smart-enough to go for broke with stylish violent action that demanded an 'R' rating to be true to its source material. Or maybe everyone realized that 11 years earlier a bloody action flick named "Robocop" showed that comic book-like heroes could be done justice without watering down the sausage with a 'PG-13' rating where it doesn't belong.

Regardless, "Blade" is a kinetic explosion of action sequences, elaborate (but economical) special effects and dead-on performances. Stephen Dorff brings a suave but deadly attitude to his Deacon Frost persona (I want to see him play a Bond villain), while Wesley Snipes' wooden delivery and forced expressions as Blade (like

anytime

he tries to smile) are tolerable because of all the ass-kicking he does throughout the entire movie. N'Bushe Wright's Karen makes an intelligent and attractive counterbalance to Blade's brute force (with just enough sexual tension in-between to keep the exposition scenes flowing a little faster than they should), while Donal Logue's hysterical sidekick shtick as Quinn makes it sad that his departure at the end of the movie comes so suddenly and without much fanfare. Kristofferson (as Whistler), Arly Jover (as Mercury) and Udo Kier (Dragonetti) aren't given enough screen time or depth to make them compelling characters worth giving a damn about, and are also not really that well-acted by the participants (IMHO). Not billed for its acting services in "Blade" is the blood. Whether dripping from the ceiling of a raving party (during an elaborate opening scene that not even the sequel could top) or a CG effect at the end of the movie, blood has a personality of its own in this film that elevates from mere prop or special effect to active participant in the storyline.

Within its own rules "Blade" also pokes indirect fun at the vampire myths that movies have made- up throughout the years. Nightclub owners who never get out during the day and party all night while having a secret lair underneath their clubs? Vampires using biker outfits/helmets to prevent the sun from killing them? A corrupt cop using his cop car's siren to make special deliveries of fresh blood pints to his vampire lord? Tongue-in-cheek funny without being campy, although the ending of "Blade" is weak. The whole movie FEELS like it's leading to a dramatic showdown between Blade and Frost that ultimately doesn't come across as powerful or dramatic as it could have been (although it gives Snipes a chance to utter a truly hilarious one-liner without actually speaking it!). The movie's original ending can be seen under the 'La Magna' featurette though, and the producers of "Blade" made a wise decision by giving us the best of two endings that weren't as well thought-out as the events leading up to it. "Blade" is fun and a little weird, and one of the best comic book adaptations ever made into an action movie. The sequel also isn't half-bad, although it lacks the assured imagination and creativity that Norrington's direction brought to the material back in '98.

The Disc:

Re-released at a lower retail price when "Blade II" came out in movie theaters a few weeks ago, "Blade" is an old New Line Cinema Platinum Series DVD that still puts many of today's newer releases to shame. This stylish picture mixes extremely dark scenes (Ch.9's meeting of the vampire clan) with very odd juxtapositions of bright colors (usually of the red tint variety) and intense-white backgrounds (Frost's bedroom). Theo Van De Sande's photography is done justice by an almost-perfect widescreen anamorphic transfer that presents "Blade" in its 2:35:1 aspect ratio without major compression artifacts, grain spots or film scratches to distract viewers from the parade of slayed bodies and stylish imagery on display in this bloody action romp. Matching the quality of the picture is an aggressive Dolby 5.1 soundtrack that assaults the senses with loud gunshots, heads being snapped, stuff being broken, serviceable dialogue being uttered with straight-face clarity and really good club music. From the opening bloodbath at the meat factory to the final showdown in the streets of Russia (uhh?), "Blade" is one heck of an involving audio track that is pure bliss. A Dolby Surround soundtrack is also offered for less fortunate souls without Surround systems, and the disc also offers English subtitles.

New Line Cinema's Platinum Series DVD's have always delivered the goods when it comes to supplementary material, and "Blade" was top of the food chain for single-disc releases back in '99. Two Commentary Tracks are offered. One features the isolated music score and comments in-between by composer Mark Isham, and another has six cast & crew members talking about what it was like to work on "Blade": stars Wesley Snipes & Stephen Frost, writer David S. Goyer, production designer Kirk M. Pretruccelli, director of photography Theo Van De Sande and producer Peter M. Frankfurt. Director Stephen Norrington is MIA from the commentary, and hearing people talk about him in the track gives listeners an idea of why: some cal him 'genius' while others call him 'off his rocker', 'a pain in the ass' and 'untrusting of himself' (the last one said by Snipes). These people were all recorded separately and then their comments mixed together in post-production with a moderator pointing for the audience who's talking, which contributes to the tracks coming across as too dry and boring most of the time, although a few of the contributors (particularly Dorff talking about Donal Logue running around naked, or Snipes pointing out the flaws in his and Dorff's performances) have interesting anecdotes that can only be heard in the commentary. Most interesting revelation about "Blade" (courtesy of producer Peter Frankfurt): "Seven"/"Fight Club" director David Fincher was at one point attached to direct (!) before Norrington took over the project.

Many of these anecdotes, unfortunately, are also repeated by the same behind-the-scenes personalities of the seven

Featurettes; lasting either a few minutes or almost half-an-hour, these featurettes range the gamut from how comic book content has evolved over the years ('The Origins of Blade') to how hand-drawn sketches become a motion picture's production design blueprints ('Pencil to Post') and even cover at the mythology of vampires from a religious/secular perspective ('The Blood Tide'). The most interesting featurette is 'La Magra', which analyzes the story's evolution and shows the movie's original (and wisely deleted) ending. Cast & Crew Filmographies/Biographies, the Theatrical Trailer and some decent DVD-ROM content (the movie's screenplay, scene access, a look at the 1998 ComiCon convention, etc.) round-up a solid DVD production. "Blade II" will likely receive a similar deluxe treatment from New Line Cinema when it hits the DVD market, with the prequel's quality presentation on DVD being exhibit A of that ground-breaking theory. J

bottom line:

Everything that the "Spawn" movie did wrong and tried to stay away from "Blade" embraces with a vengeance: style, violence, action, special effects and its own sense of mythology. This discounted DVD gives us a no-nonsense hero (Blade), a cool villain (Frost), supporting characters (Quinn, Karen, Whistler, etc.) and a warped universe worth investing one's emotions into, along with quality audio/video and enough extras to please format enthusiasts. Now where do I call to order me one of them cool vampire-slaying muscle cars? I want one!

By - J.M. Vargas