Oh, The Horror! #20: Blade

One of my all time favorite comic book characters, the bad-ass Blade. If I was given the chance to write any book for Marvel, it'd most likely be Blade. There's just something about him. A bad-ass half-vampire who can dish out some sick martial arts moves to take out those creepy crawlies that stalk in the shadows. His head is focused on one thing: killing the vamps. And on top of that, he has their thirsts. He can easily slip and become one of them, but with enough self-control and a focused hatred against that kind, he instead works to protect the world from them. And the guy's a riot also. "Motherf'ker, are you outta your damn mind?!" Ha! I still crack up every time I hear that line delivered by Wesley Snipes when he's shot at by cops in a hospital.

In my last entry, I wrote a review about "The Unborn." The writer/director of that movie is the writer of the Blade movies. And like I mentioned in that previous entry, when other directors seem to have his script, they do a wonderful job in crafting it into the big screen. Directed by Stephen Norrington, we are transferred into a dark world where vampires exist, living in the underworld in their own sacred hierarchy where they have connections everywhere that include nightclubs, politics, and the police. Then enters Blade. A hard-hitting half-man/half vampire who hunts the vampires along with his mentor and closes thing to a father-figure, Whistler, played by Kris Kristofferson. We are also introduced to Karen Jensen, a hematologist who gets bitten by a vampired named Quinn who was burned earlier by Blade. Karen, played bad-assly by sexy N'Bushe Wright, is our every-woman who brings us into this crazy world that is just below the surface if we just open up our minds. Karen gets directly involved in the essential plot as she begins to help Blade with a strong serum to suppress his thirst for blood and she also creates nice batches of serums that explodes suck-heads and even cures herself from vamperism. Sheesh. And she was a tough lil' cookie who was able to stand with Blade in battle and interrogations.

So yes, we got the heroes down and a brief mention of Quinn, the main villain's second in command. We are also introduced to Deacon Frost, played by Stephen Dorff, who sees humans as simply cattle, food to vampires. He speaks against the elder vampires who plan out all the rules and who disregard him for what they see as "stupidity" as Frost presents his ideas to bring forth La Magra, an ancient vampire god. With the rise of the vampire god, vampires will be back on top and the humans will all be food. But there's one problem. Blade. Yep, Blade is the Boogeyman! And he's coming to get you! Heh, sorry, got over excited there. But yes, the rivalry between Deacon and Blade is actually a lot of fun to watch. Everyone in this movie is a lot of fun to watch. While you're awed due to the fights and effects, you're laughing and smiling due to how much the characters stand out. It generally is a fun action film to watch and you don't need to be dumb to enjoy it. Snipes is Blade in this movie and I don't think Blade wouldn't have been as much of a success without Snipes there playing him, producing the film, and choreography of the fights. Also, this was the film that got Marvel to notice that they could make more movies like this hence us soon getting X-Men and Spider-Man after wards. This movie also appeals to many. If you like a good solid plot, you can get into this. If you like horror, you can get into it. Heck, martial arts, all out action, bullet time, whatever it is. Just go and pick this movie up and see why I love this character so much. You most likely will not regret it. And c'mon. Who doesn't love that blood bath scene at the beginning?