We anticipate Marvel or DC superhero films to be huge box office smashes, and anything less than that is considered unsatisfactory. This was not the case prior to the MCU’s rise to prominence. Even though the stories and execution were superb, the old-timers have seen far too many superheroes fail.
There were some standout hits, such as Tim Burton’s “Batman” and a few Superman films, but these were not the norms at the time. When ‘Blade’ first came out in 1998, it breathed new life into the superhero genre. The portrayal of this classic day-walking vampire hero wowed Marvel fans, and Wesley Snipes in the lead role was the appropriate casting choice.
The blade was a half-vampire who inherited his parents’ abilities but not their flaws. The titular hero was such an engaging character that it inspired two sequels and a TV series following the success of the first film.
Despite the fact that the films were written by David S. Goyer, Stephen Norrington and Guillermo del Toro directed them. In the third film, Goyer took on the role of director, and he also co-wrote the TV series. In this video, we will walk you through the three Blade films that have so far been released, as well as discuss an upcoming project.
Vampire Hunter – Blade (1998)
The first ‘Blade’ movie begins with a brief introduction of the origin of Blade. We see a pregnant woman admitted to a hospital because she was attacked by some vicious animal. She delivers a baby boy before dying from her wounds. This baby grows up to be the mighty Day-walker, and it turns out that his mother was attacked by a vampire.
The story moves thirty years ahead, and we see Blade slaying vampires at a vampire club in a slaughterhouse. He saves Dennis’s life, a young man who found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time! Pro tip: If a nightclub is located in a slaughterhouse, avoid going there!
Blade kills all the vampires and only one named Quinn seems to survive the onslaught. Blade gets away before the police can reach there, and Quinn is taken to a local hospital because the others have no clue about his vampire origins.
Dr. Karen Jenson and a morgue technician named Curtis find some odd irregularities with Quinn, and just before they comprehend his true nature, he springs back to life. The two are bitten, and Blade arrives just in time to save Dr. Jenson. He brings the doctor to his mentor, who injects her with a solution of silver nitrate and garlic essence, hoping for a cure.
The scene now turns to a meeting of vampires, and we get to see a divide between the ideologies. One group is united under a vampire named Deacon Frost, and they want to reign over the humans, using violence and terror. The other group under Dragonetti does not prefer violence and strives for peaceful co-existence.
Dr. Jenson is confused when she learns that Blade is a vampire hunter and she is dropped back to her apartment. She is attacked by a police officer, who happens to be familiar – a human slave owned by a vampire. Blade comes to the rescue once again, and he finds a tattoo on the cop that suggests Frost’s control over him.
Blade is now joined by Dr. Jenson and they explore another underground club where they come across a vampire named Pearl. They learn that Frost is researching ancient vampire prophecies and he is trying to perform some ritual involving a creature named La Magra.
Blade and Dr. Jenson also find a few pages of the Book of Erebus – a bible for vampires, but they are suddenly ambushed by a group of vampires led by Quinn. Luckily, Blade’s mentor Whistler was connected via radio and he comes to their aid in time.
During a brief conversation between Whistler and Dr. Jenson, the special powers of Blade are revealed. He can walk around in broad daylight and is also immune to garlic and silver. However, he does have the enhanced strength and healing abilities of vampires. Basically, he is a combination of all their powers minus their weaknesses.
Whistler has developed a serum that allows him to curb the vampire cravings that Blade might have, but with time his body has started resisting the serum. We get to know a little about Whistler as well who is suffering from cancer, but not going for treatment so that he can help Blade in his vampire-fighting mission. His family had been killed by vampires and thus, even he has some personal grudges to settle.
Meanwhile, there is some bad news. Dr. Jenson’s treatment seems to be ineffective and she is slowly turning into a vampire. However, she refuses to give up and tries to cook up a cure for herself and Blade.
Frost has plans of his own, and he sends Quinn to capture Blade alive. At the same time, he nurtures a conspiracy to get rid of Dragonetti and has him buried under open sunlight. Now, the remaining elders of the Vampire council are forced to volunteer for his secret project. In Blade’s absence, Whistler and Dr. Jenson are attacked by vampires, and the latter is kidnapped.
When Blade arrives, he finds Whistler terribly injured and puts him out of his misery by helping him commit suicide. A furious Blade now turns his attention to Frost’s hideout and takes down his minions by the dozens. In an emotional showdown between the two, Frost ambushes and captures Blade, and reveals that it was him who attacked Blade’s mother during her pregnancy.
Just as Blade is about to be sacrificed along with the other members of the Vampire Council for the ritual, Frost becomes the mythical La Magra after absorbing the souls of the twelve members. In a miraculous recovery, Blade consumes some of Dr. Jenson’s blood and he is back to his powerful old self.
There is an unforgettable duel between him and Frost, who has now turned into La Magra. Finally, Blade uses the vials that make vampires swell up and explode, and this gets rid of Frost for good. Dr. Jenson had discovered a cure for Blade that would allow him to regain his human form, but he rejects the offer because there might be more evil vampires lurking around and his job was not done yet!
Our Take on the classic
One of the first things that we noticed about this film is just how dark and grim the overall ambiance is. It is a tale for adults and the gritty realism is obvious in the narrative. If you think that this is just some action-packed madness, you are terribly wrong! There are some artistic scenes, and stuff like blood dripping and guns dropping in slow motion will have their impact on the viewer.
Visually, the film couldn’t have been any better, and the comic book lovers have mostly appreciated this adaptation. We cannot praise the glorious Wesley Snipes enough, who simply aces the role as the vampire hunter. His character keeps the story together, and the fight sequences are well executed.
The likes of Denzel Washington and Laurence Fishburne were also considered for the role by the executives of New Line Cinema, but the writer persisted on Wesley Snipes. Even Stan Lee had one of his trademark cameos, that was cut from the final version of the movie.
You will see gallons of realistic-looking blood, and some of the action scenes might get too gruesome for comfort. The effects are pretty decent, but we would have liked some more work on the final fight between Blade and Frost.
Frost, played by Stephen Dorff was the perfect villain, and his miraculous strength and regenerative powers made for some gripping duels. In short, this is one of those vampire flicks that redeem some of the prestige lost after the likes of Twilight! So do give it a shot and we can assure you that a genuinely good vampire drama awaits you.
One Man Still Has The Edge – Blade II (2002)
This is a fitting sequel to the awesome first movie, and this time the complications are way too many. It starts off with a mini prologue, where we have the first glance of Jared Nomak, a vampire carrying a deadly virus, the Reaper Strain.
He has a brief stint with the personnel at the blood bank, who happens to be a vampire and we realize that he would attack humans and vampires alike. There are also some startling discoveries made by Blade, who finds out that his mentor Whistler had been kept alive by the vampires all this while.
He rescues Whistler after killing a bunch of vampires in their hideout, and now, Whistler is free from both vampirism and cancer. This time around Blade has a new assistant as well; Scud, who is not particularly fond of Whistler.
Meanwhile, the High Council of Vampires has marked a group called the Bloodpack, and they are trained to fight Blade. They are also troubled by the Reaper Strain because the infected vampires are vicious and need to kill both humans and vampires regularly to survive.
The ones infected by the Reaper Strain turn out to be an even greater threat to the vampires than Blade ever was. Extreme times call for extreme measures, and Vampire Overlord Eli Damaskinos proposes a coalition to fight the infected ones. Blade agrees to lead the Bloodpack, much to the disgust of the members.
They start looking for Nomak and take out the other infected ones in the process. The ones infected by the Reaper Strain are also immune to silver and garlic and their regenerative powers are enhanced, making them a formidable enemy. There are casualties on both sides, but the fighting comes to a standstill when a sudden twist comes to the fore!
It turns out that the Reaper Strain was actually a plan hatched by Damaskinos to eliminate the weaknesses of vampires by recombining DNA. However, Nomak was still susceptible to sunlight, thus making him a failure.
He is the son of Damaskinos, who sent his daughter Nyssa as a part of the mission to eliminate the infected ones. She had no idea about his real intentions. Now, he wants to find out how Blade is immune to sunlight, and this would help him create a fatal brand of vampires. Whistler helps get this valuable information, and Blade takes the fight to Damaskinos.
During one of the fights, Blade saves Nyssa’s life and she now felt betrayed by her own father. Nomak finds his father and bites his neck to finish him off, and Nyssa decides to offer herself to Nomak and gets bitten by him.
Blade arrives and attacks Nomak, catching him unaware. He plunges his sword into Nomak’s heart, and it seems like Nomak is almost relieved of being offered a way out of his misery. As he dies, Nyssa requests Blade to put an end to her before she transforms into one of the infected ones. In this emotional moment, we witness the good in vampires as well, and Nyssa pleads with Blade to allow her to see the Sun for once.
Blade carries her out into the sunlight, and she burns away in his arms. The movie ends with Blade going back to his vampire-slaying ways, and you are assured that another addition to the franchise is in the cards!
Gleefully Breaking the Conventions of Vampire Flicks
We don’t say this often, but there is a teeny tiny chance that the sequel outweighs even its predecessor. This movie is a great combination of action and horror, and this is a combo that seldom goes wrong.
With Guillermo del Toro in charge of direction, you can be assured of some gory horror, and the martial arts choreography in the fight scenes is hard to miss. The plot might be somewhat predictable, but there are enough twists to keep you interested.
The movie takes off with a kickass sequence, where Blade takes down a pack of motorbike-riding vampires, and there is seldom a slow moment in the narrative. Wesley Snipes is phenomenal once again as the titular hero, and he makes this role his own!
His screen presence is enhanced by some remarkable fight sequences, and the final one-on-one scene is an absolute nail-biter. The other members of the cast also pull in their weight, and we loved the performances from Ron Perlman, Kris Kristofferson, and Leonor Varela. The effects used are spontaneous enough, and the team deserves a special mention for not overdoing things.
In many ways, the movie has dared to break the conventional methods of vampire drama narrative. You have some unique villains, some mean, some helplessly bad, and others who are anything but negative characters. Nomak, for instance, might have been a vicious killer, but when he is stabbed in the end, he decides to end his life and willingly inserts the sword further into his heart.
He was only a helpless victim in a cunning experiment conducted by his father Damaskinos. If you are someone who appreciates things out of the ordinary, this will be a pleasant surprise for you! It is a sequel that betters the original in many ways, and it is not a movie to miss out on.
Where it began so it shall end – Blade: Trinity (2004)
The movie opens with a great conspiracy being scripted around Blade. He is about to be framed for the murder of an innocent man, whom he is made to kill by deception. The first scene takes you to the cold Syrian deserts, and we see four vampires led by Danica Talos walking into a stone ziggurat. Their mission is to awaken Dracula, and they find him inside there!
Meanwhile, the video of Blade killing an innocent man has reached the FBI who are after him and Whistler. The FBI has been tipped off by Dracula himself, who calls himself Drake. Blade and Whistler are aware that the FBI has many vampire agents and familiars, and they don’t want to fall into their hands.
However, when they are cornered, Whistler blows up their residence, allowing Blade the chance to escape at the cost of his sacrifice. Blade is seemingly disoriented by the sudden turn of events and gets captured by the FBI. As they had expected, there are many informers and agents in the FBI who report to the vampires or are vampires themselves.
But Blade is too weakened by all the tranquilizers shot at him, and he can do little to free himself. This is when the big surprise of the movie is revealed – we see a new team of vampire hunters who call themselves the Nightstalkers. This group includes Whistler’s illegitimate daughter Abigail, ex-vampire Hannibal King, and a few others who don’t exactly command a lot of respect from Blade.
He views them as a bunch of rookies, but the group informs him about the awakening of Dracula. Clearly, they would need something bigger and stronger than silver bullets and garlic spray to deal with the meanest entity of the vampire world. Drake is not vulnerable to sunlight like the others, and he can shapeshift into various forms, including a demon-like monstrous form.
One of the members of the Nightstalkers, Sommerfield, has developed a biological weapon called the DayStar, which is a virus that targets vampires. However, in order for it to be perfect, they needed better DNA. Blade decides to target the familiars in order to get to Drake, but he keeps slipping away despite some close confrontations. Finally, they engage in a brutal swordfight, and Drake transforms into his monstrous self.
Just as he is about to rip Blade apart, he is shot by the DayStar serum, and by the time the effects of the serum are over, Drake has turned into a human. He compliments Blade on starting a new race of vampires and dies shortly afterward. FBI agents storm the building shortly, but they only find Blade’s body.
When they take it for autopsy, they are shocked to find that the body has transformed to Drake. It turns out that this was Drake’s parting gift to Blade and he made sure that Blade was still out there.
The virus could not kill Blade because the human side of his heart never stopped beating, and he merely slipped into a comatose state. After a few months, he is once again raring to go and cream vampires for fun – the legacy continues!
The One where the trilogy falls apart!
It is very hard to put together the same level of excellence if the lead actor is no longer happy with the production team. Wesley Snipes reportedly entered a phase during the filming of this movie, where he refused to reply to anyone who did not address him as Blade. Besides his own issues, while trying to get into the skin of the character, he even had problems with David S. Goyer, who took up direction this time around.
In fact, he sued the entire production team for his ill-treatment and it was not a pleasant experience for the star. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a very good experience for the viewers as well. The story was far too stretched out, and it lacked the coherence of the previous two. The movies that kept us glued to our seats had a certain charm, and even the mesmerizing villains are missing in this one.
Goyer initially planned to have a very different backdrop for this movie. He wanted to introduce Blade in a futuristic world that has been taken over by vampires. The blade would have been the only hope for humans, but this plan was thought to be too dark to resonate with the audience. Honestly, this was a much better idea than the one we saw on screen!
Okay, maybe we are being a bit too critical of this movie, but it is so hard to see your beloved franchise fall into mediocrity! There are some shining moments, however, and one of the positives about the movie would have to be the acting performances. The likes of Ryan Reynolds, Jessica Biel, and Dominic Purcell were nice additions to the cast, and Wesley Snipes holds his own despite all the issues that he dealt with during filming.
The movie is undoubtedly entertaining, with all kinds of bombastic action to fill the void of a good story. Guillermo del Toro left to make ‘Hellboy’ around this time, and Goyer is certainly not cut out for direction. It reflects on the plot and characters that could have been so much better! In short, this is a sequel that you might want to skip, but for the sake of the trilogy, you may just go ahead and watch it.
After a poor performance at the box office, the rights of the franchise were handed over to Marvel Studios, and they even had some discussions with Wesley Snipes about reprising his role. Eventually, they went ahead with Oscar-winning actor Mahershala Ali, who was a part of a fan-made artwork before.
Blade Reboot
The Blade fans are eagerly waiting for the Blade reboot starring Mahershala Ali as the protagonist. It is too early to say if he can take up the challenge, but he certainly has the credentials to prove a point. In a possibly accidental tweet, the official Marvel Twitter account might have revealed the possible release date for this movie.
It said that the reboot would hit the theatres sometime around October 2022, but it might as well be some kind of a publicity stunt to grab the attention of the fans. However, even if the release date is uncertain, there is no doubt regarding the upcoming movie because the filming process is underway.
Marvel does have its hands full with numerous other projects, so it waits to be seen how much they can focus on this movie. We expect nothing short of a showstopper because there are some fond memories to be cherished one more time!