Blade (film)

Blade
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Stephen Norrington
Produced by	Peter Frankfurt Wesley Snipes Robert Engelman Andrew J. Horne Avi Arad
Written by	David S. Goyer
Based on	Blade by Marv Wolfman Gene Colan
Starring	Wesley Snipes Stephen Dorff Kris Kristofferson N'Bushe Wright Donal Logue
Music by	Mark Isham
Cinematography	Theo Van De Sande
Editing by	Paul Rubell
Studio	New Line Cinema Marvel Enterprises Amen Ra Films Imaginary Forces
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date(s)	August 21, 1998
Running time	120 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$45,000,000
Box office	$131,183,530

Blade is a 1998 American vampire superhero action film starring Wesley Snipes and Stephen Dorff, loosely based on the Marvel Comics character Blade. Snipes plays Blade, a human-vampire hybrid who protects humans from vampires.

The film was directed by Stephen Norrington and written by David S. Goyer. Despite mixed reviews, Blade grossed $70 million at the U.S. box office, and $131.2 million worldwide. It was followed by two sequels, Blade II and Blade: Trinity.

Plot

A pregnant woman is treated in the hospital after being bitten by a vampire, but the doctors mistake the wound for an animal bite. They try to revive her, but she dies after they deliver her baby boy. The boy inherits the superhuman strength, regenerative healing factor, blood lust, and enhanced senses of vampires, but does not suffer their weaknesses, such as garlic or sunlight. He grows up to be Blade, the vampire hunter.

Several years later, Blade locates a vampire rave club and kills most of the attendees, including the vampire Quinn, who he pins to a wall and burns. When police and fire crews arrive, Blade escapes and the police take Quinn's body to the morgue. As Dr. Karen Jenson carries out an autopsy with a co-worker, Quinn returns to life and attacks. Blade rescues Jenson from Quinn and flees to his base with Jenson while Quinn escapes. There, Blade and his mentor/weapons technician Abraham Whistler attempt to prevent Jenson from turning into a vampire.

At a meeting of the vampire Shadow Council, the vampire elder, Dragonetti, discusses Blade's recent intensified attacks, and berates Deacon Frost for his recklessness in running the raves. The established vampire leadership believes that vampires should try to co-exist with humans rather than risk a full scale war. However, the renegade faction represented by Frost believes that vampires should rule the humans outright and harvest them like cattle.

When Jenson decides to go home, Blade warns her that, due to Quinn's bite, she may still become a vampire. At her apartment, she is attacked by a "familiar" - a human who serves vampires in the hopes of someday becoming one - and is rescued by Blade. After the attack they follow the familiar to a vampire library. Blade and Jenson come across an obese vampire named Pearl, who reveals Frost's research into vampire mythology and his plan to turn himself into an invulnerable vampire blood-god named La Magra. As Blade and Jenson explore, they are ambushed by Quinn and his gang. They manage to escape, thanks to the timely intervention of Whistler. Jenson offers to use her medical knowledge to cure Blade's need for blood.

Frost overthrows the vampire hierarchy, killing Dragonetti and taking the other members of the Shadow Council prisoner. When Blade leaves his hideout to obtain materials for Jenson's improved serum, Frost attacks. He abducts Jenson and has Whistler beaten and bitten, leaving him to turn into a vampire. When Blade returns, he gives Whistler a gun so he can kill himself.

Blade fights his way into Frost's lair but is captured. He is taken to the Temple of Eternal Night, where Frost intends to use Blade's blood and the sacrifice of the twelve pure-blood vampire leaders to resurrect La Magra and become the god's incarnation. Frost then intends to use the powers of La Magra to conquer the human race.

Frost throws Jenson into a pit, but she manages to escape. As the ritual begins, the trapped Blade is drained of blood, and the spirits of the Shadow Council are torn from their bodies to fuse with Frost, transforming him into La Magra. Jenson frees Blade and allows him to feed on her blood to renew his strength. Blade and Frost fight at the base of the temple, and Frost is killed. Jenson offers to continue working on a cure for Blade. He refuses, telling her that it would rob him of his Daywalker powers and render him unable to hunt vampires, so instead he asks her to make a better serum.

Cast

• Wesley Snipes as Eric Brooks / Blade: The main protagonist of the film. A half-vampire "daywalker" who hunts vampires.
• N'Bushe Wright as Dr. Karen Jenson: A hematologist who is bitten by a vampire. She stays with Blade to remain safe while she finds a cure for herself.
• Stephen Dorff as Deacon Frost: An upstart vampire. He emerges as Blade's primary enemy who wants to conquer the human race and is the main antagonist of the film.
• Kris Kristofferson as Abraham Whistler: Blade's mentor and weaponsmith.
• Donal Logue as Quinn: A cocky minion of Frost's.
• Udo Kier as Gitano Dragonetti: A vampire elder.
• Sanaa Lathan as Vanessa Brooks: Blade's mother, who has become a vampire.
• Arly Jover as Mercury: Frost's lover.
• Kevin Patrick Walls as Officer Krieger: A "familiar", or human servant, of Frost's.
• Tim Guinee as Dr. Curtis Webb: Karen's ex-boyfriend who later becomes a decomposing vampire.
• Traci Lords as Racquel: A seductive vampire who leads a man to the blood rave.

Production notes and cameos

• Filming was in large part done in Los Angeles, with some scenes being shot in Death Valley.
• Flat Earth Productions created the effects for the film.
• Stan Lee originally had a cameo that was ultimately cut from the film. Although Blade is a Marvel Comics character, he was created by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan.
• David Goyer explains in the DVD commentary that when Karen Jenson wakes up at Blade's hideout after her initial attack and rescue by Blade, the script had her discover a jar with a vampire baby in it. The baby would be alive and used by Blade and Whistler as a guinea pig for testing out weapons to fight the vampires. The studio found this concept to be far too disturbing and refused to allow it.
• The original ending included an eight-story monstrous version of La Magra. This was scrapped and re-done to the current known ending after many fans were disappointed when Stephen Dorff (Frost) was taken off-camera during the film's first screening. The original ending can be found in the special features section of the DVD.
• An alternate ending can be found on the LaMagra section of the DVD where Karen Jenson points out a shadowy figure wrapped in rags on a distant rooftop. The character is supposed to be the Marvel Comic vampire Morbius.
• Matt Schulze, Chupa from Blade II, has a bit part in the archive room, playing the vampire Crease, used to exhibit the effectiveness of the booby trapped hilt.

Connections to the comic

The character Blade was created in 1973 for Marvel Comics by writer Marv Wolfman and artist Gene Colan as a supporting character in the 1970s comic The Tomb of Dracula. The comic Blade used teakwood knives and was much more the everyman in his behavior and attitude. Though courageous and brave, he displayed flaws as well, such as an inability to get along with certain other supporting cast members and a hatred of vampires that bordered on fanaticism.

The character was not originally a "daywalker" but a human being immune to being turned into a vampire. Lacking the superhuman speed and strength of his undead quarry, he relied solely on his wits and skill until he was bitten by the character Morbius. The film version of Blade was updated for a 1990s audience and the comics character was subsequently modified to match. The film's version of Deacon Frost also differs greatly from his comic counterpart. Although the movie retains Frost's upstart ambitions, he was a great deal younger and more updated for the 1990s.

A Blade Anime series was also done by Madhouse Company in 2011. The series consists of 12 episodes.

Release

Commercial

Blade went to number one in both Spain and Australia for their opening weekends. With 200 theatres showing the film, Spain's cinema goers earned the film $1.5 million (US) in three days, whilst Australia earned $1 million from 132 cinemas showing the film. In the Flemish Region of Belgium, the film earned $323,000 from 20 cinemas, and the Netherlands earned the film $246,000 from 44 cinemas. France made $1.9 million in five days from 241 cinemas, but the film was less successful in Hong Kong (with $182,000 from 22 cinemas) and South Africa ($159,000 from 64 cinemas). The United Kingdom was more successful, taking in $5.7 million over 10 days, as was Brazil, making $855,000 in four days from 133 cinemas. The film was banned from showing in Malaysia, widely considered to have the most controlling censors in Southeast Asia.

Critical reaction

Reaction to Blade among critics was mixed, with the film earning a 55% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Roger Ebert gave the film 3 stars out of 4, writing: "Blade ... is a movie that relishes high visual style. It uses the extreme camera angles, the bizarre costumes and sets, the exaggerated shadows, the confident cutting between long shots and extreme closeups. It slams ahead in pure visceral imagery." Conversely, James Berardinelli gave the film 2½ stars out of 4, writing: "Blade has the capacity to dazzle, but it also will leave many viewers dissatisfied."

Impact

Blade was one of the first successful comic book based films to be released after the disastrous performance of Batman & Robin and Steel. Its success convinced Marvel to develop the X-Men film series as well as the Spider-Man film series.

Lawsuit

Marv Wolfman, the original creator of the Blade character, unsuccessfully sued Marvel and New Line for $50 million after the release of the film. He, along with artist Gene Colan, receives a "based on characters created by" credit in this film, but does not receive credit in the sequels or TV series.^{[citation needed]}

The third and final movie of the trilogy gives credit to Marv Wolfman, at the beginning of the ending credits.^{[citation needed]}

Soundtrack

Main article: Blade (soundtrack)

A soundtrack containing hip hop music was released on August 25, 1998 by TVT Records. It peaked at #36 on the Billboard 200 and #28 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.

External links

• Blade at The Internet Movie Database
• Blade at Rotten Tomatoes
• Blade at Metacritic
• Blade at AllRovi
• Blade at Marvel.com
• Blade turns Ten. Interviews with the cast members from the movie