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Blade (1998 film)

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Blade
Movie poster for Blade
Directed byStephen Norrington
Written byScreenplay:
David S. Goyer
Comic Book:
Marv Wolfman
Gene Colan
StarringWesley Snipes
Stephen Dorff
Kris Kristofferson
N'Bushe Wright
Donal Logue
Sanaa Lathan
Arly Jover
Music byMark Isham
Distributed byNew Line Cinema
Release dates
August 21, 1998
Running time
120 min.
LanguageEnglish
Budget$45,000,000 (est.)
Box office$131,183,530

Blade is a 1998 film starring Wesley Snipes and Stephen Dorff, loosely based on the published stories of the Marvel Comics character Blade. It was directed by Stephen Norrington and written by David S. Goyer. Snipes plays the character of Blade, a half-man, half-vampire superhero vampire hunter who becomes the protector of humans against the vampires. Blade grossed $70 million at the U.S. box office, and $130 million worldwide. Two sequels were made (Blade II & Blade: Trinity).

Taglines:

  • The power of an immortal. The soul of a human. The heart of a hero.
  • Against an army of immortals, one warrior must draw first blood.
  • Part Man. Part Vampire. All Hero.

Plot

File:Ws blade.gif
Blade, the Daywalker.

The movie begins with a flashback of a pregnant woman being hospitalized after being bitten by, as one of the doctors said, some kind of wild animal. In the process of trying to revive her, she gives birth to her baby boy and dies. The next scene proceeds to the present and continues with a seductive woman (played by Traci Lords) bringing an unsuspecting man to a strange nightclub. As the scene progresses, the man realizes something is amiss in the club yet cannot quite discern why. However, his fears are soon confirmed when blood begins to pour down from the sprinkler system, revealing that most, if not all of the club's patrons are vampires. Unable to escape from the hideous creatures which have now surrounded him, the young man seems doomed until one of the vampires notices an individual who has just entered, whom he calls "the daywalker".

Blade (Wesley Snipes) coolly enters the main dance floor, wreaking havoc amongst the vampire crowd. He immediately begins a no-holds-barred slaughter of the vampires, using a combination of martial arts and firearms to pick them off. Eventually, after fighting his way through numerous guards, Blade singles out one vampire in particular named Quinn (played by Donal Logue), nailing him to the wall with stakes. Upon hearing police sirens, Blade turns to Quinn and tells him "Give my regards to Frost" and setting him alight leaving a burnt Quinn along with the confused human as the only surviving inhabitants of his attack. The police take Quinn's crisp remains and send them for identification.

File:Nw karen.gif
Dr. Karen Jenson plays a pivotal role in the film.

Doctor Karen Jenson (N'Bushe Wright) is the unlucky individual who performs the examination on Quinn's "corpse". During the examination, Quinn shockingly returns to life and feeds on both Jenson and her co-worker. However, Blade enters the morgue, having pre-supposed that Quinn would come back. He attacks the rejuvenated vampire, but is yet again forced to flee when the police arrive. As he makes to leave, Blade sees a bleeding Doctor Jensen lying on the floor, beckoning for him to help her. Due to the doctor's similarity to Blade's mother, he rescues Jensen and they head back to his base of operations. Quinn also escapes from the attack.

File:Blade serum.gif
To suppress his thirst for blood, Blade is injected with a special serum on a daily basis.

The scene changes to the meeting room of The House of Erebus, a vampire Shadow Council. The Elder Dragonetti (played by Udo Kier) discusses Blade's recent intensified attacks, and berates a young Deacon Frost (Stephen Dorff) for his recklessness in running these clubs. During this scene, there is a short explanation of vampire politics - most vampires believe that they should more or less co-exist with the humans (maintaining a secret, Mafia-like power cabal), whilst renegades such as Frost believe they should rule them outright. It is also established that there is some stigma from "pure-blood" vampires (i.e. those who are born vampires) towards those born human and later turned into vampires.

The storyline switches back to Blade's lair, where Jenson meets Abraham Whistler (Kris Kristofferson), Blade's mentor and weapons technician in their fight against vampire-kind. Whistler delivers a small speech outlining their current mission and the nature of vampires, along with the power they hold in the outside world. Jenson decides to head home, although Blade reminds her it is is a possibility that, due to Quinn's bite, she too may become a vampire. It is also established in this scene that Blade is a half-vampire, and requires a serum to prevent his need to drink blood.

File:Vanessa blade.gif
Blade learns the shocking truth of his now-vampire mother.

Upon arriving in her apartment, Jenson is assaulted by a policeman who is revealed to be a familiar - a human being who serves vampires (a collaborator, essentially, that after years of service might get rewarded by being turned into a vampire). Blade rescues Jenson, and later follows the familiar back to another club of Frost's, there discovering that Frost has plans involving a vampire blood-god named La Magra. The officer is killed by Frost at a party thrown by Deacon. Blade and Karen proceed to interrogate a morbidly obese vampire named Pearl. Blade and Karen attack Pearl with a UV-Lamp, searing the vampire's flesh, and making him spill the details of Frost's plans. Blade and Karen enter the vampire library but are ambushed by Quinn and Frost's henchmen, along with Mercury (Played by Arly Jover ), a love interest for Deacon. Although Blade and Jenson are assaulted by Frost's private army, they escape due to the timely arrival of Whistler.

Back at Blade's lair, Whistler tells Karen how Blade became a hybrid and how their partnership evolved. Jenson begins to work on a permanent cure for the vampire condition, using Whistler's research as her starting ground. During this time, Frost kills Elder Dragonetti by subjecting him to a sunrise, and forcibly gathers the other members of the Shadow Council as "volunteers". Shortly after this, Frost makes a second strike. Whilst Blade heads out to fetch the ingredients for his serum, Frost abducts Dr. Jenson from the lair and badly beats Whistler, leaving Quinn and the rest of his crew to finish him off. Upon Blade's return, he finds a taunting video left from Frost. In a poignant scene, Blade aids a bleeding Whistler in suicide (Blade hears a gunshot from outside, but doesn't see it happen). Stricken with grief, Blade vows to find and kill Frost.

Blade arms himself for a raid on Frost's base, taking along with him specially-designed pneumatic syringes loaded with EDTA (normally used as a blood thinner to clear blood clots in the heart, which has a highly volatile reaction to vampire blood). During his attack on the base, Blade fights his way through a horde of vampires, yet discovers a horrible truth once he reaches the top floor of the building. He learns that his mother (the pregnant woman from the flashback scene) did not in fact die, and is now Frost's vampire mistress, as it was Frost himself who had bitten his mother during her pregnancy. Overcome with shock, Blade is easily subdued by the guards, who knock him out and take him to the Temple of Eternal Night, where Frost reveals the final stages of his plan.

File:Sd lamagra.gif
Frost successfully becomes La Magra, the vampire Blood God.

Using his resources and vast wealth, Frost has managed to rebuild the temple and intends to use it for La Magra's resurrection, a key ingredient of which is Blade's sunlight-resistant vampiric blood, along with the sacrifice of the other twelve council members (Ashe, Cianteto, Dragonetti, Faustinas who held two seats, Ligaroo, Lemure, Kobejitsu, Lobishomen, Von Esper, Upier, and Pallintine.) Through the ritual, Frost becomes an eminently more powerful vampire, far surpassing any other vampire's strength or speed, and gains the powers and attributes of each sacrificed member, including immunity to silver, instant regeneration of lost limbs, superior strength and speed, red bulging eyes (from the Kobejitsu tribe), and the ability to walk during the day (from Blade's blood.)

With Dr. Jenson's intervention Blade breaks free from his sacrificial housing, killing his mother and nearly draining Dr. Jenson to renew his strength. After Blade disposes of Frost's minions, including the death of Quinn and Mercury, the two meet for one final climactic battle at the base of the temple. Upon discovering that Frost cannot be killed by any conventional means, Blade empties every single EDTA syringe he has on Frost (who is now constituted entirely of vampire blood), causing his body to swell and explode.

Climbing out from the underground temple, Karen offers Blade her cure. Blade refuses, because "curing" him of his need for blood would also remove his Daywalker powers and he would be unable to hunt vampires, and requests for her to make him a better serum, reminding her that "there's still a war going on". The final scene shows Blade in Moscow, hunting down and killing a Russian vampire who persuaded a human to follow him to a vampire club. This sets the stage for the second film.

Cast

Actor Role
Wesley Snipes Blade
Kris Kristofferson Abraham Whistler
Stephen Dorff Deacon Frost
N'Bushe Wright Dr. Karen Jenson
Donal Logue Quinn
Udo Kier Gitano Dragonetti
Traci Lords Racquel
Sanaa Lathan Vanessa Brooks
Arly Jover Mercury
Kevin Patrick Walls Officer Krieger
Tim Guinee Dr. Curtis Webb

Origins

The character Blade was created in 1973 for Marvel Comics by writer Marv Wolfman and artist Gene Colan and was a supporting character in the 1970s comic Tomb of Dracula. In the comic, Blade's mother was bitten by a vampire while she was in labor with Blade. Thus, Blade was born with a natural immunity to the effects of vampirism, though he was otherwise human.

Connections to the comic

This version of Blade is very much unlike his comic counterpart. The Blade in the comics was notorious for using wooden stakes and talking and acting like John Shaft since he was originally created in the 1970s. The comic character has since been modified to be similar to his film counterpart. The comic book version was only able to sense the undead as a result of Deacon Frost biting his mother during his birth. See Blade. Now after a bite from an artificial vampire named Morbius, Blade now is the same as the film version.

Lawsuit

Comic writing icon and Blade creator Marv Wolfman unsuccessfully tried to sue Marvel and New Line for $50 million dollars after the release of the film. In the film he receives no credits but a "based on characters created by" credit in the sequels.

Soundtrack

These songs[1] listed are heard within the film only. For the official retail soundtrack listing, see below.

  1. "Bad Moon Rising" by Creedence Clearwater Revival
  2. "UT1-Dot" by Polygon Window
  3. "Ah, Singapore" by Shonen Knife
  4. "Yeah" by DJ Krush
  5. "Eclipse" by Solitaire
  6. "Soeil" by Solitaire
  7. "Call & Response" by Source Direct
  8. "Ether" by Siren
  9. "Fearless" by Solitaire
  10. "Rattle The Fear" by Spirit Fire Child
  11. "Rainbow Voice" by David Hykes from Hearing Solar Winds
  12. "Ni Ten Ichi Ryu (Two Swords Technique)" by Photek
  13. "Go Get On It" by Southside Reverb
  14. "Confusion (Pump Panel Reconstruction Mix)" by New Order
  15. "Chin Chin" (Bang Wa Cherry)" the elusive song by the two japanese school girls in the club scene.

These are the songs that appear on the official retail soundtrack. The majority of them are rap songs that were not heard in the film:

  1. "The Edge of the Blade" by Mystikal
  2. "1/2 & 1/2" by Gang Starr
  3. "Blade" by KRS-One
  4. "Fightin' a War" by Down 2 Earth
  5. "Reservations" by P.A.
  6. "Gangsta Bounce" by Wolfpak
  7. "Things Ain't the Same" by Kasino
  8. "Deadly Zone" by Bounty Killer
  9. "Blade 4 Glory" by Mr. Majesty Feat. Bizzy Bone
  10. "Strictly Business (Mantronik MBA Radio Edit)" by Mantronik vs. EPMD
  11. "Wrek Tha Discotek" by Roger Sanchez
  12. "Confusion (Pump Panel Reconstruction Mix)" by New Order
  13. "Playing With Lightning" by Expansion Union
  14. "Dig This Vibe" by DJ Krush
  15. "Dealing With the Roster" by Junkie XL

[2]

Production notes and cameos

  • Stan Lee originally had a cameo that was ultimately cut from the film. He played one of the cops that come in to the blood club during the aftermath and discover Quinn's body on fire. Although Blade is a Marvel Comics character, he was created by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan. So far, Stan Lee only has had cameos in movies based on characters that he helped create.
  • 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 in the DVD version of the film.
  • The movie features Traci Lords, the former pornographic actress, as Racquel, a vampire who is shown covered in blood in one notable scene during the opening half of the film.
  • Bruce Lee's daughter Shannon Lee appears very briefly as a resident in the opening scene when Blade's mother is taken into hospital and about to give birth to him.

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.cine-score.com/detailquery_film.php?film_id=20&filmname=Blade
  2. ^ http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000009QJN

External links

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