Blade

[madhair60]

really fucking good isn't it. Holds up nicely. just an all round cool as fuck movie, looks great. Snipes is perfect. there's real joy in there. so many great moments. love it.

Blade chat

[Blumf]

Might want to specify 1998 in the thread title, least we talk about the proposed 2025 remake.

But yes, Blade (1998) is good. I enjoyed the bit where he beat up the vampires and wore sunglasses.

[C_Larence]

Saw it for the first time recently and loved it. Cooled off a lot on the sequel and didn't bother with Trinity yet.

[KaraokeDragon]

"Some silly billies are always trying to ice-skate up hill"

Watched it like 300 times when I was 11 or whatever, thought it was the coolest thing ever. I loved Stephen Dorff as Deacon Frost, he delivered all the lines and mannerisms like an edgelord 8 year old that had been let out of his mother's charge for the day, but it was PERFECT. "I'll tell you what we are, sister, we're top of the fuckin' food chain!" La Magraʼs coming, a fuckin' hurricane, and soon, everyone you've ever known, everyone you've ever fucking loved [...]" "How you gonna cure the whole fuckin' world" etc

It has a sort of cool... idk, "urban gothic" thing to it too that the sequels lacked, like in some of the subtle bits of background music and in that bit were the haematologist lady's being driven back to the hideout through deserted streets in the muscle car just as the sun's coming up. And there isn't anything in the later films like the bit where Blade practically flies out from the hospital window to the rooftop, that bit felt sort of more like an old school Dracula type film where the editing was more about making him seem like this all powerful otherworldly being instead of some genetically mutated super ninja like in the later films.

Having said all that though, while I'd say the first is the best I think Blade 2 is the most fun to rewatch. So many cool little things like the thermal scope showing showing the warm blooded Blade walking next to the cold blooded pure vampires. Also it's fantastically camp:


And Blade Trinity is, well, Blade Trinity. I'll still take it.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Some motherfuckers are always trying to ice-skate uphill.

[Magnum Valentino]

Probably love the Crow and Blade equally but haven't posted over there because it's getting a kicking :-(

[Goldentony]

The Crow is amazing, post in the thread and if anyone has a go at you just tell them to GET FUCKED

[bgmnts]

Probably my second or third favourite Marvel film: it's tits.

BANGER as well:

[greenman]

It has a sort of cool... idk, "urban gothic" thing to it too that the sequels lacked, like in some of the subtle bits of background music and in that bit were the haematologist lady's being driven back to the hideout through deserted streets in the muscle car just as the sun's coming up. And there isn't anything in the later films like the bit where Blade practically flies out from the hospital window to the rooftop, that bit felt sort of more like an old school Dracula type film where the editing was more about making him seem like this all powerful otherworldly being instead of some genetically mutated super ninja like in the later films.

I'd say the main difference to the sequels is that the original has a healthy dose of pre millennium tension style to it you'd associate more with cyberpunk. Perhaps part of the reason its been somewhat forgotten is that the Matrix came out the following year with a very similar kind of style to it.

I think you could argue that whilst Dorf's villian is very teenage edgelord compared to Weavings Agent Smith the film as a whole does hold it better in coolness terms. Snipes really is perfect for the role able to dish out the oneliners but still carry some weight and you do have some nice little touches to late 90's urban orientalism, his Bonsai tree shine and the guy he gets his vamp cure from.

[Magnum Valentino]

Snipes is a deadly fighter as well. Real believable action cred. Film has a lovely dreamlike quality to it, probably (now if I think about it after 25 years) because of a few time lapse photography transitions and Mark Isham's floaty score music. Also the way Blade's ma is re-introduced out of focus then out of frame.

I also love the blonde vampire that says "am really gonna enjoy this now" a bit like Papa Lazarou, she's so fucking cool. Donal Logue doesn't grate in this one either. One of my all time favourite films.

Triple word score for Udo Kier.

[KaraokeDragon]

I think you could argue that whilst Dorf's villian is very teenage edgelord compared to Weavings Agent Smith the film as a whole does hold it better in coolness terms. Snipes really is perfect for the role able to dish out the oneliners but still carry some weight and you do have some nice little touches to late 90's urban orientalism, his Bonsai tree shine and the guy he gets his vamp cure from.

Oh I do definitely agree about Dorff and Snipes, I think the style of the performances work perfectly for the tone the film creates. I just find it kind of striking watching it nowadays and seeing that kind of melodrama (especially from Dorff's character) being allowed to shine in a setting that's just perfect for it, especially since as bgmnts just reminded me it was a Marvel film (!!)

I'd say the main difference to the sequels is that the original has a healthy dose of pre millennium tension style to it you'd associate more with cyberpunk. Perhaps part of the reason its been somewhat forgotten is that the Matrix came out the following year with a very similar kind of style to it.

And speaking of the Matrix, Blade supposedly pipped it to the post with the 'bullet time' stuff by about a year in 1998. (The bullet dodge in China Town)

[13 schoolyards]

The whole movie is excellent but there was a period of about five years where I would just watch the first ten minutes (the Bloodbath massacre) when I had a spare ten minutes. Never got old, has a perfect act break where you can leave clean, no notes, very hard to think of a better opening to an action film

[Magnum Valentino]

The whole movie is excellent but there was a period of about five years where I would just watch the first ten minutes (the Bloodbath massacre) when I had a spare ten minutes. Never got old, has a perfect act break where you can leave clean, no notes, very hard to think of a better opening to an action film

Ahhhh the little smile he does when he throws the boomerang thing in the circular shower room. PERFECT

[phantom_power]

Blade II is great but it wastes Donnie Yen

Blade: Trinity is pretty shit (it has a character that always listens to music in earphones when they fight, surely a bad idea) but it did birth the phrase "cock-juggling thunder cunt"

[bgmnts]

Blade II is also good but it has a really dodgy CGI fight scene that looks crap.

[AngryGazelle]

I think the first film has a slight edge on the sequel. They both have their strengths and weaknesses but I think the first one comes out on top when judged as a complete package.

The second film copies some beats from the first one and does a worse job of them too - the big brawl against henchmen is better in the first film for sure.

Fuck it, I'm watching them both on my day off.

[frajer]

I'm probably a Blade II man, if only because I like how messed-up the Reapers are and that the larger scale conflict is such a nice escalation from the first film.

Also love that Blade is forced to team up with his mortal enemies to do battle with a larger foe that threatens them all. Again, lovely textbook sequel stuff, but there's a reason that stuff works so well.

It also pulls off the quite impressive feat of completely undoing Whistler's tragic death from the first film, but also making you not give a shit because you're just so pleased the character's back.

[Huxleys Babkins]

Probably my second or third favourite Marvel film: it's tits.

BANGER as well:

The song that features in the film was actually this 1995 acid techno remix of New Order's Confusion.

In typical New Order fashion, they were caught napping by the demand for the track off the back of the release of Blade. Public Domain rather cheekily sampled it and rushed out Operation Blade to fill the void and cash in.

[dissolute ocelot]

Always love things where vampires discover the principles of industrialisation and surrender their Romantic Loner cool (see also Buffy). Maybe I just want to be exsanguinated on a conveyer belt.

[bgmnts]

The song that features in the film was actually this 1995 acid techno remix of New Order's Confusion.

In typical New Order fashion, they were caught napping by the demand for the track off the back of the release of Blade. Public Domain rather cheekily sampled it and rushed out Operation Blade to fill the void and cash in.

Hat fucked!

[Magnum Valentino]

The song that features in the film was actually this 1995 acid techno remix of New Order's Confusion.

In typical New Order fashion, they were caught napping by the demand for the track off the back of the release of Blade. Public Domain rather cheekily sampled it and rushed out Operation Blade to fill the void and cash in.

There was another one too, came out the same time, so there were two tracks in the Irish charts sampling the song that sampled the New Order track, but I can never remember the name.

I could swear the version used in the film also samples Blue Monday's choir, like in Underworld's Dark Train.

[surreal]

And speaking of the Matrix, Blade supposedly pipped it to the post with the 'bullet time' stuff by about a year in 1998. (The bullet dodge in China Town)

There's quite a lot about Blade and Dark City which jump out as being very similar to things in The Matrix when you rewatch with a critical eye - the jump out of a window and rooftop chase, the whole "hidden truth of society" angle, and more

[BeardFaceMan]

Not to mention the Matrix re-using sets from Dark City, I believe they even used the same VFX team.

[greenman]

Blade II is great but it wastes Donnie Yen

Blade: Trinity is pretty shit (it has a character that always listens to music in earphones when they fight, surely a bad idea) but it did birth the phrase "cock-juggling thunder cunt"

I believe Yen was a very late replacement for someone else, he was hired to do the fight choreography and stepped in when someone dropped out.

There's quite a lot about Blade and Dark City which jump out as being very similar to things in The Matrix when you rewatch with a critical eye - the jump out of a window and rooftop chase, the whole "hidden truth of society" angle, and more

Although honestly with the films coming out less than a year apart I don't think there would have been time for The Matrix to actually copy them, moreso I think it was drawing on the same kind of influences, stuff like Ghost in the Shell.

[shoulders]

Enjoyed these in my teens and early 20s, not sure I'd get much out of them nowadays, possibly give the original another watch as it captures such a distinctive moment in a period I remember vividly.

[Mr Trumpet]

Donnie Yen and Danny John-Jules in the same film, does my nut in. A great one for playing six degrees of separation.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

I saw the first one at the cinema a few years ago and it was still great fun. It's 90s as all hell - even the dodgy CGI had a pleasantly nostalgic quality to it. I think the second one gets more plaudits, because of Guillermo Del Toro, but there's not a lot between them for me.

[Magnum Valentino]

Absolutely love the shot of Blade coming out of the blood pool in 2 looking fucking FURIOUS.

[dissolute ocelot]

There's quite a lot about Blade and Dark City which jump out as being very similar to things in The Matrix when you rewatch with a critical eye - the jump out of a window and rooftop chase, the whole "hidden truth of society" angle, and more

David S. Goyer wrote or co-wrote the Blade films, Dark City, The Crow sequel City of Angels, the Dark Knight trilogy, and some of the Snyderverse DC films. So some resemblance there is unsurprising - a lot of rooftops in all of them.

The Matrix idea had been around for a few years. But along with anime sources and cyberpunk books, Strange Days and Johnny Mnemonic were both released in 1995 and probably also played an influence on both Dark City and The Matrix. And Cronenberg's Existenz also came out the same time as Dark City and The Matrix. (Although the Matrix's production designer's biggest film prior to then was Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, so you can try and trace influences there as well - and of course there's the whole narrative around trans themes in The Matrix which likewise relates to hidden things.)

[waste of chops]

There was another one too, came out the same time, so there were two tracks in the Irish charts sampling the song that sampled the New Order track, but I can never remember the name.

Might've been Phatt Bass?

There was a bootleg that added some Blade samples too