Cutting Edge Vampires
Blade Brings Vampires to the '90s

Vampire movies (like their subject matter) are constantly resurrected by Hollywood every few years. As America has changed, so has our view of the vampire and vampire lore. Gone are the days of Bela Lugosi with a caped tuxedo and Slavic accent. In the past decade, movies like The Lost Boys and television's "Forever Knight" have given us vampire heroes as well, battling their vampiric nature in an effort to regain their humanity.

Wesley Snipes stars as the comic book hero Blade, a half-vampire who hunts vampires in an effort to avenge his dead mother. While pregnant, Blade's mother was bitten by a vampire. She died, but her son lived -- his genetic makeup inexplicably altered by their shared blood. Thirty years later, he is now something between human and vampire. The vampires call him "day-walker," and some believe he may be the one prophesied about in ancient vampire texts.

Blade combines the blood, sex, and power of vampire lore into a modern setting. The vampires lives are a cross between corporate America and Melrose Place, dealing in the shadows to control what they cannot take. One vampire, a young radical named Deacon Frost (Stephen Dorff), has ambitions to step from those shadows. Ultimately, his bid for power puts him against the older vampires and leads him to confront Blade as well.

The story does touch on some interesting themes, such as vampire safe-houses and tattoo markers identifying various "houses" or bloodlines. Karen (played by N'Bushe Wright), a doctor rescued by Blade, also makes an interesting comparison between vampirism and a sexually transmitted disease. Yet, these themes are never explored at any length.

In the end, the movie is a set of beautifully choreographed fight scenes with some lulls in between. It suffers from the same fate as most vampire movies in that it fails to tell a really compelling story. Several of the secondary storylines fail to inspire any interest. Kris Kristofferson as Abraham Whistler is predictably doomed, not only because he is the closest thing Blade has to family, but because he is crippled. (Crippled people are always doomed in horror movies.)

Playing like a music video, Blade is very hip, with computer generated effects, a lot of martial arts, and plenty of techno music. Even the cinematography helps set the tone for the movie, bringing vampires out of the shadows and mists of Transylvania and into the neon-lit sewer of the big city. Despite the straight storyline, there is a good deal of humor in the movie as well -- reminding the audience not to take the movie too seriously.

Nevertheless, this is more than just another martial arts spectacular like Mortal Kombat. With it's violence, gore, and sexual undertones, Blade is obviously a horror movie -- first and foremost. There is a lot of adult language as well. Parents are advised to keep the kids away from this one.

MY RATING: 8 out of 10.

RATED: R
RUN TIME: 125 min.