Blade (1998)

Before the Marvel Cinematic Universe existed as a brand, before the phrase "superhero fatigue" had entered the popular vocabulary, and well before anyone seriously believed a comic-book film could be taken as prestige cinema, Blade arrived in the summer of 1998 and quietly changed the conversation. Based on the Marvel Comics character created by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan, who first appeared in The Tomb of Dracula in 1973, the film centres on Eric Brooks, better known as Blade: a man born to a mother who was bitten by a vampire during labour, leaving him with the strengths of the undead but none of their weaknesses to sunlight. That particular quirk earns him the nickname "the Daywalker," and the film plants him squarely in the middle of a hidden war between humanity and a vast underground vampire society with ambitions that stretch far beyond the shadows they already occupy.

The film was produced by New Line Cinema alongside Amen Ra Films and Imaginary Forces, and it arrived at an interesting moment for genre cinema. Horror and action were cross-pollinating more freely than ever in the late nineties (as you can see from some of the other horror films reviewed on this site, including You Won't Be Alone and The Serpent and the Rainbow, which each find their own ways of blending dread with something more visceral). The director Stephen Norrington had come up largely through visual effects work and had one previous feature, Death Machine (1994), to his name. It was not exactly the most conventional route to a major studio action picture, but the result is something with a genuinely distinctive visual identity: all blue-black interiors, blood-soaked nightclubs, and action choreography that owed as much to Hong Kong martial arts cinema as it did to American blockbuster tradition. The screenplay was written by David S. Goyer, who would go on to become closely associated with superhero adaptations across the following two decades.

In the lead role, Wesley Snipes brings a controlled physicality and a very particular brand of cool that is difficult to separate from the character even now, more than a quarter of a century on. Snipes had already demonstrated his range across drama, comedy, and action (fans of his earlier work might remember him from Demolition Man), but Blade gave him an iconographic role in a way few films had before. Opposite him, Stephen Dorff plays the vampire antagonist Deacon Frost with a kind of sneering, charismatic menace that suits the film's leather-and-neon aesthetic rather well. Kris Kristofferson brings a weathered, no-nonsense presence as Whistler, Blade's mentor and armourer, while N'Bushe Wright and Donal Logue round out a cast that sits comfortably in the register the film is aiming for: pulpy, kinetic, and self-aware without being knowing to the point of parody. For a sense of just how action-heavy genre film had evolved by the late nineties compared to earlier decades, the contrast with something like Little Caesar is quite striking.

It's still up there for the best Marvel films made. I watched Blade with my Father when it very first released (as a 9 year old) and I remember absolutely loving it. Kris Kristofferson is great as Whistler and of course Wesley Snipes performance as Blade is iconic, I just feel like this film is missing something that I remember it having. It's oozing in 90s cool and it's crazy to think this film is approaching it's 30th year since release, but I think it shows. The effects are a little dated and it's a little hammy with some of the actors.

I think that tension between memory and reality is at the heart of how a lot of us relate to Blade now. There is something genuinely enjoyable about returning to it, and those performances that work really do work, but a gap has opened up between the film we remember and the one on screen. The nineties sheen that once felt electric now reads as period detail, and some of the effects are showing their age in ways that are hard to ignore once you notice them. It's still a film worth your time, and its place in the broader history of what superhero cinema became is not in question. But perhaps the best version of Blade lives somewhere between the screen and whatever evening you first watched it.

Rating: ★★★½  | Year: 1998  | Watched: 2025-04-06

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Trailer

▶ Watch the official trailer for Blade (1998) on YouTube

Where to watch

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Related on Movies With Macca

More with Wesley Snipes: Demolition Man (1993)
More from the 1990s: Lessons of Darkness (1992) · Shinjuku Boys (1995) · Blue (1993) · Cemetery Man (1994)
More horror: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) · Viy (1967) · Nightmare City (1980) · Angst (1983)
More action: A Better Tomorrow (1986) · The General (1926) · Hand of Death (1976) · Daredevil (2003)