Blade (1998)

There's a moment near the start of Blade where a nightclub full of unsuspecting punters suddenly finds the ceiling raining blood, and the crowd of beautiful people transforms into a snarling horde of vampires. I was nine years old when I first saw that scene, sitting next to my Dad in the cinema, and I was absolutely hooked from that point on. Nearly thirty years later, that sequence still has a charge to it. The rest of the film, though? That's where my feelings get a little more complicated.

Let me be clear: Blade is still one of the best things Marvel has ever had its name attached to. That's not the faint praise it might sound like. This film came out at a time when superhero movies were not the guaranteed blockbuster machine they became, and it did something genuinely bold. It was dark, it was violent, it had a Black superhero front and centre played with total, unwavering conviction by Wesley Snipes, and it didn't apologise for any of it. Snipes as Blade is iconic, full stop. The physicality, the cool, the sheer presence of the man. He wears that long coat and those shades like he was born in them. There's no ironic winking at the audience, no self-deprecating quips. He just IS Blade, completely and without question.

Kris Kristofferson is brilliant as Whistler too. He brings a grizzled warmth to what could easily have been a throwaway mentor role. Every scene he's in, he grounds the film, and his dynamic with Snipes gives Blade an emotional anchor it genuinely needs.

And yet. Sitting down to rewatch it, I couldn't fully shake the feeling that something I remembered being there has gone slightly missing. I think what's happened is the gap between the film I built up in my memory over twenty-odd years and the film that actually exists has grown a little wide. The 90s cool is absolutely still there, oozing out of every frame, and I mean that as a compliment. The soundtrack, the aesthetic, the attitude. It's a specific kind of sleek, mean, R-rated genre filmmaking that that decade did well, and it made me think of how Demolition Man scratches a similar itch for me in terms of that era's particular flavour of action excess.

But the effects have dated more than I'd like to admit. Some of the CGI looks rough by any standard, not just modern ones, and certain members of the supporting cast are hamming it up to a degree that would have felt at home in a much campier film. It pulls you out of the world the film is otherwise working hard to build. When Blade himself is playing everything deadly straight and someone else is chewing the scenery like it's made of toffee, the tonal wobble is hard to ignore.

None of that makes Blade a bad film. Far from it. It's an entertaining, frequently thrilling, genuinely important piece of genre history that arrived before anyone really knew superhero films could look like this. It paved a road that a lot of later films walked down without ever quite saying thank you. Watching it now, approaching its thirtieth year, it feels like exactly what it is: a film of its time, made with real craft and real commitment, that still delivers even as the seams become more visible.

Would I have given it five stars at nine years old? Absolutely, without a second's hesitation. Now, with more miles on the clock, I can see where it creaks. But I can also still see why that opening scene made me sit bolt upright in my seat next to my Dad and think: right, this is something different. That feeling counts for a lot.

Three and a half stars.

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

View on Letterboxd →

Where to watch

Watch in the UK
Stream: HBO Max Amazon Channel · HBO Max
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi

Watch in the US
Rent: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US

Affiliate disclosure: Movies With Macca may earn a small commission on purchases or subscriptions started via these links. It costs you nothing extra.

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)