Snipes is similar to Samuel L Jackson in that regard. They are both memes, essentially playing themselves, and the reason why they shine is that a good director and storyteller knows when they work well in the context of the story being told and casts them appropriately.
Blade has one of the greatest opening scenes ever. Introduces a multitude of characters including Blade himself just through action, no longwinded explanation. All you need to know is that they might be vampires but whoever this guy Wesley Snipes is playing, they're terrified of him. That alone speaks volumes, no expository dialogue required.
I hate it when modern story telling makes you sit and read 5 mins of text to explain the world where the story revolves. Like, isn't it your job to merge the world and story into one, storyteller?
That scene where he cuts off Quins head, doesn't even fight him, just razor wires his head off and then catches his glasses and then the music starts... That was so fuckin brilliant. I'll take that '90s cringe' any day
The running gag in the movie that he kept letting Quinn live was funny, too. It's established through dialogue that he and Blade have met before, and Blade didn't kill him but instead hacked parts of him off because vampires heal quickly. He was letting Quinn know that he could easily kill him anytime he wanted. It's a testament to how badass Blade is as a hunter.
I used to think that black guys were cool when I was a kid because of movie stars like Snipes, Will Smith, Denzel Washington etc. Hell, Will Smith was the only reason I sat down to watch Independence Day whenever it aired on TV.
I like the idea that Blade is stoic and hard and cold...but he's still human. Shoot him in the chest and he's gonna get pissed, "I'm the effing good guy, why would you shoot me?!"
Yeah. I forget if it was the second or third movie, but Blade was trying to get information out of a cop who was collaborating with the vampires, and the cop doesn’t want to talk, saying “They’ll kill me if I tell you” and Blade responds with “Motherfucker, I’LL kill you!” My favorite line!
I think a new actor could have a chance, but not in the current Political climate. Not only would he likely play second fiddle to a female assistant/daughter figure. But I don't think they could get away with the level of blood, gore and violence the old movies did. Half of what made BLade cool was how brutal he was... It's kind of why the Spawn movie sucked imo. Compared to the comics or the animated series it was practically a kids movie. Any new Blade movie would probably be PG-13 and suck for that reason alone.
Snipes just LOOKS the part so hard. You could pass plenty of competent black actors off with some shades and it would probably be a very good performance, but Snipes just has these great comic book angles in his face, especially his cheekbones and jaw. His attitude and voice is also unmatched for such a role. "You obviously - do not know - who you are FUCKING WITH!" Epico
I think if they have the balls to go R rating, Mahershala Ali can do a solid job, he is a helluva good actor. He needs to bulk up a little but yeah, I think he can do it justice.
Not in the movies, no. I do think the version of Blade that came in the 90s Spider-Man cartoon was good, but that was only a few episodes. Not enough to see if that version would hold up in a feature-length film or spinoff show.
I actually loved that 'are you out of your damned mind?!' part. They just watched a burnt corpse somehow run past, then decide to shoot Blade instead. His reaction was perfect.
When he yells, "mother f****r, are you out of your damn mind" at those security guards, I love that little character moment. That's how Blade reacts when humans interfere with his vampire stuff. He's so caught off guard that these security guards would start spraying bullets at him hahaha I love it! I considered that an authentic Blade moment.
Blade said that, less for the sheer badassery of it but more for the fact that they're in a freakin' hospital where cops are slinging lead all over the place; he's more aware of what that means to the vulnerable patients than the cops apparently are. That's not to say that Blade isn't a baddass anyway, but everything he's doing is in favor of the human race as a whole, even if he's willing to ditch incompetent individuals when they're not useful to the overarching cause. It's sort of like "save the whales" but willing to take out the one orca that's hanging around a human port 'o call & eating a lot of people as a culinary preference. Blade does have some level of empathy for the human race as a whole but he's also on a mission to destroy vampires in revenge...humans can either stay out of his way or become collateral damage but sacrificing the human race as a whole is off the table.
Which is pretty funny considering how cookie cutter and cliched the movie is. Even now, I can pop it in the DVD player and enjoy the ride. Most new movies I never have any intention of watching again.
@@jesperburns not the specifics, but the general setup of the movie. It was formulaic and predictable. Regardless, I still enjoyed it, same as the sequel. Not so much with the third one though.
this is the ONLY film ive went to at midnight with the lads after a session cause we'd all seen it, thought it was awesome, and said "fk it theres a show on do ya fancy it ?" musta seen if 4 or 5 times in the end. its a hell of alot of fun.
Gather 'round kids, and let me tell you about a film from a by-gone era where a black man plays the lead character, race isn't mentioned once, and everything is just fine.
and it was never really about his race… they only ever really touched on it (barely) in Blade 2 with the leader of the Blood Pack being a racist vampire… but the fact that Blades mentor/father figure (major point in Blade 2) was a white hill billy, shows that not every black character is defined by his skin color. Blade was an awesome action movie and is best in class imho
The second most iconic for me is the end fight. When Blade catches his sunglasses back after taking the dude's top off with the belt wire, then Bass drops.
I've seen that movie several times, and there is a striking contrast there when Blade walks in. He is pristine in his black leather coat and tactical vest. Even his boots are spotless. Like he is not touched by the filth at all. I dunno if this is intentional, because we often see gear, costumes and makeup being just as pristine even in scenes where it would make a lot more sense if they were scruffy and dirty. Anyway, that really hits me every time.
I loved Snipes' performance in Blade. Yeah he switched up the dialogue at odd spots, but that was sorta the point: Blade was torn between the dark, brooding world of the vampies but at the same time he's a human....specifically a 90's black guy. His line to the security guards is priceless. He's trying to save them from a living, burning corpse monster and they just showed up guns blazing. He didn't take kindly to being shot. Makes sense if you really think about it.
I love Snipe's dialog man. Its amazing. ''Motherfcker are you out of your damn mind??'' hahaha, it just shows how badass he is. Thats typical cheesy action hero stuff. And the ''motherfckers trying to iceskate uphill'' is also great
I loved how Blade was a multifaceted character. Just when you think you have him figured out as some brooding sad boi he'd surprise you with a funny or outlandish moment.
It's weird: As a white kid seeing blade in the theater, the LAST thing I ever thought about was politics or race. Now... It's all we think about. It's sad.
I was in the theater behind two black dudes. We watched the techno opening fight and after it was done they both said "that n**---- is one bad ass mother**----". Damn, that was a fun movie.
It's more that it's all that we're told to think about, and too many have decided to play along and drink the Kool-aid. No worries though, eventually more and more will recognize the BS as time goes on and we can tell stories about how we were among those who didn't fall for it.
I grew up in a post racial society and Snipes was just an awesome actor, not a "Black" or "African-American" Sis-Gendered Entertainer. Such a shame to see where we are today.
Yeah, was about writing the same. I watched it and thought: wow, what a cool guy. In my 50+ years, I never excluded a character because of ethnicity or gender. Story and actor had to be good, nothing else matters.
One of the best things about the first Blade movie for me was the low amount of jump cuts during fight scenes. They were solid fight scenes. Not loaded with CGI, or 50 jump cuts for one kick. Snipes just whooped ass through extended sequences.
You hit the nail on the head, my friend! Im glad I’m not the only one who likes fight scenes where you can actually see what’s going on, and not cut 10 times in a second. Why don’t more movies have extended shots during fight scenes?
I remember when Blade was released. The movie wasn't heavily promoted as a major release, which was odd given the status of Wesley Snipes. It was treated almost like an indie and certainly not marketed as a comic book film. General audiences, including myslef, didn't know anything about Blade. So it seemed like just another independent, albiet good quality, horror film. Now we can look back on it, and see that Blade probably inspired The Matrix, Underworld, Del Toro's filmmaking style AND was likely the catalyst for bringing X-men to the big screen.
Ehh I would say the matrix was inspired by Dark City. Underworld yes blade paved that road for stylistic vampire movies. Guillermo del Toro directed the second Blade movie so probably true.
I've been watching almost exclusively 80's-90's movies for awhile, and surprisingly many that i remembered being mediocre or just okay are getting turbo boost to the solidly good category. Competent writers and directors are a helluva thing, when you think about a modern clown show that some call "entertainment industry".
@@mikavirtanen7029 would you mind checking out my review of Barb Wire? I'm trying to start a channel specifically because of what you're saying. I want to direct people back to cinema they may have missed or are too young to know what was available then. I love 80s-90s entertainment. Even the 'chick flicks' were better then. Sleepless in Seattle? Tom Hanks was a REAL dude.
@@HulkCrow I'll check it out. Yeah, Sleepless in Seattle is a good movie, and The Dirty Dozen conversation between Tom Hanks and Victor Garber is a classic scene. "Chick Flicks" back in the day were indeed much better, with characters that weren't instantly unlikable and stories that actually made sense. A League of Their Own, Married to the Mob and Working Girl are some examples from 80's-90's that dudes can easily enjoy.
@@mikavirtanen7029 thanks I appreciate it. 😁 Yeah Sabrina with Ford. Good films. Plus Goonies & E.T. kids movies weren't cringey either. I mean there's SOME good stuff now...but not a lot.
Love that song (and the rest of the soundtrack!!)! Bought the OST when the movie came out, ripped it, and it's been on every computer, tablet, phone, iPod, and smartwatch I've ever owned.
Today every black character is celebrated for being black... but back in the 90's Wesley Snipes gets casted for Blade and more and everyone was just like "of course".
@@godzillaisnuclea123 No... literally no one from the matrix was dressed cool. It was all a little to edge and cringe. If you saw someone dressed like Morpheus and Neo TODAY, you'd laugh at how embarrassing it looks. IF you saw someone dressed like Blade today, they'd STILL look bad ass... it's just the haircut that doesn't hold up.
Definitely! You've seen Eternals? 🤣🤣🤣🤣 Who is even going to watch that shit anyways? You can see Feige doesn't give a shit about these Phase 4 garbage after Endgame
@@audiblesharpness Thanks for the info, I managed to miss out on TD season 3 (even though people say it's better than season 2). Nice to hear he's still around.
It was always such an insane argument. Even ignoring Blade there was the Steel Movie, Catwoman, Metor Man and so on. If you include cartoons and not just live action movies you had things like Cyborg from the Teen Titans and so many more. It's always funny how bad these groups have to be to make these claims these days. Either they narrow the field down more and more to claim something like "First Gay Women of Color in a TV show aired on a Wensday". Or they just blatantly ignore how untrue their statement is and run with ignoring anything older than 5 years.
Same thing with women. "There are no bad ass women in movies, it's always the male power fantasy!" Uhh - Sigurny Weaver?! Linda Hamilton?! Must feel pretty bad for those women, to just be over-looked by these so called film experts, despite being some of the biggest hits of their time.
@@slimlacy2 The real joke is the series in where they complain about strong female leads... that already have them. Like Star Wars. Had tons of strong female Jedai, Leia before the last few movies was considered pretty bad ass as well for a princess. Yet they feel the need to pretend they don't exist so they can make something like Rei.
Are you kidding ? 90's cringe is *delightful.* And I love how all the actors in the first Blade were so over-the-top. It even has Udo Kier, the frickin legend. Used to be, you couldn't find a vampire movie that didn't have Udo Kier in it, playing a vampire. Other than that, you are very correct despite your inebriation, Drinker. That's a trick I still need to master so excuse me while I go drink something. For, huh, training purposes.
These days an action star will train for 3 months "full-time" in martial arts before they shoot. Snipes had been training his whole life. This gave Blade an authenticity that money can't buy.
That opening rave scene and his introduction were done so well that I remember it to this day. And Snipes as Blade was perfect casting, he was awesome and radiated "cool". For an 8 year old kid in Russia this movie had everything - an awesome hero, an evil villain, lots of violence and solid soundtrack. Not once did my mind go to "hmm, he`s black, so i totally can`t relate". Same goes for Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Jamie Foxx and many other talented actors. Those were simpler, better times I guess, nowdays everything needs to be topical.
That final fight action fight scene though(before his one on one with frost) is so damn good. He easily dispatches that one annoying vampire who has been a thorn since the beginning of the movie, catches his sunglasses all cool like, the rockin techno starts pumping, and he just tears through EVERYONE! So fucking good. I love this movie and everything about it.
@Mike MCbain agreed, i liked his character and he proved to be a consistent villain throughout the movie. Which is definitely a strength of the movie as a whole. Noone could stand up to Blade. but through the circumstances, such as being significantly outnumbered or Frost’s planning, thats where Blade’s struggle comes from. When it came down to it, Blade showed what he could do to him at anytime
I remember seeing Blade in theaters when it came out and it was absolutely mind blowing. My friends and I had never seen a superhero movie like it and the special effects were too tier at the time, particularly the vampires turning to ash during the fights. And literally nobody cared it was a “black superhero” - all we cared about was what a beast Blade was. Amazing movie and holds up great to this day.
It's worth noting that Snipes was putting together a movie of Black Panther before this, but when the rights fell through he kept the crew together and rolled it into making Blade since the rights were much easier to acquire. And like the Drinker I have minimal faith in Marvel rebooting Blade for the MCU. Beyond not having the balls to go all out, they run their stunt teams like any other big budget movies with the actors having to do very little and them just relying on the normal quick cuts. Blade by contrast was filmed like a Hong Kong movie with long takes to pull the audience in, but of course these require a lot of work from the actors and building a schedule around the fight scenes two things Marvel just won't do.
It helped that Wesley Snipes is into martial arts. He was able to pull off a lot of the fight scenes because of his training. Today's actors would struggle with the basic choreography of the fight scenes, Henry Cavill has admitted as much about the fight scenes in The Witcher.
@@deathtakes It's clear you dont watch any MCU movies. In the casino battle in Black Panther, theres a long take. In the opening battle for Guardians of the galaxy 2, theres an even LONGER take
Blade from the 90s was a lot of fun, but if Falcon can’t even walk down the street without cops, how is the remake going to get around with a katana? The remake has no chance of being decent.
For a slightly different persective, my frustration with that Falcon and racist cop scene wasn't even that it existed - it's that they weirdly didn't fully commit to it if they were going to be politically charged anyway on that scene, making it insincere in its attemps to talk about racism at all. Why? Because the matter quickly de-escalates when the racist cop realizes he's Falcon..apparently, implying that as long as celebrity status exists, cops will be fine with you. The general public they're aiming for that's worried about asset forfeiture etc. from corrupt cops would fail to relate to that. It also undermines the "powerful" moment Isaiah Bradley's speech has with Sam and Bucky. Now feel free to criticize Bradley's character as being hamfisted or too cynical (to me he's thematically appropriate for being a man broken too much by the government), but that's exactly the issue: the writers invited themselves into making Bradley an important figure to feel sad for, and they wanted his perspective of the US as unchanged to be right. Making Falcon slip away from the cops like that is awkward when you look at it that way (and I could talk about how the second scene with Isaiah and Sam had zero nuance on how different Sam and Isaiah lived but this comment was too long already).
Good thing is,Blade is British and travels around the world in search for enemies.As long as they keep him away from the US,the movie won't make us commit suicide through second hand embarrassment.
Well we can only hope 1) Blade is female, preferably a lesbian 2) ACAB is front and center 3) Whites are fully demonised where in the last scene female lesbian Blade who technically identifies as non-binary gives a 30 minute CRT speech to a Donald Trump-esque Vampire leader before sadistically dispatching of him. I mean that'll surely get asses in seats. If not, do what you did for captain Marvel and buy up the majority of tickets to your own film to inflate box office numbers while trying to hide the thousand or so people who went to theaters across the world that were practically empty on opening weekend.
You're expecting consistency from the MCU? And I thought that when I watched Captain America Winter Soldier, or Iron Man 3, where the fuck are the other Avengers? If the stakes are this big, why are they sitting this one out and let Cap or Tony handle it by himself? You can't really have a world wide threat that gets dealt with by only one hero when you've established a world that is LOADED with heroes. So Blade will walk around with a katana on the streets of the MCU, cause like with all the other movies, act of plot.
I loved the moment when blade broke character because he was so surprised the cop shot him. I thought it was a great little peak into the human side of blade.
@@TheAutistWhisperer me too. It added just the right amount of levity to that opening scene. Perfect action movie in my opinion. I really wish they didnt cut the scenes they cut too.
I also maintain that Blade has one of the greatest movie trailers of all time. "He makes the weapons ... I use them." "There's something worse than vampires out tonight ... me." "You're one of them aren't you?" "No ... I'm something else."
For me Blade is basically a classic vampire action flick at this point. Kinda one of those films where it's impossible to imagine anyone else as the lead character, like the role was meant for Wesley to perform.
He was as perfect for that role as Robert Downey Jr was for Iron Man. He got bogged down with that bullshit tax evasion case and it really took a chunk out of what should have been an even more brilliant career. One of the best action heroes we've had and I never once in life heard anyone say he got a job because they needed diversity.....
Exactly. Funny thing: in US Marshals movie, we have Wesley Snipes (Blade) and Robert Downey Jr (Ironman) in a game of cat and mouse trying to uncover a mystery, all while Tommy Lee Jones oversee all the case. 😂
Hollywood dropped a dime on Snipes.. They wanted him out as a result of his success.. It was Hollywood using its political clout to push Wesley out the film making biz. He probably wouldn't wash any cartel money like practically all of Hollywood does.. Hollywood was a cesspool long before it came out the closet for the entire world to see today..
@@parallax9281 More like he was branded '' difficult to work with'' his issues with the director on Blade trinity meant he was painted as an asshole..When he was right to have issues with the director because he had zero expirence directing action movies let alone big budget ones
@@TheSupinesmokey Yeah..If the Hollywood doesn't like you, that's exactly what they do..The Rian Johnson you. They saw Wesley discover the formula of success on blade II, and the sabotaged him.
@@psychalogy Agreed. I think Black Panther was honestly just more of the formulaic, cookie cutter bullshit that we expect from the MCU nowadays. Gone are the days of faithful & well adapted superhero movies.
@@war10zx98 Third movie being as bad as it was was probably Snipes doing. From what I've read, he was pretty full of himself at that point of his career. I also don't recall the third one being that bad though. Wasn't great. But I think the second one was just so much better that anything after it would probably have sucked.
I still remember seeing Blade for the first time decades ago. Back in those days people were judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin. It's amazing how far society has fallen in such a short time.
"I still remember seeing Blade for the first time decades ago. Back in those days people were judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin ..." Uh-huh the decade of OJ, race riots, etc. Yeah ... OK ... nice false history.
@@darkthorpocomicknight7891 OJ? The guy who got away with killing his wife? If society as a whole was racist, he clearly would be in prison. And there have always been racist people in the world. Hate to break that bubble of yours. There will always be racist people. Guess why? People believe differently and always will. It's also not limited to skin color. Every race has been enslaved at one point or another. You do know there are HUNDREDS of countries right now that still have slavery? You know why war exists? Same reason. People believe differently and are willing to die for it. It's not going anywhere no matter how good life gets. Feel free to respond with the "etc..etc..." as well. You listed two things that don't disprove anything I said followed by a zinger of "nice false history." Oooo you really showed me kid. No, false history is cherry picking events in history and pretending they invalidate the bigger picture. So yes, I was a kid during the apex of anything remotely resembling "acceptance" in America. Skin color and even gender, were all made fun of equally without malice. Now, every word and idea is racist, sexist, homophobic, blah blah blah blah blah. The people who actually fought for "equality" and not "equity" like Dr. Martin Luther King, are rolling in their graves. Everything people like him fought for is gone. The media, big tech, and government has succeeded in dividing people and keeping them perpetually angry. And with the advancement of technology, the minority of hateful people you never had to hear from, all have a voice online now. They sit on Twitter, sipping their Starbucks, and crying about how hard / terrible their life is. All the while people in other countries are actually experiencing true suffering. That's all I am going to say. Western civilization is regressing. It's not something to be proud of. Kids being taught CRT in grade school is not something to be proud of. Kids being given hormone blockers is not something to be proud of. Kids being told they are defined by pronouns and what's between their legs is not something to be proud of. So yes, when I was a kid only a few decades ago, life was better. Being a kid meant just being a kid. And while life wasn't purely unicorns and rainbows, no one was calling each other racist or sexist on a daily basis. But you are free to believe whatever you want. Take care.
The original Blade is my favourite Marvel Movie. A trench coat wearing Wesley Snipes, waving a sword around while delivering epically cheesy lines. Total badass!
One of the things I really appreciate about the Blade movie (mostly the first one, didn’t love the sequels myself) is that it really was the first of its kind, and not just as a comic book movie. Blade seems to be the origin of what we see these days as action/horror movies. I’m a student of the history and progression of cinema, always looking for the origins of what we have today. “Lord of the Rings” turned fantasy films from campy kids stuff to more a serious genre. “Scream” paved the way for self-aware movies like “Scary Movie” and the “Jump Street” movies. “Late Spring” showed American filmmakers that movies could be about average folk. “Blade” took “Fright Nigh” and “The Lost Boys” and blended it with “Die Hard,” and just after it’s release, we started seeing “Underworld,” “Van Helsing,” “Dracula Untold,” “Priest,” “Legion.” Not all of these were great, but “Blade” was the first to use that style.
Honestly "The 90's Cringe" works for me in this movie, and this is comming from someone who thought the Matrix movies where kind of gay. It just fits the character, subject matter, & setting in my mind. It's not like he had not be trench coat clad in the comics for quite some time, hell at this pointer it's basically obligitory for Monster Hunters to be clad in a leather trench coat...
The first Blade was so beautifully shot. Every scene is really well framed, with a really grim yet oddly attractive view of the world; cold and hard, but full of clutter and detail. For an action film about vampires, it's artistic as hell.
He made this franchise. Name one actor who could have pulled it off better. He was the template by which all Marvel super heroes were cast even if he had quite a tan.
Dude those Blade soundtracks are f*cking amazing. I love the electro 90's stuff. They don't make em like that anymore. Also, Snipes is a f*cking badass!
Always seems certain actors never get the career they should while others get huge ones and I'm like "Why?" Christian Slater is one of my favorites. Very hindered career.
Without Snipe’s Blade there would be no MCU. And despite it’s flaws it’s still amazing, way better than some of the overrated superhero flicks of today.
Dammit. I was going to comment this and then I saw you beat me to it. But it can be argued because without the success of this movie there might not be X-men and Spider-man that followed. Blade really was the testbed for the entire modern comic book movie. I don't know if this is documented somewhere but you can see they took an obscure character to try out if this could be successful.
IDK, like Thanos, the MCU was inevitable, Given the earlier financial successes of DC's Superman and Batman films , it was only a matter of time before Marvel got in on the cash with their genre of Super-Heroes
To this day, Blade Trinity still has the GREATEST exchange between the film's two main antagonists. Dracula: "Blade... ready to die?" Blade: "I was *BORN* 'ready,' Mother Fucker." You don't see THAT level of Bad-Assery anymore! (Mainly because ~someone, somewhere..?~ gets their feelings/panties/diaper in a twist.)
Snipes made Blade his own. I like the switch between his stoic qualities and when he gets smart. I still remember the line,"This ain't the March of Dimes" as he robs the familiar.
0:35 "Part 2 was probably the best of the bunch..." I don't know, maybe I'm nostalgic but I enjoyed first one more. Stephen Dorff as Deacon Frost was just amazing and Wesley Snipes was cool and badass in a way that only he and a handful of other people could make a line like "Some muthafuckers as always trying to ice skate uphill" and also when Blade gets a level up after drinking blood and fights through one badguy after the next with music in the background is fun in a genuine way. So despite it being dated or cheesy or whatever some may feel this is one of my favorites for pure fun.
Back then, no one seemed to care that Snipes was black. Most everyone could agree that his movies were generally good and he belonged in his rolls because of his ability not because of his skin. Blade was no exception. It wasn't pandered as a Black movie. It was simply marketed as fun and dark action film that everyone could enjoy...And we all did.
Right? Blade was never about Wesley's skin color, or diversity (black hero AND a female hero in part 3!)- it was simply good cinema, and that's all anyone noticed.
I'm just glad Blade is finally getting some praise. W/o his successful movies, there wouldn't be comic book movies, as we know them. His movie premiered before the X-Men or the MCU.
Snipes was so successful, the REAL Hollywood got jealous of him and hounded him out of the film making business.. If people only knew, how blatantly in our face liars. Hypocrites Hollywood really is..Smh..
Well wait, but no. All the other characters are getting race and gender swapped, right? So I expect an Eskimo female to be blade in the next iteration.
Guys, Blade's an older dude WHEN HE DEBUTS in the books. No reason a guy with a pretty serious dopeness factor like Snipes couldn't bring THAT iteration to film. But only with somebody like Del Toro directing.
"Some motherfuckers always trying to ice skate uphill" is probably one of the deepest and most misunderstood lines in all of modern entertainment. In an out-of-movie meta sense, it perfectly encapsulates the futility of most woke entertainment to create something that will have the staying power of something that's just made with the intent to be fun.
Any shortcomings in effects did not apply when you saw this for the 1st time in theaters in '98. Everything blew you the hell away! Also, the dressing in black & techno music wasn't overdone at all cuz this movie pioneered it. So when I re-watch this, the dated effects & 90's stuff barely registers on my radar. I just relive how I felt the first time I saw it. Also, this was the first movie I ever saw 2X in the theater. As soon as it was over I bought another ticket for the very next show
That scene when he comes out to the street & the newspapers are blowing. I was like this is the coolest MF i have ever seen. I then imagined what it was like for people seeing Shaft for the very 1st time during its initial theatrical run
Well... Except for the CGi blood effect during the climax. That looked awful, even by 1998 standards. Luckily enough, the rest of the movie was so freaking good, it was easy to overlook.
Drinker, you forgot to mention the 2 most important things about the franchise: 1. Stephen Dorff's hair in the first blade was the absolute coolest. 2. Nyssa in Blade 2. She was so smoking hot in that movie.
He's done pretty well for himself. He was good in season 3 of True Detective, which he costars in with Mahershala Ali, who has been cast as the new Blade.
@@sp0rkenste1n46 He hadn't really shown up on my radar before True Detective, but his performance really blew me away. Hopefully I get to see him do a few more good roles before its too late.
"Leather trench coats, sunglasses, katanas, and techno music"
Sounds fuckin' awesome if you ask me.
I still unironically love the song from the Bloodbath rave scene. '90s techno was the pinnacle of electronic music.
@@immikeurnot Holy fuck that scene is one of the biggest gut punches in cinema.
having come of age in the early 90's that used to be my look
I still unapologetically love the look🤷♂️
I actually have a leather trenchcoat and katana. I'm never letting go.
Arguably Snipes was also the best character in ‘Demolition Man’ and nobody thought anything about his ethnicity.
yep!
"Demolition Man" knew about the future politically corect dystopia
Snipes is similar to Samuel L Jackson in that regard. They are both memes, essentially playing themselves, and the reason why they shine is that a good director and storyteller knows when they work well in the context of the story being told and casts them appropriately.
He has beautiful skin you should care
... What about the damned three sea shells?
Blade has one of the greatest opening scenes ever. Introduces a multitude of characters including Blade himself just through action, no longwinded explanation. All you need to know is that they might be vampires but whoever this guy Wesley Snipes is playing, they're terrified of him. That alone speaks volumes, no expository dialogue required.
And it has a banging tune to go with it
I hate it when modern story telling makes you sit and read 5 mins of text to explain the world where the story revolves. Like, isn't it your job to merge the world and story into one, storyteller?
Yes the opening is bad ass. I remember first watching it at 17 and my jaw was on the floor. The Action scenes still hold up very well.
Yeah, that opening scene was burned into my memory the first time I saw it years ago. Good stuff
100% agreed. That techno opening really sets the setting as well as the environment itself.
That scene where he cuts off Quins head, doesn't even fight him, just razor wires his head off and then catches his glasses and then the music starts... That was so fuckin brilliant. I'll take that '90s cringe' any day
The running gag in the movie that he kept letting Quinn live was funny, too. It's established through dialogue that he and Blade have met before, and Blade didn't kill him but instead hacked parts of him off because vampires heal quickly. He was letting Quinn know that he could easily kill him anytime he wanted. It's a testament to how badass Blade is as a hunter.
@@sp0rkenste1n46 Yeah I remember that!
Thanks Jon. Totally forgot about that dopeness. Gotta find my first-generation DVD.
@@sp0rkenste1n46 just keeps torturing him over and over.
Fuck yeah, I love that movie, watched it many many times especially with a good old friend I just thought about after years...Wonder what he is doing.
Miss the 90s where race didn't count for shit and we just enjoyed movies and TV.
black guy in the lead role, and?
Idris Elba as John Luther. fucking brilliant.
I used to think that black guys were cool when I was a kid because of movie stars like Snipes, Will Smith, Denzel Washington etc.
Hell, Will Smith was the only reason I sat down to watch Independence Day whenever it aired on TV.
ye, shame about all of the racism in these united shitholes in america, though
This isn't true. Race always counted and many movies released in the 90s were about race and other "woke" topics drinker hate alike sex and gender
@@maodijong3661 No, no-racism did not exist in the 90's!
I was watching blade the other day and my wife watched it with me and she told me she thought it's better than most marvel movies today and I agree
The issue with most of the marvel movies is that they tend to have the same exact plot structure.
She sounds like a keeper!
Well, she's not lying. You definitely chose wisely my brother.
@@GuadalupePicasso Blade structure differs little from modern movies.
Pioneered the super hero landing shot that is now a joke in Deadpool.
I didn't mind Wesley Snipes performance, him being stoic and showing some human elements makes the character more endearing to me.
I like the idea that Blade is stoic and hard and cold...but he's still human. Shoot him in the chest and he's gonna get pissed, "I'm the effing good guy, why would you shoot me?!"
I agree
He's like "young John Wick".
Ya know? Like, "can snark, but still 100% *Uber lethal* " kind of protag.
Yeah. I forget if it was the second or third movie, but Blade was trying to get information out of a cop who was collaborating with the vampires, and the cop doesn’t want to talk, saying “They’ll kill me if I tell you” and Blade responds with “Motherfucker, I’LL kill you!” My favorite line!
One of my favorite Snipes performances.
No one can fill Wesley Snipes shoes. He will always be Blade, everyone else is just playing a version of him.
I think a new actor could have a chance, but not in the current Political climate. Not only would he likely play second fiddle to a female assistant/daughter figure. But I don't think they could get away with the level of blood, gore and violence the old movies did.
Half of what made BLade cool was how brutal he was... It's kind of why the Spawn movie sucked imo. Compared to the comics or the animated series it was practically a kids movie. Any new Blade movie would probably be PG-13 and suck for that reason alone.
Snipes just LOOKS the part so hard. You could pass plenty of competent black actors off with some shades and it would probably be a very good performance, but Snipes just has these great comic book angles in his face, especially his cheekbones and jaw. His attitude and voice is also unmatched for such a role.
"You obviously - do not know - who you are FUCKING WITH!"
Epico
I agree i feel the same way about some of his other roles like simon pheonix from demoltion man
I think if they have the balls to go R rating, Mahershala Ali can do a solid job, he is a helluva good actor. He needs to bulk up a little but yeah, I think he can do it justice.
Not in the movies, no. I do think the version of Blade that came in the 90s Spider-Man cartoon was good, but that was only a few episodes. Not enough to see if that version would hold up in a feature-length film or spinoff show.
I actually loved that 'are you out of your damned mind?!' part. They just watched a burnt corpse somehow run past, then decide to shoot Blade instead. His reaction was perfect.
Agreed. 80s-90s was king when it came to one-liners like those, that that particular one is near the top of the heap
That's the best line in the series.
Lol. I never thought about it, but the white corpse came back to life and bit a bitch and the cops still shot the black man. LMAO
Straight out of a Rudy-Ray Moore Dolomite Disco Godfather style 70's flick.
Hahaha *reversed ding sfx*
When he yells, "mother f****r, are you out of your damn mind" at those security guards, I love that little character moment. That's how Blade reacts when humans interfere with his vampire stuff. He's so caught off guard that these security guards would start spraying bullets at him hahaha I love it! I considered that an authentic Blade moment.
Same with “if I do, he’ll kill me”
Blade: “motherfucker, I’LL kill you!”
I burst out laughing at that line as well!
Blade said that, less for the sheer badassery of it but more for the fact that they're in a freakin' hospital where cops are slinging lead all over the place; he's more aware of what that means to the vulnerable patients than the cops apparently are.
That's not to say that Blade isn't a baddass anyway, but everything he's doing is in favor of the human race as a whole, even if he's willing to ditch incompetent individuals when they're not useful to the overarching cause. It's sort of like "save the whales" but willing to take out the one orca that's hanging around a human port 'o call & eating a lot of people as a culinary preference.
Blade does have some level of empathy for the human race as a whole but he's also on a mission to destroy vampires in revenge...humans can either stay out of his way or become collateral damage but sacrificing the human race as a whole is off the table.
I agree! That part always made me chuckle
Blade is enjoyable, something 99% of modern movies cannot say.
Which is pretty funny considering how cookie cutter and cliched the movie is. Even now, I can pop it in the DVD player and enjoy the ride. Most new movies I never have any intention of watching again.
@@evildoughboy7773 Cookie cutter? Yes. It is now. Thanks to Marvel and Underworld.
I can't think of even one costumed undead slayer movie before this.
@@jesperburns not the specifics, but the general setup of the movie. It was formulaic and predictable. Regardless, I still enjoyed it, same as the sequel. Not so much with the third one though.
this is the ONLY film ive went to at midnight with the lads after a session cause we'd all seen it, thought it was awesome, and said "fk it theres a show on do ya fancy it ?"
musta seen if 4 or 5 times in the end.
its a hell of alot of fun.
Absolutely agree. With all the crap going around for the last few years this is something directors and producers have forgotten!
Gather 'round kids, and let me tell you about a film from a by-gone era where a black man plays the lead character, race isn't mentioned once, and everything is just fine.
They did mention race in Blade 2 though. Remember the racist Vampire said something about Blade's black skin or something?
@ThisIsNotReel That was also my take.
...the good ol' days, indeed, friend...
Spawn?
And a country music singer can play a bad ass supporting role.
The first black Marvel character to have his own movie
Before spiderman ever did
Spawn? He was even before, but not Marvel I think.
and it was never really about his race… they only ever really touched on it (barely) in Blade 2 with the leader of the Blood Pack being a racist vampire… but the fact that Blades mentor/father figure (major point in Blade 2) was a white hill billy, shows that not every black character is defined by his skin color. Blade was an awesome action movie and is best in class imho
@@fpvx3922 Spawn isn't Marvel, though many Marvel artists left with Todd McFarline to create Image Comics.
And series which I know alot of people didn't like bit I thought it was realy fun
I just realized everyone in the MCU is doing the "Blade Landing"!
Yes, Deadpool mocks the superhero landing on purpose.
@@alura5376 "It's really hard on the knees!" LOL :)
I've always wished that a DC movie would show Batman doing that same teeth-baring snarl/grimace after landing.
I feel like that's been Spiderman's thing forever, though.
@@BWMagus?? He wears a full mask. You can't see his mouth
The scene from the Vampire Party when the Music kicks in and Blade is kicking ass is still absolut iconic.
"listen up all you motherf**kers!" **the beat drops** (that is the hook to that song in that moment). I remember it like it was yesterday
The second most iconic for me is the end fight. When Blade catches his sunglasses back after taking the dude's top off with the belt wire, then Bass drops.
Dealing with the roster - two face !!
That little pause when all the suckheads realize what they're up against set it off...
I've seen that movie several times, and there is a striking contrast there when Blade walks in. He is pristine in his black leather coat and tactical vest. Even his boots are spotless.
Like he is not touched by the filth at all. I dunno if this is intentional, because we often see gear, costumes and makeup being just as pristine even in scenes where it would make a lot more sense if they were scruffy and dirty. Anyway, that really hits me every time.
I loved Snipes' performance in Blade. Yeah he switched up the dialogue at odd spots, but that was sorta the point: Blade was torn between the dark, brooding world of the vampies but at the same time he's a human....specifically a 90's black guy. His line to the security guards is priceless. He's trying to save them from a living, burning corpse monster and they just showed up guns blazing. He didn't take kindly to being shot. Makes sense if you really think about it.
I love Snipe's dialog man. Its amazing. ''Motherfcker are you out of your damn mind??'' hahaha, it just shows how badass he is. Thats typical cheesy action hero stuff. And the ''motherfckers trying to iceskate uphill'' is also great
Cops in the new movie: oh, an armed black guy, he must be a hero because no black men is bad #BLM.
I loved how Blade was a multifaceted character. Just when you think you have him figured out as some brooding sad boi he'd surprise you with a funny or outlandish moment.
It's weird: As a white kid seeing blade in the theater, the LAST thing I ever thought about was politics or race.
Now... It's all we think about. It's sad.
I was in the theater behind two black dudes. We watched the techno opening fight and after it was done they both said "that n**---- is one bad ass mother**----". Damn, that was a fun movie.
I'm black and I never even thought of politics or race when I watched Blade. It was just a damn good movie. I miss those times.
It's more that it's all that we're told to think about, and too many have decided to play along and drink the Kool-aid. No worries though, eventually more and more will recognize the BS as time goes on and we can tell stories about how we were among those who didn't fall for it.
I grew up in a post racial society and Snipes was just an awesome actor, not a "Black" or "African-American" Sis-Gendered Entertainer. Such a shame to see where we are today.
Yeah, was about writing the same. I watched it and thought: wow, what a cool guy. In my 50+ years, I never excluded a character because of ethnicity or gender. Story and actor had to be good, nothing else matters.
Wesley was prefect in, and for this movie. His martial arts skills, swagger and brutal grace still holds as a benchmark.
Brutal grace is the best way to describe him
Agreed. For me Wesley Snipes is to blade what Hugh Jackman is to Wolverine. I can't see anyone else coming close.
One shot for each of you in this comment thread.
@@tarfap.kpamber9732 hope you mean a shot of sour mash whiskey.
@@thisisjames4474 That and whatever else well-spoken, regal men drink, yes.
One of the best things about the first Blade movie for me was the low amount of jump cuts during fight scenes. They were solid fight scenes. Not loaded with CGI, or 50 jump cuts for one kick. Snipes just whooped ass through extended sequences.
You hit the nail on the head, my friend! Im glad I’m not the only one who likes fight scenes where you can actually see what’s going on, and not cut 10 times in a second. Why don’t more movies have extended shots during fight scenes?
@@mitchellneu Unfortunately most actors are not nearly the martial artist Wesley Snipes is, dudes a black belt in several fields.
Yeah - the reason is Snipes could actually fight. Most action actors aren't trained martial artists.
I remember when Blade was released. The movie wasn't heavily promoted as a major release, which was odd given the status of Wesley Snipes. It was treated almost like an indie and certainly not marketed as a comic book film. General audiences, including myslef, didn't know anything about Blade. So it seemed like just another independent, albiet good quality, horror film. Now we can look back on it, and see that Blade probably inspired The Matrix, Underworld, Del Toro's filmmaking style AND was likely the catalyst for bringing X-men to the big screen.
Ehh I would say the matrix was inspired by Dark City.
Underworld yes blade paved that road for stylistic vampire movies.
Guillermo del Toro directed the second Blade movie so probably true.
At this point this is cinematic classic compared to what we have now.
I've been watching almost exclusively 80's-90's movies for awhile, and surprisingly many that i remembered being mediocre or just okay are getting turbo boost to the solidly good category. Competent writers and directors are a helluva thing, when you think about a modern clown show that some call "entertainment industry".
@@mikavirtanen7029 would you mind checking out my review of Barb Wire? I'm trying to start a channel specifically because of what you're saying. I want to direct people back to cinema they may have missed or are too young to know what was available then. I love 80s-90s entertainment. Even the 'chick flicks' were better then. Sleepless in Seattle? Tom Hanks was a REAL dude.
@@HulkCrow I'll check it out. Yeah, Sleepless in Seattle is a good movie, and The Dirty Dozen conversation between Tom Hanks and Victor Garber is a classic scene. "Chick Flicks" back in the day were indeed much better, with characters that weren't instantly unlikable and stories that actually made sense. A League of Their Own, Married to the Mob and Working Girl are some examples from 80's-90's that dudes can easily enjoy.
@@mikavirtanen7029 thanks I appreciate it. 😁
Yeah Sabrina with Ford. Good films.
Plus Goonies & E.T. kids movies weren't cringey either. I mean there's SOME good stuff now...but not a lot.
Cinematic perfection when compared to some of the garbage today :(
The Blood Rave is one of the most iconic scenes of movie history and still nobody seems to remember this movie
New Order - Confusion (Pump Panel remix)
Bangin tune!
@@RhysOlwyn Hell Yeah!
Love that song (and the rest of the soundtrack!!)! Bought the OST when the movie came out, ripped it, and it's been on every computer, tablet, phone, iPod, and smartwatch I've ever owned.
@@arklytte if I remember rightly, Ni Ten Ichi Ryu is on the final credits. Photek sure knows how to program drums! Killer record
@@RhysOlwyn Agreed, on all counts! :)
Dark coats and katanas - smell's like 90's spirit
Life was better back then..
It will be cool again soon !
That is what this world is missing now - the smell of real leather and metal.
Today every black character is celebrated for being black... but back in the 90's Wesley Snipes gets casted for Blade and more and everyone was just like "of course".
Same with Will Smith, the hottest action star in the world for a while.
Back when it was about the content of your movie and not the color of your movies skin
I mean.... blade was originally black ..so
@@robquinnpc There was never such a time. Lando was cast as black in ESB for PC reasons.
@@Protohomo1 So, according to modern wokeness, the reboot should have him cast as Asian or White.
Is it me, or does Blade rock the leather gear in a way that’s far cooler than anything that came after it?
Neo and morpheus tho
@@godzillaisnuclea123 No... literally no one from the matrix was dressed cool. It was all a little to edge and cringe.
If you saw someone dressed like Morpheus and Neo TODAY, you'd laugh at how embarrassing it looks.
IF you saw someone dressed like Blade today, they'd STILL look bad ass... it's just the haircut that doesn't hold up.
his unique style armor under the trench coat does a lot for the look I must say.
@@carljohan9265 I love, LOVE his armor. Damn!
The boys in sunny don't look half bad in a duster
Even Blade at it's worst is light years ahead of the phase 4 crap.
but but but Ms Marvels! Down with the patriarchy! hahaha
Definitely! You've seen Eternals? 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Who is even going to watch that shit anyways? You can see Feige doesn't give a shit about these Phase 4 garbage after Endgame
@@martinlopez2816 Eternals looks set to flop. Same with Shangi Chi.
@@martinlopez2816 The director of the Eternals looks like she brushes her teeth with sandpaper lol
At least they're giving us something to talk about. But no, I won't be watching any more of the phase 4 garbage
Stephen Dorff nailed the evil guy part. Underrated actor imo.
Thanks, I was thinking during the whole clip: What was that actors name again? He's rarely seen these days.
Yep. What the hell happened to him!?
@@3rdstone1 he was in True Detective season 3, pretty good performance too
@@planetdisco4821 Drugs, probably.
@@audiblesharpness Thanks for the info, I managed to miss out on TD season 3 (even though people say it's better than season 2). Nice to hear he's still around.
I could not stop laughing after you said " why oh why have we never had a black superhero until now"🤣
It was always such an insane argument. Even ignoring Blade there was the Steel Movie, Catwoman, Metor Man and so on. If you include cartoons and not just live action movies you had things like Cyborg from the Teen Titans and so many more.
It's always funny how bad these groups have to be to make these claims these days. Either they narrow the field down more and more to claim something like "First Gay Women of Color in a TV show aired on a Wensday". Or they just blatantly ignore how untrue their statement is and run with ignoring anything older than 5 years.
Same thing with women.
"There are no bad ass women in movies, it's always the male power fantasy!"
Uhh - Sigurny Weaver?!
Linda Hamilton?!
Must feel pretty bad for those women, to just be over-looked by these so called film experts, despite being some of the biggest hits of their time.
I laughed with the feminist vampire.
@@slimlacy2 The real joke is the series in where they complain about strong female leads... that already have them. Like Star Wars. Had tons of strong female Jedai, Leia before the last few movies was considered pretty bad ass as well for a princess.
Yet they feel the need to pretend they don't exist so they can make something like Rei.
@@JustaGuy_Gaming so true
Are you kidding ? 90's cringe is *delightful.* And I love how all the actors in the first Blade were so over-the-top. It even has Udo Kier, the frickin legend. Used to be, you couldn't find a vampire movie that didn't have Udo Kier in it, playing a vampire. Other than that, you are very correct despite your inebriation, Drinker. That's a trick I still need to master so excuse me while I go drink something. For, huh, training purposes.
These days an action star will train for 3 months "full-time" in martial arts before they shoot. Snipes had been training his whole life. This gave Blade an authenticity that money can't buy.
Excellent point!
That opening rave scene and his introduction were done so well that I remember it to this day. And Snipes as Blade was perfect casting, he was awesome and radiated "cool". For an 8 year old kid in Russia this movie had everything - an awesome hero, an evil villain, lots of violence and solid soundtrack. Not once did my mind go to "hmm, he`s black, so i totally can`t relate". Same goes for Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Jamie Foxx and many other talented actors. Those were simpler, better times I guess, nowdays everything needs to be topical.
Snipes Blade is badass as hell
That final fight action fight scene though(before his one on one with frost) is so damn good. He easily dispatches that one annoying vampire who has been a thorn since the beginning of the movie, catches his sunglasses all cool like, the rockin techno starts pumping, and he just tears through EVERYONE! So fucking good. I love this movie and everything about it.
@Mike MCbain agreed, i liked his character and he proved to be a consistent villain throughout the movie. Which is definitely a strength of the movie as a whole. Noone could stand up to Blade. but through the circumstances, such as being significantly outnumbered or Frost’s planning, thats where Blade’s struggle comes from. When it came down to it, Blade showed what he could do to him at anytime
I remember seeing Blade in theaters when it came out and it was absolutely mind blowing. My friends and I had never seen a superhero movie like it and the special effects were too tier at the time, particularly the vampires turning to ash during the fights.
And literally nobody cared it was a “black superhero” - all we cared about was what a beast Blade was. Amazing movie and holds up great to this day.
Cringe?! The leather and the techno part was and still is badass/
Dusters are cooler than trench coats. Whistler wears a duster.
I also love a man in tight leather…. 🤣
Goths everywhere unite.
Ok boomer.
Sorry, had to
It's worth noting that Snipes was putting together a movie of Black Panther before this, but when the rights fell through he kept the crew together and rolled it into making Blade since the rights were much easier to acquire.
And like the Drinker I have minimal faith in Marvel rebooting Blade for the MCU. Beyond not having the balls to go all out, they run their stunt teams like any other big budget movies with the actors having to do very little and them just relying on the normal quick cuts. Blade by contrast was filmed like a Hong Kong movie with long takes to pull the audience in, but of course these require a lot of work from the actors and building a schedule around the fight scenes two things Marvel just won't do.
Blade with Wesley Snipes was rated-R...and the Disney reboot will be rated PG or PG-13. The reboot will fail in so many ways.
It helped that Wesley Snipes is into martial arts. He was able to pull off a lot of the fight scenes because of his training.
Today's actors would struggle with the basic choreography of the fight scenes, Henry Cavill has admitted as much about the fight scenes in The Witcher.
Marvel would just CGI the shit out of everything, like they do in all their movies. It makes them super fucking boring.
@Kadiri Olanipekun long takes of what tho? Walking? Running? Staring into the distance?
@@deathtakes It's clear you dont watch any MCU movies. In the casino battle in Black Panther, theres a long take. In the opening battle for Guardians of the galaxy 2, theres an even LONGER take
Blade from the 90s was a lot of fun, but if Falcon can’t even walk down the street without cops, how is the remake going to get around with a katana? The remake has no chance of being decent.
For a slightly different persective, my frustration with that Falcon and racist cop scene wasn't even that it existed - it's that they weirdly didn't fully commit to it if they were going to be politically charged anyway on that scene, making it insincere in its attemps to talk about racism at all.
Why? Because the matter quickly de-escalates when the racist cop realizes he's Falcon..apparently, implying that as long as celebrity status exists, cops will be fine with you. The general public they're aiming for that's worried about asset forfeiture etc. from corrupt cops would fail to relate to that.
It also undermines the "powerful" moment Isaiah Bradley's speech has with Sam and Bucky. Now feel free to criticize Bradley's character as being hamfisted or too cynical (to me he's thematically appropriate for being a man broken too much by the government), but that's exactly the issue: the writers invited themselves into making Bradley an important figure to feel sad for, and they wanted his perspective of the US as unchanged to be right. Making Falcon slip away from the cops like that is awkward when you look at it that way (and I could talk about how the second scene with Isaiah and Sam had zero nuance on how different Sam and Isaiah lived but this comment was too long already).
Good thing is,Blade is British and travels around the world in search for enemies.As long as they keep him away from the US,the movie won't make us commit suicide through second hand embarrassment.
Well we can only hope 1) Blade is female, preferably a lesbian 2) ACAB is front and center 3) Whites are fully demonised where in the last scene female lesbian Blade who technically identifies as non-binary gives a 30 minute CRT speech to a Donald Trump-esque Vampire leader before sadistically dispatching of him. I mean that'll surely get asses in seats. If not, do what you did for captain Marvel and buy up the majority of tickets to your own film to inflate box office numbers while trying to hide the thousand or so people who went to theaters across the world that were practically empty on opening weekend.
You're expecting consistency from the MCU? And I thought that when I watched Captain America Winter Soldier, or Iron Man 3, where the fuck are the other Avengers? If the stakes are this big, why are they sitting this one out and let Cap or Tony handle it by himself? You can't really have a world wide threat that gets dealt with by only one hero when you've established a world that is LOADED with heroes. So Blade will walk around with a katana on the streets of the MCU, cause like with all the other movies, act of plot.
That moment in the show was so ridiculous that I thought it was a parody on race crime in America
I loved the moment when blade broke character because he was so surprised the cop shot him. I thought it was a great little peak into the human side of blade.
I also enjoyed his fist pump.
@@TheAutistWhisperer me too. It added just the right amount of levity to that opening scene. Perfect action movie in my opinion. I really wish they didnt cut the scenes they cut too.
I also maintain that Blade has one of the greatest movie trailers of all time.
"He makes the weapons ... I use them."
"There's something worse than vampires out tonight ... me."
"You're one of them aren't you?" "No ... I'm something else."
For me Blade is basically a classic vampire action flick at this point. Kinda one of those films where it's impossible to imagine anyone else as the lead character, like the role was meant for Wesley to perform.
He was as perfect for that role as Robert Downey Jr was for Iron Man. He got bogged down with that bullshit tax evasion case and it really took a chunk out of what should have been an even more brilliant career. One of the best action heroes we've had and I never once in life heard anyone say he got a job because they needed diversity.....
Exactly. Funny thing: in US Marshals movie, we have Wesley Snipes (Blade) and Robert Downey Jr (Ironman) in a game of cat and mouse trying to uncover a mystery, all while Tommy Lee Jones oversee all the case. 😂
Hollywood dropped a dime on Snipes.. They wanted him out as a result of his success.. It was Hollywood using its political clout to push Wesley out the film making biz.
He probably wouldn't wash any cartel money like practically all of Hollywood does.. Hollywood was a cesspool long before it came out the closet for the entire world to see today..
Likewise Louis Gossett, Jr.
@@parallax9281 More like he was branded '' difficult to work with'' his issues with the director on Blade trinity meant he was painted as an asshole..When he was right to have issues with the director because he had zero expirence directing action movies let alone big budget ones
@@TheSupinesmokey Yeah..If the Hollywood doesn't like you, that's exactly what they do..The Rian Johnson you. They saw Wesley discover the formula of success on blade II, and the sabotaged him.
Give me Blade 1 and 2 over Black Panther any day.
Why third installment of any series mostly disappointed ones? I wonder
I’d take Blade III over the steaming pile of excrement that was Black Panther any day of the week.
I'll watch a movie titled Black Panties but not Black Panther. XD
@@psychalogy Agreed. I think Black Panther was honestly just more of the formulaic, cookie cutter bullshit that we expect from the MCU nowadays.
Gone are the days of faithful & well adapted superhero movies.
@@war10zx98 Third movie being as bad as it was was probably Snipes doing. From what I've read, he was pretty full of himself at that point of his career.
I also don't recall the third one being that bad though. Wasn't great. But I think the second one was just so much better that anything after it would probably have sucked.
I still remember seeing Blade for the first time decades ago. Back in those days people were judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin. It's amazing how far society has fallen in such a short time.
"I still remember seeing Blade for the first time decades ago. Back in those days people were judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin ..." Uh-huh the decade of OJ, race riots, etc. Yeah ... OK ... nice false history.
@@darkthorpocomicknight7891 OJ killed his wife, nobody cares
@@darkthorpocomicknight7891 OJ? The guy who got away with killing his wife? If society as a whole was racist, he clearly would be in prison. And there have always been racist people in the world. Hate to break that bubble of yours. There will always be racist people. Guess why? People believe differently and always will. It's also not limited to skin color. Every race has been enslaved at one point or another. You do know there are HUNDREDS of countries right now that still have slavery? You know why war exists? Same reason. People believe differently and are willing to die for it. It's not going anywhere no matter how good life gets.
Feel free to respond with the "etc..etc..." as well. You listed two things that don't disprove anything I said followed by a zinger of "nice false history." Oooo you really showed me kid. No, false history is cherry picking events in history and pretending they invalidate the bigger picture. So yes, I was a kid during the apex of anything remotely resembling "acceptance" in America. Skin color and even gender, were all made fun of equally without malice. Now, every word and idea is racist, sexist, homophobic, blah blah blah blah blah. The people who actually fought for "equality" and not "equity" like Dr. Martin Luther King, are rolling in their graves. Everything people like him fought for is gone.
The media, big tech, and government has succeeded in dividing people and keeping them perpetually angry. And with the advancement of technology, the minority of hateful people you never had to hear from, all have a voice online now. They sit on Twitter, sipping their Starbucks, and crying about how hard / terrible their life is. All the while people in other countries are actually experiencing true suffering. That's all I am going to say. Western civilization is regressing. It's not something to be proud of. Kids being taught CRT in grade school is not something to be proud of. Kids being given hormone blockers is not something to be proud of. Kids being told they are defined by pronouns and what's between their legs is not something to be proud of. So yes, when I was a kid only a few decades ago, life was better. Being a kid meant just being a kid. And while life wasn't purely unicorns and rainbows, no one was calling each other racist or sexist on a daily basis. But you are free to believe whatever you want. Take care.
@@tadpolegaming4510 You have evidence of this? Or just a suspicion?
I actually like how he can go from stoic to “what…the…fuck” in a split second
it kinda makes it seem like he's putting up a front and the facade fell away for a brief moment. Pros & cons to it.
@@InfernosReaper yea that’s true. I can see why people don’t like jt
Easily one of the most influential comic adaptations ever made. Personally, I say bring back the swords and techno music.
- There are worse things out tonight than vampires.
- Like what?
- Like ME!
-Tell me you have massive balls and also being cool AF without tellingme you have massive balls and being cool AF...
Blade- That Line
I think Wesley Snipes’ approach to the character as well. Being serious when needed but not afraid to give the character a sense of fun as well
The original Blade is my favourite Marvel Movie. A trench coat wearing Wesley Snipes, waving a sword around while delivering epically cheesy lines. Total badass!
I love pretty much all MCU shit but Blade is still the best superhero film imo, Super being a close second.
One of the things I really appreciate about the Blade movie (mostly the first one, didn’t love the sequels myself) is that it really was the first of its kind, and not just as a comic book movie. Blade seems to be the origin of what we see these days as action/horror movies. I’m a student of the history and progression of cinema, always looking for the origins of what we have today.
“Lord of the Rings” turned fantasy films from campy kids stuff to more a serious genre.
“Scream” paved the way for self-aware movies like “Scary Movie” and the “Jump Street” movies.
“Late Spring” showed American filmmakers that movies could be about average folk.
“Blade” took “Fright Nigh” and “The Lost Boys” and blended it with “Die Hard,” and just after it’s release, we started seeing “Underworld,” “Van Helsing,” “Dracula Untold,” “Priest,” “Legion.” Not all of these were great, but “Blade” was the first to use that style.
First R-rated superhero film with a black lead, and it was cool.
Deadpool and Black Panther can sod off.
Except Deadpool is actually good.
@@aidencooke6709 And we have Deadpool in part due to Blade 3.
The soundtrack can still get me hyped af, not gonna lie.
Hahaha yo its the best 90s techno
The techno blood rave scene was the perfect chef's kiss. Seeing that as a young kid compelled me to seek that song by any means necessary.
YES!! I love the Blade soundtrack too!! Had the album once but lost it, that was in 2007, when I was 9. Geez, how time passes
Operation Blade is an absolute classic.
“AAAHHGOTSTRUCKBYLIGHTING!!!”
I like the fact Wesley Snipes made a cameo in "What we do in the Shadows" series basically as himself but also part of the Vampire leadership.
Damn Day Walkers. That whole scene was magic.
Yep
Get closer your router, Holmes.
"...look at him in the sunlight, showing off..." 🤣🤣
"Wesley catch up! We're past that!"
The last time I was this early, The Drinker still had a functioning liver.
Ha! Liar, he never had a functioning liver
The first Blade was the best.
The soundtrack alone deserves its own review.
Honestly "The 90's Cringe" works for me in this movie, and this is comming from someone who thought the Matrix movies where kind of gay. It just fits the character, subject matter, & setting in my mind. It's not like he had not be trench coat clad in the comics for quite some time, hell at this pointer it's basically obligitory for Monster Hunters to be clad in a leather trench coat...
"...Matrix movies were kind of gay"
Couldn't have said it any better.
Matrix was good... the sequels... SUCKED!
Blade 2 was my favorite action movie for a long time.
Blade 2 is in my top 10 movies ever.
"Do you blush?"
Classic.
I still don’t get that line
@@TechHustle101 It’s a racist dig, basically. He’s black so it’s hard to see whether he blushes or not.
* "Can you blush?"
@@ArtistFormerlyKnownAsShitlord damn I guess I did know what he meant lol
Reinhardt was the quintessential dick... Lol.
Wesley Snipes is so good as the Blade character, he is Blade.
So true. He was perfect. Look, his skills, physique and attitude. Their doing a Blade remake… starring Brie Larsen.
;) JK
The first Blade was so beautifully shot. Every scene is really well framed, with a really grim yet oddly attractive view of the world; cold and hard, but full of clutter and detail. For an action film about vampires, it's artistic as hell.
The dark and brutal scenery of Blade will forever hold dear place in heart. This movie was indeed ahead of it's time!
Wesley Snipes will always be my first black Marvel superhero.
He made this franchise. Name one actor who could have pulled it off better. He was the template by which all Marvel super heroes were cast even if he had quite a tan.
This one NEVER gets old.
I've been shouting this at everyone for years. Thanks Drinker, cheers to ya.
Blade is a great classic vampire flick
blade was way better than what we have now
Dude those Blade soundtracks are f*cking amazing. I love the electro 90's stuff. They don't make em like that anymore. Also, Snipes is a f*cking badass!
Been playing Beat Saber with the Pump Panel Confusion version from the movie. Kicks my ass every time, but so fucking rad.
I always thought Blade was not a comic book movie, just a really bad ass vampire movie. The more you know...
Which tells you something about how successful the movie was.
I've been always wondering why didn't Stephen Dorff career grow after this movie. I liked him in this movie very much
Always seems certain actors never get the career they should while others get huge ones and I'm like "Why?"
Christian Slater is one of my favorites. Very hindered career.
...one of the best villains in comic films...because he's bad and you can kinda agree with him...Dorff was too good for the business...
Ironically, he didn't care much for the role despite it being his most well known.
loved his acting.
He's in true detective season 3 with future blade maharshela ali
Love the movie.Dorff was great in it as well.Still keep my VHS on the shelve.
The opening scene to Blade is one of the best in cinema history - vampire blood orgy, pounding techno AND kick ass fight scene. *chef kiss*
Without Snipe’s Blade there would be no MCU.
And despite it’s flaws it’s still amazing, way better than some of the overrated superhero flicks of today.
Dammit. I was going to comment this and then I saw you beat me to it. But it can be argued because without the success of this movie there might not be X-men and Spider-man that followed. Blade really was the testbed for the entire modern comic book movie. I don't know if this is documented somewhere but you can see they took an obscure character to try out if this could be successful.
@@trevorfilis537 Back when hollywood took risks
IDK, like Thanos, the MCU was inevitable, Given the earlier financial successes of DC's Superman and Batman films , it was only a matter of time before Marvel got in on the cash with their genre of Super-Heroes
That entrance is EPIC, that little smirk he gives as he walks into the middle of all the vampires, hard to beat.
Loved this film growing up. It was one of the first films I ever watched. Its so fun and enjoyable. Wesley Snipes absolutely kicked ass in it.
Had the Trilogy onDVD. Must have watched it 100 times. Happy days.
The "bloodbath" scene at the start of this was absolutely awesome!
Blade knew future vamps were going to "sparkle", so he invested in sunglasses early.
I appreciate someone sharing my sentiments about Jessica Biel.
Iirc she was a trained gymnast, hence why she's so exceptionally hot.
Snipes was great, but let's be real: Blade Trinity was Ryan Reynold's audition for Deadpool.
Idiot. That was Deadpool trying out his alter-ego a.k.a. Ryan Reynolds
To this day, Blade Trinity still has the GREATEST exchange between the film's two main antagonists.
Dracula: "Blade... ready to die?"
Blade: "I was *BORN* 'ready,' Mother Fucker."
You don't see THAT level of Bad-Assery anymore! (Mainly because ~someone, somewhere..?~ gets their feelings/panties/diaper in a twist.)
Hang in there kitten, I’ll get help.
no it wasn't like what?
Ryan Reynolds played Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine that was if anything his audition tape for the Deadpool movies
Snipes made Blade his own. I like the switch between his stoic qualities and when he gets smart. I still remember the line,"This ain't the March of Dimes" as he robs the familiar.
0:35 "Part 2 was probably the best of the bunch..."
I don't know, maybe I'm nostalgic but I enjoyed first one more. Stephen Dorff as Deacon Frost was just amazing and Wesley Snipes was cool and badass in a way that only he and a handful of other people could make a line like "Some muthafuckers as always trying to ice skate uphill" and also when Blade gets a level up after drinking blood and fights through one badguy after the next with music in the background is fun in a genuine way. So despite it being dated or cheesy or whatever some may feel this is one of my favorites for pure fun.
Deacon Frost annoyed the crap out of me the first time seeing it but later, he seemed very well done.
Back then, no one seemed to care that Snipes was black. Most everyone could agree that his movies were generally good and he belonged in his rolls because of his ability not because of his skin. Blade was no exception. It wasn't pandered as a Black movie. It was simply marketed as fun and dark action film that everyone could enjoy...And we all did.
Right? Blade was never about Wesley's skin color, or diversity (black hero AND a female hero in part 3!)- it was simply good cinema, and that's all anyone noticed.
I'm just glad Blade is finally getting some praise. W/o his successful movies, there wouldn't be comic book movies, as we know them. His movie premiered before the X-Men or the MCU.
Snipes was so successful, the REAL Hollywood got jealous of him and hounded him out of the film making business..
If people only knew, how blatantly in our face liars. Hypocrites Hollywood really is..Smh..
The difference is charisma which Wesley snipes has, by a LOT!
THE 90S WILL NEVER DIE!
The dream of the 90s is alive in Portland
The first Blade movie is still by far the best in the series.
Best directed, best acted and best written.
Goddamn, Snipes was an absolute UNIT of a specimen back in the day!
This movie still feels fresh like the first Matrix movie even today.
Either reboot the new marvel blade with Wesley Snipes, or not at all. 'Nuff said
They would do that, and then kill him at the end so his daughter can take over
Well wait, but no. All the other characters are getting race and gender swapped, right? So I expect an Eskimo female to be blade in the next iteration.
he way too old now. for a reboot at least
respect and I would love that - but he's too old mate
Guys, Blade's an older dude WHEN HE DEBUTS in the books. No reason a guy with a pretty serious dopeness factor like Snipes couldn't bring THAT iteration to film.
But only with somebody like Del Toro directing.
When action movies were focused on fun, creativity and cool characters that would be remembered forever.
I loved Blade... Snipes was and always be BLADE....
"Look! they even have an intersectional feminist with them!"
ROFL
Although we didn't see the color of his/her hair, there's a good chance it was dyed purple.
Fucking lost my shit at that part lol
Good ol "Pearl" 🤣🤣
Interesting choice of words "ROFL", because "roll" is about all Pearl could do.
"Some motherfuckers always trying to ice skate uphill" is probably one of the deepest and most misunderstood lines in all of modern entertainment.
In an out-of-movie meta sense, it perfectly encapsulates the futility of most woke entertainment to create something that will have the staying power of something that's just made with the intent to be fun.
I use that line all the time!
I use it (censored) for my playstation bio, I bloody love Whistlers line in 2 when Blade asks him how he feels, "like hammered shit", awesome!.
This is just true. This hits on so many levels.
I don't think it was in reference woke media lol. Sometimes lines of dialogue aren't as deep as you think they are.
@@ASHtheSLUGCAT I like this comment, even though that line in Blade is among the greatest lines ever.
Any shortcomings in effects did not apply when you saw this for the 1st time in theaters in '98. Everything blew you the hell away! Also, the dressing in black & techno music wasn't overdone at all cuz this movie pioneered it. So when I re-watch this, the dated effects & 90's stuff barely registers on my radar. I just relive how I felt the first time I saw it. Also, this was the first movie I ever saw 2X in the theater. As soon as it was over I bought another ticket for the very next show
That scene when he comes out to the street & the newspapers are blowing. I was like this is the coolest MF i have ever seen. I then imagined what it was like for people seeing Shaft for the very 1st time during its initial theatrical run
Well... Except for the CGi blood effect during the climax. That looked awful, even by 1998 standards.
Luckily enough, the rest of the movie was so freaking good, it was easy to overlook.
True story. Blade was the first DVD I ever bought. Before I even had a DVD player. AND I still have and watch it to this day.
I laugh so hard when I heard the behind the scenes of Blade. Snipes was high almost all the time and even attacked people on set ahaha
He was just method acting
Waited the whole video for ice skating lessons...and finally got it. Not Disappointed
Drinker, you forgot to mention the 2 most important things about the franchise:
1. Stephen Dorff's hair in the first blade was the absolute coolest.
2. Nyssa in Blade 2. She was so smoking hot in that movie.
These are both absolutely correct.
I had the hots for Parker Posey in the third one. That girl can vamp 🙂
@@garytwinem5275 Fact.
I really liked Stephan Dorff as an antagonist, and just his acting in general. It's kind of a shame his career never really took off.
He's done pretty well for himself. He was good in season 3 of True Detective, which he costars in with Mahershala Ali, who has been cast as the new Blade.
@@sp0rkenste1n46 Yeah, I always enjoy seeing him when he pops up.
@@sp0rkenste1n46 He hadn't really shown up on my radar before True Detective, but his performance really blew me away. Hopefully I get to see him do a few more good roles before its too late.
@@sp0rkenste1n46 Yeah, Dorff nailed it in True Detective 3. Ali was also excellent, by the way.
Yeah ... the reason for why I was in love with Wesley Snipes when I was a child.
This movie was way ahead of its time.