Wesley Snipes gives Blade enough presence and physical conviction to carry its thin story. Stephen Norrington’s vampire action film is worth an evening, provided the exposition and erratic computer effects do not spoil the fun.
Stephen Norrington’s Blade works because Wesley Snipes makes its half-vampire hero convincing before the screenplay has made much sense of him. It is a good, forceful action film with horror appetites and a story that needs less explaining than it receives. Norrington wants vampire horror to have the speed and aggression of an action film, and the nightclub opening makes a persuasive case. Blood and stunt work do most of the talking. Keeping that up proves harder.
We were thrilled by the nightclub opening, because the stunts give the bloodshed a weight that the digital effects struggle to match. Snipes is the reason the spectacle holds together: we believe that this man can deal with what is coming at him. His stillness matters as much as his movement. The sequence lets us enjoy his control without pretending that the violence is gentle, and the excess has a purpose here.
Theo van de Sande’s cinematography suits the comic-book exaggeration, making the bloody imagery something to look at even when it is unpleasant. Kirk M. Petruccelli’s production design helps make the nightclub a convincing place for this particular kind of horror. There is little interest in an ordinary world beyond the fighting, but the setting gives Norrington enough to work with. Paul Rubell’s editing drives the opening along; in the busier action, that urgency sometimes makes the fighting harder to follow.
Mark Isham’s score adds pressure, although it does less for Blade’s emotional life. The film’s techno emphasis is well suited to action that wants to keep pushing forward, and Norrington understands the pleasure of letting sound and movement do the work. The trouble comes when the momentum depends on computer imagery. The less convincing effects reduce the force of the action, and we start noticing how the images were made instead of worrying about the danger.
David S. Goyer’s screenplay is much less assured about how to keep us interested between confrontations. There is too much exposition about vampires and too little attention to what being partly one costs Blade. Snipes finds vulnerability in the character, but the writing gives him fewer chances to use it than he deserves. The supporting characters are thin, though Stephen Dorff gives Deacon Frost enough energy to keep his scenes from feeling like another wait for a fight.
For a vampire film, Blade has little patience with creeping dread. Its interest lies in the immediate shock of blood and the excitement of a body moving convincingly through a fight, which is a legitimate choice. Some of the gore is simply wearying, especially when the film seems to expect quantity to do the work of invention. Yet the action has enough physical conviction to stop the whole thing becoming a parade of unpleasant images. For an evening of bloody action, we would happily put up with the lectures again.
