Stephen Norrington can make action-horror feel nasty and exciting, but Blade also exposes the limits of his storytelling. We recommend him for the fights, with Wesley Snipes doing much of the work between them.
Fi1m perspective
In the opening club sequence of Blade (1998), Stephen Norrington makes harsh angles and heavy shadows part of the violence. Cinematographer Theo van de Sande pushes both hard, and Kirk M. Petruccelli’s production design gives the club a theatrical feel that can take the exaggeration. We were thrilled by the sequence: those harsh images make the violence feel unusually nasty. It is confident action direction, and the later, shakier passages are frustrating partly because he has started so well.
Norrington came to directing through sculpture, makeup and special effects, experience that helps explain his confidence with such heavily worked images. He wrote his directorial debut, the science-fiction horror Death Machine (1994), before making his breakthrough with Blade. Yet Blade depends on an actor as much as on its director’s technical instincts. Wesley Snipes gives him a hero who holds our attention when the writing runs out of things to say. Norrington’s decision to build the horror around repeated physical confrontations works because Snipes remains worth watching through them.
The trouble is that neither man can make the vampire story less thin. At 121 minutes, Blade gives that story more room than it needs, while some of the effects fail to convince. Norrington sustains a physical confrontation better than he sustains interest between them, and the opening makes that unevenness especially noticeable. It is a good action film whose weaknesses remain visible even when we are enjoying it.
The Last Minute (2001), which he wrote, directed and produced, moved towards more personal independent drama. After The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003), he largely withdrew from mainstream studio directing and turned towards independent solo work. His preference for smaller crews and greater control makes sense for a director with that practical background. Start with Blade, provided a forceful lead and well-staged fights matter more to the evening than a fully worked-out vampire story.
Biography
Stephen Norrington (born 1964) is an English film director and former special effects artist. He began his career as a sculptor and makeup artist, contributing to films including Aliens (1986) and working under effects supervisors such as Dick Smith, Rick Baker and Stan Winston.
Norrington made his directorial debut with the sci-fi horror film Death Machine (1994), which he also wrote. He subsequently directed the comic-book adaptations Blade (1998) and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003), as well as The Last Minute (2001). He turned down the opportunity to direct Blade II and retired from studio directing after The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
