Blade (film)

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Blade
Movie poster for Blade
Directed by	Stephen Norrington
Written by	Comic Book: Marv Wolfman Gene Colan Screenplay: David S. Goyer
Starring	Wesley Snipes Stephen Dorff Kris Kristofferson N'Bushe Wright Donal Logue Sanaa Lathan Arly Jover
Music by	Mark Isham
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date(s)	August 21, 1998
Running time	120 min.
Language	English
Budget	$45,000,000 (estimated)
Followed by	Blade II
IMDb profile

Blade is a 1998 film starring Wesley Snipes and Stephen Dorff, adapted from the Blade comics series. It was directed by Stephen Norrington and written by David Goyer. Snipes plays the character of Blade, a half-man, half-vampire superhero vampire hunter who becomes the protector of humans against the vampires. It spawned a sequel, Blade II, released in 2002. Another sequel, Blade: Trinity, was released in December 2004.

Taglines:

• The power of an immortal. The soul of a human. The heart of a hero.
• Against an army of immortals, one warrior must draw first blood.
• Part Man. Part Vampire. All Hero.

Contents 1 Origins 2 Plot 3 Traits 4 La Magra 5 Box office and impact 6 Cast 7 Filmtracks 8 Official Soundtrack Listing 9 Trivia 10 See also 11 External links

[edit] Origins

The character Blade was created in 1973 for Marvel Comics by writer Marv Wolfman and artist Gene Colan and was a supporting character in the 1970s comic Tomb of Dracula. In the comic, Blade's mother was bitten by a vampire while she was in labor with Blade. Thus, Blade was born as a dhampir, a human with vampire genes.

[edit] Plot

The movie begins with a flashback of a pregnant African-American woman being hospitalized after being bitten by, as one of the doctors said, some kind of wild animal. In the process of trying to revive her, she gives birth to her baby boy and dies. The next scene proceeds to the present and continues with a seductive woman bringing an unsuspecting man to a strange nightclub. As the scene progresses, the man realises something is amiss in the club yet cannot quite discern why. However his fears are soon confirmed when blood begins to pour down from the sprinkler system, revealing all of the club's patrons to be vampires. Unable to escape from the hideous creatures which have now surrounded him, the young man seems doomed until one of the vampires draws attention to an individual who has just entered - the "Daywalker"...

Blade (Wesley Snipes) coolly enters the main dance floor, causing frantic panic amongst the vampire crowd. He immediately begins a no-holds-barred slaughter of the vampires, using a combination of martial arts and firearms to pick them off. Eventually, after fighting his way through numerous guards, Blade singles out one vampire in particular named Quinn (played by Donal Logue), nailing him to the wall with stakes and setting him alight. Upon hearing police sirens, Blade turns to Quinn and tells him "Give my regards to Frost", leaving a burnt Quinn along with the confused human as the only surviving inhabitants of his attack. The police take Quinn's crisp remains and send them for identification.

Doctor Karen Jenson (N'Bushe Wright) is the unlucky individual who performs the examination on Quinn's "corpse". During the examination, Quinn shockingly returns to life and feeds on both Jenson and her co-worker. However, Blade enters the morgue, having pre-supposed that Quinn would come back. He attacks the rejuvenated vampire, but is yet again forced to flee when the police arrive. As he makes to leave, Blade sees a bleeding Doctor Jensen lying on the floor, beckoning for him to help her. Due to some instant emotional attachment (the doctor reminds him of his mother), Blade rescues Jensen and they head back to his base of operations. Quinn also escapes from the attack.

The scene changes to the meeting room of The House of Erebus, a vampire Shadow Council. The Elder Dragonetti (played by Udo Kier) discusses Blade's recent intensified attacks, and berates a young Deacon Frost (Stephen Dorff) for his recklessness in running these clubs. During this scene, there is a short explanation of vampire politics - most vampires believe that they should more or less co-exist with the humans (maintaining a secret, Mafia-like power cabal), whilst renegades such as Frost believe they should rule them outright. It is also established that there is some stigma from "pure-blood" vampires (i.e. those who are born vampires) towards those born human and later turned into vampires.

The storyline switches back to Blade's lair, where Jenson meets Abraham Whistler (Kris Kristofferson), Blade's mentor and weapons technician in their fight against vampire-kind. Whistler delivers a small speech outlining Blade's past, their current mission and the nature of vampires, along with the power they hold in the outside world. Jenson decides to head home, although Blade reminds her it is is a possibility that, due to Quinn's bite, she too may become a vampire. It is also established in this scene that Blade is a half-vampire, and requires a serum to prevent his need to drink blood. Jenson begins to work on a permanent cure for the vampire condition, using Whistler's research as her starting ground.

Upon arriving in her apartment, Jenson is assaulted by a policeman who is revealed to be a familiar - a human being who serves vampires (a collaborator, essentially, that after years of service might get rewarded by being turned into a vampire). Blade rescues Jenson, and later follows the familiar back to another club of Frost's, there discovering that Frost has plans involving a vampire blood-god named La Magra. Although Blade and Jenson are assaulted by Frost's private army, they escape due to the timely arrival of Whistler.

However, shortly after this, Frost makes a second strike. Whilst Blade heads out to fetch the ingredients for his serum, Frost abducts Dr. Jenson from the lair and badly beats Whistler, leaving Quinn and the rest of his crew to finish him off. Upon Blade's return, he finds a taunting video left from Frost. In a poignant scene, Blade aids Whistler in suicide (Blade hears a gunshot from outside but doesn't see it happen). Stricken with grief, Blade vows to find and kill Frost. During this time, Frost kills Elder Dragonetti by subjecting him to a sunrise, and forcibly gathers the other members of the Shadow Council as "volunteers".

Blade arms himself for a raid on Frost's base, taking along with him specially-designed pneumatic syringes loaded with EDTA (normally used as a blood thinner to clear blood clots in the heart, which has a highly volatile reaction to vampire blood). During his attack on the base, Blade fights his way through a horde of vampires, yet discovers a horrible truth once he reaches the top floor of the building. He learns that his mother (the pregnant woman from the flashback scene) did not in fact die, and is now Frost's vampire mistress, as it was Frost himself who had bitten his mother during her pregnancy. Overcome with shock, Blade is easily subdued by the guards, who knock him out and take him to the Temple of Eternal Night, where Frost reveals the final stages of his plan.

Using his resources and vast wealth, Frost has managed to rebuild the temple and intends to use it for La Magra's resurrection, a key ingredient of which is Blade's sunlight-resistant vampiric blood, along with the sacrifice of the other twelve council members (who were all members of the leading vampire noble houses). Through the ritual, Frost becomes an eminently more powerful vampire, far surpassing any other vampire's strength or speed, and gains the powers of each sacrificed member, such as immunity to silver, and red, bulging eyes (from the Kobejitsu tribe). Blade breaks free from his sacrificial housing, killing his mother and draining Dr. Jenson to renew his strength. After Blade disposes of Frost's minions, the two meet for one final climactic battle at the base of the temple. Upon discovering that Frost cannot be killed by any conventional means, Blade empties every single EDTA syringe he has on Frost (who is now constituted entirely of vampire blood), causing him to explode violently.

Climbing out from the underground temple, Karen offers Blade her cure. Blade refuses, because "curing" him of his need for blood would also remove his Daywalker powers and he would be unable to hunt vampires, and requests for her to make him a better serum, reminding her that "there's still a war going on". The final scene shows Blade in Moscow, hunting down and killing a Russian vampire who persuaded a human to follow him to a vampire club. This sets the stage for the second film.

[edit] Traits

In the film, Deacon Frost said that Blade "possesses all of the strengths of a vampire, but none of their weaknesses." This is not entirely true. Blade may have the enhanced strength, dexterity and senses of a vampire, while not being vulnerable to sunlight, silver, garlic, or EDTA, but he does have a lust for blood which he tries to suppress using a special serum and a slight sensitivity to sunlight that causes him to wear sunglasses. Deacon Frost may not have considered a vampire's bloodlust to be a weakness, given his low view of the human race, and probably dismissed minor affects, but he fails to take into account the fact that Blade ages at the same rate as a human, unlike true vampires which can live indefinitely.

Blade can speak Czech, Russian and to a degree the Vampire language, and he has a great deal of knowledge about hunting vampires. He is a master of martial arts (probably a mixture of Karate, Kung Fu and Capoeira like Snipes) and weaponry ranging from his acid-etched titanium sword and glaive to a MAC-10 automatic pistol. (See Weaponry of Blade)

Blade is stoical and a man of few words. He is a hardened vampire hunter. Though, he is by no means irreverent toward life, and is a protector of humanity. He has only ever killed familiars and vampires, with the former counting to over 1000 and the latter innumerable. His closest friend was Whistler, who raised him since he was 14, and he had romantic interests in Karen Jenson and the Blood Pack's Nyssa Damaskinos.

[edit] La Magra

One of the major plots of the film was to prevent Frost from raising La Magra, the Vampire blood god, and causing a vampire apocalypse. When Frost successfully became La Magra, he gained certain powers, making him almost invincible. Each ability he gained were from the twelve pure bloods (Ashe, Cianteto, Dragonetti, Faustinas who held two seats, Ligaroo, Lemure, Kobejitsu, Lobishomen, Von Esper, Upier, and Pallintine) sacrificed in the ritual and Blade, who was only bled, not killed. Some of those abilities/attributes include:

• Far superior strength and speed from that of a regular vampire.

• Red, bulging eyes.

• Instant regeneration of lost limbs.

• Impervious to silver.

• The ability to walk during the day due to Blade's blood.

• Can instantly turn any human in his path into vampires. (This comes to debate since Dr. Karen Jenson was in the same area where La Magra and Blade's battle took place and was not instantly turned, though it's a possibility that La Magra needs to concentrate his powers in order to make the turning possible.)

• Can control minds, matter and the elements. (Gained from the Faustinas tribe)

• Can shed his skin, turning into a ball of fire to methodically stalk his prey. (Gained from the Ligaroo tribe)

The majority of these powers were never seen or mentioned in the film since Frost's reign as La Magra was short-lived, but it is believed that since all of the pure bloods' spirits lived within Frost's body, he would gain their abilities as well.

[edit] Box office and impact

Blade grossed $130 million worldwide, but it is more significant for putting comic book based movies back into the spotlight, both in the public’s eye and certainly in Hollywood’s. Its influence is still felt today as it paved the way for the "Comic Book Movie Age" that has seen such blockbuster releases as X-Men, Spider-Man, Batman Begins, V for Vendetta and Superman Returns. All comic properties filmed after 1998, particularly from Marvel, owe a debt of gratitude to the success of Blade.

[edit] Cast

Actor	Role
Wesley Snipes	Blade
Kris Kristofferson	Abraham Whistler
Stephen Dorff	Deacon Frost
N'Bushe Wright	Dr. Karen Jenson
Donal Logue	Quinn
Udo Kier	Gitano Dragonetti
Traci Lords	Racquel
Sanaa Lathan	Vanessa Brooks
Arly Jover	Mercury
Kevin Patrick Walls	Officer Krieger
Tim Guinee	Dr. Curtis Webb

[edit] Filmtracks

These songs listed are heard within the film only. For the official retail soundtrack listing, see below.

1. "Confusion (Pump Panel Reacon Mix)" - New Order
2. "Bad Moon Rising" - Creedence Clearwater Revival
3. "UT1-Dot" - Polygon Window
4. "Ah, Singapore" - Shonen Knife
5. "Yeah" - DJ Krush
6. "Dig This Vibe" - DJ Krush
7. "Dealing With The Roster" - Junkie XL
8. "Playing With Light" - Expansion Union
9. "Eclipse" - Solitaire
10. "Soeil" - Solitaire
11. "Call & Response" - Source Direct
12. "Ether" - Siren
13. "Fearless" - Solitaire
14. "Rattle The Fear" - Spirit Fire Child
15. "Rainbow Voice" - David Mykes from Hearing Solar Winds
16. "Ni Ten Ichi Ryu (Two Swords Technique)" - Photek
17. "Go Get On It" - Southside Reverb

[edit] Official Soundtrack Listing

These are the songs that appear on the official retail soundtrack - the majority of them are rap songs that were not heard in the film:

1. . The Edge Of The Blade - Mystikal
2. . 1/2 & 1/2 - Gang Starr
3. . Blade - KRS-One
4. . Fightin' A War - Down 2 Earth
5. . Reservations - P.A.
6. . Gangsta Bounce - Wolfpak
7. . Things Ain't The Same - Kasino
8. . Deadly Zone - Bounty Killer
9. . Blade 4 Glory - Mr. Majesty Feat. Bizzy Bone
10. . Strictly Business (Mantronik MBA Radio Edit) - Mantronik Vs. EPMD
11. . Wrek Tha Discotek - Roger S.
12. . Confusion (Pump Panel Reconstruction Mix) - New Order
13. . Playing With Lightning - Expansion Union
14. . Dig This Vibe - DJ Krush
15. . Dealing With The Roster - Junkie XL

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[edit] Trivia

• The original ending included an eight-story monstrous version of La Magra. This was scrapped and re-done to the current known ending after many fans were disappointed when Stephen Dorff (Frost) was taken off-camera during the film's first screening. The original ending can be found in the special features section in the DVD version of the film.

• The movie features Traci Lords, the former pornographic actress, as Racquel, a vampire who is shown covered in blood in one notable scene during the opening half of the film.

• Bruce Lee's daughter Shannon Lee appears very briefly as a resident in the opening scene when Blade's mother is taken into hospital and about to give birth to him.

• This version of Blade is very much unlike his comic counterpart. The Blade in the comics was notorious for using wooden stakes and talking and acting like John Shaft since he was originally created in the 70s. The comic character has since been modified to be similar to his film counterpart. The comic book version was only mildly affected by vampirism as his mother was bitten by a vampire whilst pregnant. See Blade (comics).

• A video game for PlayStation entitled "Blade" was released but it had nothing to do with the events in the film.

• This movie along with the sequel (Blade II) and X-Men are the only movies that do not have the Marvel Films logo although the movies are based on comic books from Marvel Comics. Blade II does have the logo on the back of its DVD cases but is not shown in the movie at all, Blade: Trinity is the only movie out of the three Blade films to have the logo in the movie at all.

• David Goyer explains in the DVD commentary that when Karen Jenson wakes up at Blade's hideout after her initial attack and rescue by Blade, the script had her discover a jar with a vampire baby in it. The baby would be alive and used by Blade and Whistler as a guinea pig for testing out weapons to fight the vampires. The studio found this concept to be far too disturbing and refused to allow it.

[edit] See also

• Blade II The first sequel to this movie.
• Blade: Trinity The second sequel to this movie.
• The Blade Trilogy
• The House of Erebus

[edit] External links

• Blade at the Internet Movie Database
• Blade at Marvel.com

Marvel Comics films
Single films	Captain America (1991) · Ghost Rider (2007) · Howard the Duck (1986)
Franchises	Blade: Blade (1998) · Blade II (2002) · Blade: Trinity (2004) Daredevil: Daredevil (2003) · Elektra (2005) Fantastic Four: The Fantastic Four (1994) · Fantastic Four (2005) · Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007) The Hulk: Hulk (2003) The Punisher: The Punisher (1989) · The Punisher (2004) Spider-Man: Spider-Man (2002) · Spider-Man 2 (2004) · Spider-Man 3 (2007) X-Men: X-Men (2000) · X2 (2003) · X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
In development	Iron Man (2008) · The Incredible Hulk (2008) · Ant-Man (2008) · Wolverine · Luke Cage · Deathlok · Gargoyle · Magneto · Namor · The Punisher 2