| Blade |  |
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Blade began in a comic book series known as Tomb of Dracula. The character eventually
became an obscure mag in its own right and was named appropriately "Blade." This
was not a very successful series but the Blade DVD movies are a hit!
The concepts behind the Blade movies transcend the typical vampire genre. Blade himself is
unique in that he can live in sunlight. As such he is called a "daywalker."
Since he is half human, he is unaffected by garlic or silver. But he does have superhuman
strength and speed. In effect he has all the strengths of vampires and none of their
weaknesses! To make things more interesting, we are introduced to a culture of vampires
who interact with each other -- they're not solitary monarchs as portrayed by Bram Stoker.
It would seem there is conflict among their ranks! The elders or ruling class of vampire
society are "pure bloods." They were vampires from birth. They lord it over
vampires who were once human and were only "turned" by being bitten.
This is an almost comical class distinction that would never have occurred to me. I didn't
realize that vampires would judge each other's origins. To me they are all akin like
rotten apples and rotten oranges in the garbage. But who's to say whether the apples may
consider themselves better than the oranges, though they're still garbage!
Deacon Frost is an irreverant and rebellious ex-human. His ambition is to undermine the
class of pure bloods and rule in their place. To accomplish this he uses computers to do
something no pure blood has ever done -- translate the ancient texts of the Book of
Erebus. This is the vampire's "bible" but its archaic language has long been
forgotten. The book is mainly about summoning La Magre, the blood god, who will transform
all vampires into daywalkers. Free from bondage to the night, vampires will assume a more
dominant role in exploiting the human cattle upon whom they feed!
The primary ingredient for this ritual of La Magre is the blood of a daywalker!
Sacrificing Blade would serve a dual purpose for Frost -- disposing of a menacing vampire
killer and starting the Blood Tide! Although the outcome of the struggle seems close till
the end, Blade is able to use a secret weapon to thwart Frost's bid for a nightmarish
dictatorship.
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Blade 2 begins with another improbable scenario -- a vampire mutation has occurred
resulting in a new breed called reapers. Reapers are super-vampires and they're so
dangerous they pose a threat to both the vampire world and the human world. In order to
combat the reapers, the king of the vampires, who resides in some eastern-block country,
recruits a team of specially trained mercenaries to offer Blade a truce if he will join in
the fight. Two of these assassins are sent to deliver the truce. They easily penetrate the
defences of the lair, leaping from rafter to rafter in silent Spiderman fashion, and
engage Blade in battle, which ends in a draw. The two then unmask themselves, reveal their
identities, and state the purpose of their visit. One of them is Nyssa, daughter of
Damaskinos, the vampire king himself. She is without a doubt the prettiest vampire I have
ever seen! You can almost forget the ridiculous plot. What saves this movie is a covert
romance between Blade and Nyssa! She is nobility and grace -- she is also courageous as
well as gorgeous, yet Blade sees her as vulnerable. Whenever she seems oblivious to
danger, he is right there looking out for her! There's nothing dull, however -- the movie
Utilizes amazing effects, heart-pumping techno music, impressive hand to hand combat,
etc., to keep up the pace!
A futher complication develops. The reaper enemy, Nomak by name, is Nyssa's own brother!
This only becomes apparent when he encounters Nyssa alone and doesn't kill her. Strangely
she keeps this a secret! Later on the Bloodpack led by Blade finds a dying specimen of the
mutation. Nyssa performs a dissection on it. Reapers have a loathsome deformity. It seems
that fangs aren't enough anymore -- the new breed has its lower jaw separate wide into two
sections, in Predator fashion, and it can actually wrap around the victims head. The
reaper then feeds through a tentacled extension out of its throat, reminiscent of the
Aliens' second pair of jaws, and sucks the life out of the face, throat, or any other body
part it has captured! An added danger: a vampire who has been bitten "turns"
within minutes into a reaper!
All in all, the great CGI enhanced fight scenes, guarded camaraderie between Whistler
& Blade on the one hand and the Bloodpack on the other, which often reduces to
bare-fanged insult,
and Whistler's famous one-liners carry it through! And you don't want to miss the
phenomenal end scene between Nomak and Blade.
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The only good thing about Blade Trinity is the beautiful Jessica Biel as Abigail Whistler.
No complaints about her performance or appearance.
Parker Posey as Danica Talos is another story, however. Her appearance was positively
wretched. She is ludicrously dressed like some old bag lady and her hair is a disheveled
mess! Perhaps she was supposed to give the movie some comic relief?
Another ludicrous thing was the paring of Reynolds with Triple H near the end. Reynolds is
slight of build and only human. Yet he challenges Triple H who is not only a vampire but a
mightily muscled one at that. The outcome is predictable.
Lastly, the bad guy in this one is really pathetic. The vampires, led by Danica Talos,
resurrect Dracula himself in order to defeat Blade. But when Drake (short for Dracula)
first encounters Blade, he runs like a coward! When Blade catches up to him, Drake hides
behind a baby and tosses it as a distraction so he can make a clean getaway! This is the
same tactic that Frost used in the original Blade. If Dracula is such a fierce and
gruesome foe, why does he wimp out when facing Blade?
Since a DVD has so much space on it, there is plenty of room for extra material besides
the movie. There's background information on Blade's origin and story development,
locations, and special effects. And precious commentary from the director and some of the
actors and actresses themselves! See the movie first, then go for the bonus features!
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