Blade (1998) ***1/2

It's a funny thing but despite the literal tidalwave of superhero movies very little attention has been played to Blade though arguably this is THE fim that for better or worse started the current craze. As a long-time comics reader, the film is hard to absorb on many levels. For one thing, Blade was always a minor character in the Marvel Universe yet the adaptation embarrassingly doesn't just improve on the original but even as a superhero film holds up rather well. The basic plot is powerful but simple. Blade has the abilities of the vampire and even the bloodlust of one. But he can walk in the day and chooses to hunt vampires. This is definitely not the Marvel universe. Vampires are major power-brokers in this world and a major conspiratorial network exists. It's unfortunate that given this interesting setting the director didn't just allow the film to work through the implications of this master conspiracy. Instead the film offers up a standard doppleganger/rival in the form of Deacon Frost (a wholly new invention as far as I can tell). To be sure, the performances are fine and the plot moves along but there are two major problems. One is the needless attempt to make this film in the apocalyptic genre; one character even says a vampire apocalypse is coming! This is the late 1990s and every other film also had a Y2K/apocalyptic theme. But this grinds the movie down by artificially maing a ticking-time-bomb scenario that distorts Blade's characer. There is also a lot of mindless juvenile humor. That said, these very faults point to the film's major strength and why it still stands up much better than many current films. This is an ADULT film. Blade curses, kills with impunity, and is undeniably an unlikeable character. None of this could be done with the more mainstream Marvel characters which demonstrates the problem of the superhero comic to be begin with and why adapting it is so hard. Because most comics are also very adult in their story-telling, the darkness and MTV-style editing fit perfectly with the vision Stephen Norrington is filming. The sad irony is by being so profitable the series and all comics films after it couldn't afford to be so racy or brave. Granted, the ending is terrible - what film ending isn't?? And I don't understand the need for killing Frost off. If anything, Frost emerges as a more interesting character. Still, Blade deserves to be rediscovered and though many films have tried to be adult and serious about comic books, Blade remains in a class of its own.