Wesley Snipes is Blade half vampire - half human with all the right stuff.

Considering it's just Blade and Whistler (Kris Kristofferson) they need all the breaks they can get. Though Blade is half vampire that gives him the additional strength and endurance but his half human side allows him to walk about in the daytime. Kris Kristofferson really does work well with Snipes. I don't think I would have thought of that combination but somehow it clicks. Partially the success is do to the commitment of both actors. Whistler provides information and cool weapons coming for Blades growing arsenal. After all this careful creation of the character the movie bringing out a shotgun with silver bullets is disappointing to say the least. They could at least have had the bullets be manufactured from titanium or something!? Or how about oak? Cedar? Call me old fashioned but one should not seriously muck about with accepted standards. As for his other weapons they certainly make up a sufficient arsenal to take out a hell of a lot of vampires. A very cool sword with an "extra" a gorgeous black muscle car, guns and ammo with other great stuff necessary for the job. Blade is hot and looking real cool.

Snipes himself is greatly responsible for the creation and quality of the film. There was no Yuen woo Ping - no one really that had any experience that wanted to take on the project So, Snipes decided to take on much of the choreography. He gathered a group of not so well known along with people with a proven resume' and added his own style of martial cool. Snipes does practice martial arts but he has never claimed to be any kind of expert. He also grew up watching and loving martial arts movies and it's obvious he paid attention!

The other character with some screen time is N Bushe Wright. Unfortunately there really wasn't much for her to do, but she went through the paces well enough.

Blade has accepted his destiny - to save the world from being dominated by vampires. These are not your typical mindless blood suckers. There is a division amongst the vampires. One side, the "pure bloods" who are born as vampires and the other group who were human before being turned into vampires. The film treats the whole vampire concept as more of a disease or condition as opposed to random tearing of flesh and snapping of bones with spurting blood. They have even developed a type of cure if taken soon after being bitten adding more weight to the illness framework.

When Lord of the Immortals' Deacan Frost declares all out killing of human kind the viewer believes him. In his own way Frost is as cool as Blade and as believable in his role. Before long Blade learns Frost has even grander plans for the vampire race. His ultimate goal involves bringing a blood god back to life, into the human world. It's a welcome aspect into a genre that seems to be all about action and/or/ gore and loses the supernatural.

The soundtrack is predominantly techno - lite with some slower music lends a surrealistic tone. It adds an element to remind the viewer he or she may not be coming back thinking the same way again about vampires. It does help the flow of the film and works well for kick ass time.

Blade is a wonderful ride with lots of popcorn. And even thought provoking in it's own way. It's damn good entertainment you will be watching more than once!

The absurdity pertains to certain scenes like the vampire rave, where the vampires were dancing and masturbating in blood sprayed from the ceiling, vampiric corruption, death scenes like exploding vampires (especially Frost's death scene), and the list goes on. Other absurdities involve special effects. I mean the vampire death scenes are just flat-out silly. They roast to a crisp when hit with silver and I think it stupid but funny.

The story is okay. It's about some vampire called Frost who is trying to resurrect a blood-god because he is fed up with his vampire colleagues making back-door treaties with humanity, and he wants to treat humans as cattle. Blade and vampire slaying buddies are off to kill this bitch. Blah blah blah.

The pacing of the film feels a bit inconsistent. When the action manifests, it's extremely fast paced, but when the dialogue scenes manifest, it feels tedious. Then there are the contemplation scenes where there is no dialogue or anything, and it really kills the pacing of this film.

The action is flat-out amazing. It is almost like Hong Kong action films. A lot of stylish posturing is implemented, but I'm kinda' a sucker for it if it's not overdone, and for this film it's not. The action is a hybrid of martial arts action (you'll see lots of Wesley Snipes' capoeira manifest) along with some gun fights as well. There is a lot of it and it's all good.

I hate most vampire movies 'cause of the direction people are taking with them with things like vampires having an immunity to certain things, much like that piece of garbage of a film "Interview With The Vampire", quite possibly the worst film ever conceived. This film is only an exception for me because it's absurd entertainment at its finest. Silver I'll never get 'cause it's a werewolf concept. Guess one should wake up and smell the millennium, but eh, up yours. :)

In conclusion: this film gets my recommendation for being an epic vampire action absurdity.

The movie is both unique and wonderful, not just because of the overall high production quality, especially with reference to the film's action sequences, which are respective for most, to the nature of urban Hong Kong-stylized martial arts fight coordination and choreography, courtesy of action directors Jeff Ward, Wesley Snipes and Chuck Jeffereys.

The film is so ardently brilliant and entertaining, that there are not a lot of movies in the market that can manage to combine so many sub-genres in such a well formulated fashion that can appease the viewing public.

Even today, there are still films that seem to come short of the standards set by the Blade franchise, like like the brutally appalling low-budget action/horror feature, Shadow: Dead Riot, starring Carla Greene and directed by Hong Kong film veterans Derek Wan and Tony Leung Siu-Hung, or Uwe Boll's video game-to-big screen Hollywood feature, House Of The Dead, which redefined the true meaning of the word, SUCK!!!

The other element that helped this movie become such a success is that this is the one true movie, long after Passenger 57, that allowed Wesley Snipes to truly stand out as an action star, showing his raw, electrifying athleticism as a martial artist, as well as an actor! This stood out as a plus for US action fans waiting for the next best thing other than another bad Don Wilson or Jalal Merhi movie to hit the B-market surface.

Conclusively, Blade is a consistently entertaining film that regards every important element that was needed for this film to work. Hong Kong action junkies, sci-fi geeks and shriek show fanatics will get a true kick out of what Norrington brought to the table in this fine piece of action cinema!

OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS: "The Evil Dead", "The Evil Dead 2", "Night Of The Living Dead", Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master", "Black Mask", "The Mummy", "The Mummy Returns", "Mortal Kombat", "Makai Tensho", "Brotherhood Of The Wolf", "Lethal Weapon 2", "Resident Evil: Apocalypse", "Doom", "Versus", "Aragami", "Passenger 57", "The Art Of War", "Blade 2", "The Matrix Trilogy", "Arahan: Urban Martial Arts Action", "Volcano High", "Underworld", "Underworld: Evolution", "Desperado", "Highlander: Endgame", "Guyver: Dark Hero" and "Action Jackson".