Blade (film)
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| Blade | |
 Movie poster for Blade |
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| Directed by | Stephen Norrington |
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| Produced by | Peter Frankfurt Wesley Snipes Robert Engelman |
| Written by | Screenplay: David S. Goyer Comic Book: Marv Wolfman Gene Colan |
| Starring | Wesley Snipes Stephen Dorff Kris Kristofferson N'Bushe Wright Donal Logue Sanaa Lathan Udo Kier Arly Jover |
| Music by | Mark Isham |
| Cinematography | Theo Van De Sande |
| Distributed by | New Line Cinema |
| Release date(s) | August 21, 1998 |
| Running time | 120 min. |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $45,000,000 (est.) |
| Gross revenue | $131,183,530 |
| Followed by | Blade II |
Blade is a 1998 vampire action film starring Wesley Snipes and Stephen Dorff, loosely based on the published stories of the fictional Marvel Comics character Blade. It was directed by Stephen Norrington and written by David S. Goyer. Snipes plays the titular character, a vampire hunter who is half-man and half-vampire that becomes the protector of humans against the vampires. Blade grossed $70 million at the U.S. box office, and over $130 million worldwide. This success is often credited with starting the current superhero revival in American cinema.[citation needed] Two sequels, Blade II and Blade: Trinity, were subsequently produced.
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Plot
A man is led to a rave club by a seductive woman, only to find that the club is filled with vampires eager to feed on the human members of the crowd. In the middle of the carnage, a vampire-hunter named Blade (Snipes) arrives. As a half-vampire hybrid known as a "daywalker", Blade has all the strengths of a vampire but none of their weaknesses except the thirst for blood. He slaughters the vampires in the club, leaving only one human and a vampire named Quinn (Donal Logue) alive and horribly burned.
Blade tracks Quinn down to a hospital, but Quinn is able to bite a resident hematologist, Dr. Karen Jenson (N'Bushe Wright), before escaping once again. Blade brings Karen back to his lair and introduces her to Abraham Whistler (Kris Kristofferson), his mentor and weaponsmith. Karen resolves to study vampirism and find a cure before she becomes a vampire. She soon discovers that the anticoagulant EDTA reacts explosively with the vampire infection. Meanwhile, Deacon Frost (Dorff), a young upstart in the vampire community, clashes with his vampire elders. He believes that vampires should rise from the shadows and enslave humanity. The elders shun him for his radical views and because he was not born a vampire, like they were. Frost studies ancient vampire lore and comes to believe that he can awaken La Magra, a vampire god, to gain godlike power. Together with his minions, he kills the chief vampire of the region and imprisons the other elders.
Blade combats Frost's various minions in an effort to uncover his plan, but Frost manages to invade Blade's lair, kidnapping Karen and mortally wounding Whistler. Blade gives the infected Whistler a gun to commit suicide, then arms himself with a large supply of EDTA. He storms Frost's home, overrunning the bodyguards, and discovers his own mother, Vanessa Brooks (Sanaa Lathan), whom he believed dead, in Frost's bed. She reveals that Frost was the vampire that bit her while Blade was still in the womb and caused him to become a daywalker. Thunderstruck, Blade is defeated and taken to the Temple of Eternal Night for Frost's blood ritual.
Frost sacrifices the elder vampires in a magic ritual and gains the power of La Magra. Karen manages to break free and feed Blade her blood, giving him the power to fight back. He kills his mother while Karen kills Frost's lover Mercury (Arly Jover) with garlic spray. Blade then cuts through Quinn and the rest of Frost's minions before engaging Frost in swordplay. Frost's new powers make him immune to normal weapons, so Blade injects him with EDTA, causing Frost to explode. Blade and Karen return to Blade's lair, where Karen successfully cures herself of vampirism. Blade chooses to forgo the cure in order to continue hunting vampires with their own powers. An epilogue finds Blade killing a vampire in Russia.
Cast
- Wesley Snipes as Blade: A half-vampire "daywalker" who hunts vampires.
- N'Bushe Wright as Dr. Karen Jenson: A plucky hematologist who is bitten by a vampire.
- Stephen Dorff as Deacon Frost: An upstart vampire with great ambitions and influence.
- Kris Kristofferson as Abraham Whistler: Blade's mentor and weaponsmith.
- Donal Logue as Quinn: A cocky minion of Frost's, capable of surviving wounds that kill lesser vampires.
- Udo Kier as Gitano Dragonetti: A vampire elder.
- Sanaa Lathan as Vanessa Brooks: Blade's mother, who has become a vampire.
- Arly Jover as Mercury: A fleet-footed vampire and Frost's lover.
- Kevin Patrick Walls as Officer Krieger: A "familiar", or human servant, of Frost's.
- Tim Guinee as Dr. Curtis Webb: Karen's ex-boyfriend.
- Traci Lords as Racquel: A seductive vampire who leads a man to the blood rave.
- Leonard A. Anderson as Medicine Man: Blade's personal herbist.
Production notes and cameos
- Filming was in large done in Los Angeles, with some scenes being shot in Death Valley.[1]
- Flat Earth Productions created the effects for the film.[2]
- Stan Lee originally had a cameo that was ultimately cut from the film. He played one of the cops that came in to the blood club during the aftermath and discover Quinn's body on fire. Although Blade is a Marvel Comics character, he was created by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan. So far, Stan Lee only has had cameos in movies based on characters that he helped create.
- 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.
- When David S. Goyer first pitched the idea of doing a Blade movie, the executives of New Line felt there were only four actors who could possible do the role: LL Cool J, Denzel Washington, Martin Lawrence and Laurence Fishburne, but in Goyer's mind, Wesley Snipes was always the perfect choice for the character of Blade.
- 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 of the DVD.
- An alternate ending can be found on the LaMagra section of the DVD where Karen Jenson points out a shadowy figure on a distant rooftop wrapped in rags. The character is supposed to be the Marvel Comic vampire Morbius.
Connections to the comic
The character Blade was created in 1973 for Marvel Comics by writer Marv Wolfman and artist Gene Colan as a supporting character in the 1970s comic The Tomb of Dracula. The comic Blade used wooden stakes and behaved similarly to John Shaft. The character was not originally a "daywalker" and had limited supernatural powers until he was bitten by the character Morbius. The film version of Blade was updated for a 1990's audience and the comics character was subsequently modified to match. The film's version of Deacon Frost also differs greatly from his comic counterpart.
Release
Box office
Blade went to number one in both Spain and Australia for their opening weekends. With 200 theatres showing the film, Spain's cinema goers earned the film $1.5 million (US) in three days, whilst Australia earned $1 million from 132 cinemas showing the film.[3] In the Flemish Region of Belgium, the film earned $323,000 from 20 cinemas, and the Netherlands earned the film $246,000 from 44 cinemas.[4] France made $1.9 million in five days from 241 cinemas, but the film was less successful in Hong Kong (with $182,000 from 22 cinemas) and South Africa ($159,000 from 64 cinemas). The United Kingdom was more successful, taking in $5.7 million over 10 days,[5] as was Brazil, making $855,000 in four days from 133 cinemas.[6] The film was banned from showing in Malaysia, whom are widely considered to be the most conservative censors in Southeast Asia.[7]
Lawsuit
Marv Wolfman, the original creator of the Blade character, unsuccessfully sued Marvel and New Line for $50 million after the release of the film. He, along with artist Gene Colan, receives a "based on characters created by" credit in this film but does not receive credit in the sequels or tv series.
Soundtrack
A soundtrack containing hip hop music was released on August 25, 1998 by TVT Records. It peaked at #36 on the Billboard 200 and #28 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.
References
- ^ Bashirah Muttalib (8 October 1998). "As more pics shoot in Calif., coffers swell". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117481188.html. Retrieved on 13 December 2008.
- ^ Marc Graser (1 October 2001). "Flat Earth founder forms new company". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117853484.html. Retrieved on 13 December 2008.
- ^ Don Groves (13 October 1998). "Germans embrace 'Ryan' at the B.O.". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117481371.html. Retrieved on 13 December 2008.
- ^ Don Groves (3 November 1998). "'Antz' swarming o'seas". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117488039.html. Retrieved on 13 December 2008.
- ^ Don Groves (9 November 1998). "'Antz,' 'Exorcist' impressive o'seas". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117488220.html. Retrieved on 13 December 2008.
- ^ Don Groves (24 November 1998). "'Mary,' 'Whisperer' top $100 mil mark o'seas". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117488803.html. Retrieved on 13 December 2008.
- ^ Don Groves (5 November 1998). "'Ryan' under attack". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117488131.html. Retrieved on 13 December 2008.
External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Blade (film) |
- Blade at Marvel.com
- Blade at the Internet Movie Database
- Blade at Allmovie
- Blade at Rotten Tomatoes
- Blade at Metacritic
- Blade at Box Office Mojo
- Blade turns Ten. Interviews with the cast members from the movie
| Preceded by Saving Private Ryan |
Box office number-one films of 1998 (USA) August 23, 1998 – August 30, 1998 |
Succeeded by There's Something About Mary |
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