Blade (film)

Not to be confused with The Blade (film).
Blade

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Stephen Norrington
Produced by
Written by David S. Goyer
Based on Blade
by Marv Wolfman
Gene Colan
Starring
Music by Mark Isham
Cinematography Theo van de Sande
Edited by Paul Rubell
Production
company
Distributed by New Line Cinema
Release dates
  • August 21, 1998 (1998-08-21)
Running time
 120 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Budget $40 million[2]
Box office $131.2 million[3]

Blade is a 1998 American vampire superhero film starring Wesley Snipes and Stephen Dorff, loosely based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name.[4] Snipes plays Blade, a human with vampire traits who protects humans from vampires. The film was directed by Stephen Norrington and written by David S. Goyer.

Released on August 21, 1998, Blade became a commercial success by grossing $70 million at the U.S. box office, and $131.2 million worldwide. Despite mixed reviews from film critics, the film received a positive reception from audiences and has since garnered a cult following.[5] It was followed by two sequels, Blade II and Blade: Trinity, both written by Goyer who also directed the latter.

Plot

In 1967, a pregnant woman is attacked by a vampire while giving birth. Doctors are able to save her baby, but the woman dies of infection.

Thirty-one years later, the child has become the vampire hunter Blade. He raids a rave club owned by the vampire Deacon Frost. Police take one of the vampires to the hospital, where he feeds on hematologist Karen Jenson and escapes. Blade takes Karen to a safe house where she is treated by his old friend Abraham Whistler. Whistler explains that he and Blade have been waging a secret war against vampires using weapons based on their elemental weaknesses, such as sunlight and silver. As Karen is now "marked" by the bite of a vampire, both he and Blade tell her to leave the city.

Meanwhile, at a meeting of vampire elders, Frost, the leader of a faction of younger vampires, is rebuked for trying to incite war between vampires and humans. As Frost and his kind were not born as vampires and are therefore not pure-bloods, they are considered socially inferior. In response, Frost has one of the elders executed and strips the others of their authority.

Upon returning to her apartment, Karen is attacked by a policeman, who is a "familiar", a human slave controlled by a vampire. Blade subdues the familiar and uses information from him to locate an archive of vampire history. Later, at the hideout, Blade injects himself with a special serum that prevents him from succumbing to his desire to drink blood, which would ultimately turn him into a vampire. However, the serum is beginning to lose its effectiveness due to overuse.

While experimenting with the anticoagulant EDTA as a possible replacement, Karen discovers that it explodes when combined with vampire blood. She manages to synthesize a vaccine that can cure the infected, but learns that it will not work on a human-vampire hybrid like Blade. Frost and his men attack the hideout, infect Whistler, and abduct Karen. When Blade returns, he helps Whistler commit suicide and arms himself with special syringes filled with EDTA.

When Blade attempts to rescue Karen from Frost's penthouse, he is subdued and taken to the Temple of Eternal Night, where Frost plans to perform the summoning ritual for La Magra, the vampire blood god. Blade is drained of his blood, but Karen allows him to drink from her, triggering his vampirism. Frost completes the ritual and obtains the powers of La Magra. Blade kills all of Frost's minions, including his mother, and confronts him. During their fight, Blade injects Frost with all of the syringes, causing his body to explode.

Karen offers to help Blade cure himself, but he asks her to create a new serum instead. In a brief epilogue, Blade kills a group of Russian vampires.

Cast

Production

Development

Marvel Studios had developed the film as early as 1992, when rapper/actor LL Cool J was interested in playing the lead role.[6] Blade was eventually set up at New Line Cinema, with David S. Goyer writing the script. According to Goyer, New Line originally wanted to do Blade as "something that was almost a spoof" before the writer convinced them otherwise.[2] By 1996 Wesley Snipes was attached to star.[7]

Casting

When Goyer first pitched the idea of doing a Blade film, the executives of New Line felt there were only three actors who could possibly do the role: Snipes, Denzel Washington, and Laurence Fishburne, but to Goyer, Snipes was always the perfect choice for Blade. Marc Singer was the original choice for Whistler. Jet Li was offered the role of Deacon Frost but opted to do Lethal Weapon 4 instead. Bruce Payne was also considered for the role of Frost.

Filming

Blade was produced on a budget of $45 million[2] and principal photography commenced on February 5, 1997,[8] in large part done in Los Angeles, with some scenes being shot in Death Valley. All sets were constructed, and all on-set filming occurred, in what was formerly the Redken Shampoo factory in Canoga Park.[9] The effects for the film were done by Flat Earth Productions.[10]

Soundtrack

Main article: Blade (soundtrack)

A soundtrack containing hip hop music was released on August 25, 1998 by TVT Records and Epic Records. It peaked at #36 on the Billboard 200 and #28 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. The British techno band The Prodigy were approached to do the soundtrack and score to the film but had to turn down the offer due to other commitments.

Post-production

The first cut of the film was 140 minutes long and it had a disastrous test screening with audiences. Heavy edits and re-shoots were implemented which delayed the release date more than half a year. The most significant change was the addition of the final sword fight between Blade and Deacon Frost, which did not exist in the original cut. In the original ending, Frost turned into La Magra and became a large swirling mass of blood instead of keeping his form. This was scrapped because they couldn't get the special effects to look right. It can be seen as a special feature on the DVD. 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. The scene where Karen and Deacon are talking about the cure for vampirism initially ran a bit longer and answered the question of how the vampires would feed if everybody was turned into a vampire. They would keep some humans alive in giant blood bags to harvest them. The bags can still be seen in a doorway during the scene, and later played an integral part of the plot in Blade: Trinity [11]

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 teakwood knives and was much more the everyman in his behavior and attitude. Though courageous and brave, he displayed flaws as well, such as an inability to get along with certain other supporting cast members and a hatred of vampires that bordered on fanaticism.

The character was not originally a "daywalker" but a human being immune to being turned into a vampire. Lacking the superhuman speed and strength of his undead quarry, he relied solely on his wits and skill until he was bitten by the character Morbius. (As seen in Peter Parker: Spider-Man #8, first published in August 1999) The film portrayal of Blade was updated for a 1990s audience and the comics character was subsequently modified to match. The film's version of Deacon Frost also differs greatly from his comic counterpart. Although the movie retains Frost's upstart ambitions, he was a great deal younger and more updated for the 1990s.

A Blade anime series was also done by Madhouse Company in 2011. The series consists of 12 episodes.

Release

Blade was Marvel's first box office success, and set the stage for further comic film adaptations. Blade followed the disastrous Howard the Duck as the second Marvel property to get a wide theatrical release in the United States. The Punisher and Captain America both had films made previously, but neither saw a theatrical release in the United States.

Box office

The film went to number one in both Spain and Australia for their opening weekends. With 200 theatres showing the film, Spain's filmgoers earned the film $1.5 million (US) in three days, whilst Australia earned $1 million from 132 cinemas showing the film.[12] 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.[13] 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,[14] as was Brazil, making $855,000 in four days from 133 cinemas.[15] The film was banned from showing in Malaysia, widely considered to have the most controlling censors in Southeast Asia.[16]

Critical reception

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 54% rating.[17] Roger Ebert gave the film 3 stars out of 4, writing: "Blade ... is a movie that relishes high visual style. It uses the extreme camera angles, the bizarre costumes and sets, the exaggerated shadows, the confident cutting between long shots and extreme closeups. It slams ahead in pure visceral imagery."[18] Conversely, James Berardinelli gave the film 2½ stars out of 4, writing: "Blade has the capacity to dazzle, but it also will leave many viewers dissatisfied."[19]

Critics such as A. Asbjørn Jøn have noted not only the important place of Blade in the wider vampire genre but also possible intertextual links between the Whistler character and a character named Whistler in A Dozen Black Roses (1996) by Nancy A. Collins, as they possess "striking similarities in role, dramatic focus, visual appearance, and sharing the name".[20]

Lawsuit

Marv Wolfman unsuccessfully sued Marvel, New Line, and Time Warner for $35 million after the release of the film, claiming he was not bound by a work for hire contract when he created the character in 1972. [21] He, along with artist Gene Colan, received a "based on characters created by" credit in this film, but did not receive a credit in Blade II or the TV series.[22]

Video game

A video game based on the movie was published and released by Activision in 2000.[23]

Future

In August 2014, Snipes spoke about his desire to return to the franchise, telling MTV.com, "I'd be open to it. I think we've got some stones left unturned and there's some latitude left for us to build on and I'd love to get back in the suit again and do some things I've learned how to do now that I didn't know how to do then." [24]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "BLADE (18)". British Board of Film Classification. September 18, 1998. Retrieved April 29, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 Allstetter, Rob (August 1997). "Special Report: Blood on the Big Screen". Wizard (72). pp. 122–3.
  3. ↑ Blade at Box Office Mojo
  4. ↑ Turan, Kenneth (6 November 1992). "Blade to Snipes' Heat". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-09-21.
  5. ↑ (July 10, 2015, "Wesley Snipes hints that there might be a remake of Blade," Daily Mail. Retrieved September 12, 2016
  6. ↑ Staff (1992-12-08). "Marvel characters holding attraction for filmmakers". Variety. Retrieved 2014-10-12.
  7. ↑ Gary Levin (1996-12-29). "Perelman takes Marvel to bankruptcy court". Variety. Retrieved 2014-10-12.
  8. ↑ Michael Fleming (1997-01-27). "Hughes Bros. Turn out 'Pimp'". Variety. Retrieved 2014-10-12.
  9. ↑ Bashirah Muttalib (8 October 1998). "As more pics shoot in Calif., coffers swell". Variety. Retrieved 13 December 2008.
  10. ↑ Marc Graser (1 October 2001). "Flat Earth founder forms new company". Variety. Retrieved 13 December 2008.
  11. ↑ http://www.aintitcool.com/node/928
  12. ↑ Don Groves (13 October 1998). "Germans embrace 'Ryan' at the B.O.". Variety. Retrieved 13 December 2008.
  13. ↑ Don Groves (3 November 1998). "'Antz' swarming o'seas". Variety. Retrieved 13 December 2008.
  14. ↑ Don Groves (9 November 1998). "'Antz,' 'Exorcist' impressive o'seas". Variety. Retrieved 13 December 2008.
  15. ↑ Don Groves (24 November 1998). "'Mary,' 'Whisperer' top $100 mil mark o'seas". Variety. Retrieved 13 December 2008.
  16. ↑ Don Groves (5 November 1998). "'Ryan' under attack". Variety. Retrieved 13 December 2008.
  17. ↑ "Blade Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2011-01-06.
  18. ↑ "Blade :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews". Rogerebert.suntimes.com. 21 August 1998. Retrieved 2011-01-06.
  19. ↑ "Blade - Reelviews Movie Reviews - James Berardinelli". Reelviews.net. Retrieved 2011-01-06.
  20. ↑ Jøn, A. Asbjørn (2003). "Vampire Evolution". mETAphor: 23. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
  21. ↑ Marla Matzer (August 21, 1998). "Blade Suit Seeks Slice of the Action for Its Creator". LA Times.
  22. ↑ Wolfman loses Blade lawsuit against Marvel Archived February 24, 2012, at the Wayback Machine., The Comics Journal
  23. ↑ "Gamespot.com: Blade for PlayStation". Retrieved 2009-07-21.
  24. ↑ "Wesley Snipes back for fourth 'Blade'". Toronto Sun.

External links

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