Step into the blood-soaked underworld where vampires rule the night and only one man walks between worlds. Wesley Snipes' portrayal of Blade isn't just a performance—it's a declaration of superhero cinema's untapped potential that continues to resonate decades later.
What made the 1998 Blade so revolutionary was its complete disinterest in franchise-building. Before shared universes dominated the landscape, this film stood confidently alone, establishing its own unique visual identity and R-rated sensibilities. The result? A marvel property that doesn't feel like a "Marvel movie" at all.
Snipes brings an undeniable magnetism that elevates every scene. His physical prowess shines through extended fight sequences captured in long takes—no quick cuts hiding stunt doubles here. Even when delivering the corniest lines imaginable, there's something mesmerizing about his presence that makes it all work. As one viewer notes, "If you can take something that's not cool at all and create a character that makes that cool, you get a guaranteed hit."
The film's practical effects and minimal CGI give it a gritty authenticity that many modern superhero films lack. While some visual effects might look dated ("like PlayStation 1" as one fan puts it), they're used sparingly enough to maintain the film's impact. Stephen Dorff's Frost provides an interesting villain, though his character development sometimes feels rushed or incomplete compared to the fully realized Daywalker.
With Blade's recent cameo in Deadpool & Wolverine sparking renewed interest, the question remains: would you prefer a complete reboot or a proper Blade 4 with Wesley Snipes getting the send-off this iconic character deserves? Share your thoughts and favorite Blade moments in the comments below!
Episode Transcript
Holy shit, man.
Oh fuck, I love this moviePretty much.
What started this was watchingDeadpool and Wolverine and
seeing Wesley Snipes' Blade, butyou had not seen any of the
Blade movies.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
No, like I know the Blade movies, of course, but
never watched them.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
What did you think of Wesley Snipes?
I get the vibe you're notfamiliar with his work.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
No, I'm not familiar with his work at all.
I'm actually only familiar withhis work as Blade.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
If I was to tell you a few things about Wesley Snipes
.
He's known for having a lot ofweird hairdos in his movies.
Only Wesley Snipes could pullthat off.
There's no way a white guy isgoing to pull off a hairstyle
like that For his girl.
I don't know, let's pull it upon the editing chair, like I
mean, look, tom Hanks gave it afair go, but he ain't.
(00:55):
You know, he ain't doingmartial arts and shit like that.
He ain't flying across the roomand ice skating uphill while
pulling off that hairstyle.
The thing I love about Blade 1is number one.
As we're watching it, we couldeasily forget that this is a
Marvel movie.
Yes, absolutely it doesn't setup any cinematic universe and I
(01:18):
kind of miss those days wheneach Marvel superhero film had
its own unique identity.
It wasn't like how it is now,where, like, disney just owns
most of them except Spider-Man.
Because we need more of thoseSpider-Man villain movies.
You know what I'm saying.
I want some more Morbius 2 andf***ing Madam Web and Kraven the
Hunter.
(01:38):
The point is, this was a greattime when you didn't know what
to expect from superhero movies,but they also were like really
bad.
So Blade just had to be cool.
And by having Wesley Snipesplaying Blade, that's like 90%
of the cool factor right there.
F***ing badass.
Even when he's like his bestfriend is dying in front of him,
(02:02):
he's just like whatever happens, happens, man.
I've got to go kill somevampires.
I don't give a fuck man.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
No, his reaction was pretty good.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Yeah, but like it's all, like very, it's all
contained in his eyes, but likeI don't know how some actors do
it where it's like you can seethat they have this protected
wall that they've got up, butunderneath is like the little
cracks of emotions, Skill, babyskill.
I remember Robert De Niro saida famous quote where he was like
(02:32):
it's not about the emotionsthat you can show as an actor,
it's about the emotions that youhide.
You can tell Wesley Snipes doeshis own fight choreography
because you don't see stuntdoubles or anything.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
And he's so shitty little cutaways like this one
second where you drop, it's likeno, it's just like one long
take and it's such a g up whenhe gets his sunglasses back at
the end.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
It sounds so stupid to say it, but when you're
watching the movie you don't.
It doesn't feel cheesy becauseit's Wesley Snipes and it's like
I have the source of my powerbecause it's late 1990s and
sunglasses is all you need.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
It's so funny those sunglasses.
They just suit his face.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
It's just like perfect fit for him.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Like one of the other characters, grabs the
sunglasses, chucks it on andhe's like oh yeah, he doesn't
have the aura.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
That is a good point.
It's similar to all superherofilms in a way.
You take the costume off thatactor, put it on another actor,
like recasting and stuff, andyou start to realize that actor
was way more talented than youthought.
It wasn't just simply a matterof taking the costume and
putting it on a different actor.
There's just this magnetism,this aura, this natural charisma
(03:43):
about Wesley Snipes.
It's just f***ing amazing.
Awesome to watch.
Man, it's just a f***ing blast.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
If you can take something that's not cool at all
and create a character thatmakes that cool, you get a
guaranteed hit.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
There's barely any CGI in this movie, for one,
because it's 1998.
, so they've got to use itsparingly.
Yeah, there were some momentswhere we said that it looked
like PlayStation 1 game, butstill was better than thor, love
and thunder.
The other thing that I reallylike just seeing wesley snipes
(04:18):
be like stone cold, dead,serious, and then out of nowhere
, for no reason at all.
Just mother, why are youshooting at me?
Are you serious for real?
I remember when I was a kid andeven as a kid I remember
thinking to myself that didn'tseem like it was the same
character that I'm seeing.
This whole film that's aperfect example of Wesley.
(04:42):
Snipes can do the corniest s***and it gets a pass.
Can you imagine how muchcornier would have been if
someone like Jesse Eisenberg yes, holy f**k.
Can you imagine him trying topull that off and make it look
cool as soon as we getintroduced to Blade?
It's badass.
You're seeing all the vampiresjust crawl away and like, oh my
(05:06):
god, it's him the Daywalker,it's like one of the best.
Like, oh my God, it's him theDaywalker, it's like one of the
best.
Just, that shot is such a greatintro to Blade of how much of a
badass he is without sayinganything.
I have a question.
I don't know why he has theopportunity to kill this one
particular character calledQuinn, like 20 f**ks in times
(05:28):
and just doesn't do it.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
But then he kills him like that at the end of the
movie anyway and he just likeburns up.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
So the whole time this dude's getting more screen
time than Frost.
So you're thinking somethingbig is going to happen where
he's going to get killed in likea super creative way, and then
nah, he just boom, justvanquished in like two seconds.
It didn't ruin the movie, butBit of an anticlimactic point.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
What did you think of frost as a villain?
He gets some really coolmoments.
I like the character.
Odd casting, I've got to saythis guy looks a little bit like
um robert pedersen, you know,and vampire robert pedersen's
kind of like twilight series allover again.
I know I see like more of arough kind of character.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
It's hard to take him seriously because he gets bitch
slapped by some vampire dudewho's wearing a suit, who's like
a nobody.
He doesn't look like a physicalpresence that's going to be
able to compete against wesleysnipes physically and the only
time.
Once he is a physical kind ofthreat, it doesn't last very
(06:31):
long.
We don't really understand alot about why he's the way he is
.
We just know he's he's justtrying to be like a leader for
the vampires into the new ageand do something radical
everybody keeps saying he's nota pureblood and that's why he
frustrated, but it's like itdoesn't feel like he cares about
it.
I feel that because therewasn't enough depth there, then
(06:53):
they just decided oh, he's alsothe vampire that bit Blade's mum
.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Feels like a bit of a cheap way out, kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
That would be cool for a whole separate villain for
like a different movie.
If that was the story, though,because then you'd have a
villain where you kind ofempathise with him in a way, and
it would be interesting to seea vampire villain who hates
being a vampire.
By now, everyone's so sick ofseeing the superhero origin
story of by now this is thefirst one.
(07:24):
Yeah, no even then they werelike no, let's do it a more
creative way.
We don't want to just show thesuperhero getting the powers and
discovering everything, and italso gives us way more mystery
that can be uncovered throughoutthe sequels, even though
there's no post-credit scene orwhatever.
It ends in a fun way thatleaves you wanting more.
(07:47):
You don't know where the sequelis going to go at all.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
I suppose because this was the first in 1998, so I
feel there was no promise forthe second movie.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
I don't even know if they knew by the end of this
that they were going to make asecond film.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
From a one to five.
How many stars would you giveit?
Speaker 1 (08:07):
I reckon four out of five.
The only reason I don't give itfive is because Blade 2 is
better.
After watching that now I'mjust ready to go into Blade 2.
It makes me appreciate Blade 2more because I look at Blade 1
and I'm like, wow, they improveevery single thing in the sequel
(08:28):
, with a completely differentdirector.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
I would give it a four and a half stars.
It's a little fire cgi here andthere and the skeletons flying,
reminding myself it's 1998,like they had to go through it
frame by frame sticking stickerson it.
I don't know how they freakingdid it.
I thought it was pretty f***inggood.
(08:52):
It was a trendsetter.
It started a whole new industry, changed the whole industry,
yeah, the whole style of themovie.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
I thought it was very progressive for 1998.
The humour was not in-your-facehumour and it didn't detract
from Blade being an absolutebadass.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
If anything, most of the humor came from how serious
he is wesley snap's mom'sstoryline of her coming back, so
an extra five minutes of themlike almost kissing with each
other real weird how the helldid we forget?
Speaker 1 (09:23):
about that and the argument could be made that
she's been a vampire for so long.
She's forgotten completelyabout her human life?
Yeah, but why?
Speaker 2 (09:32):
why go so sexual with her?
With him, sorry, why.
Why is she getting so sexual uphis nose, touching lips?
Because it's wesley.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
It was her input, she just wanted it I reckon wesley
snipes took her aside and waslike man, you got to do some
nose rubbing or something.
The scene needs something moreand I'm wesley are you really?
Speaker 2 (09:52):
gonna argue with wesley sniped absolutely not,
but still questionable decisionfrom the movie making
perspective she just rubbednoses like it's not like she
gave him a vampire hand job.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Oh come on, they were touching lips like it was Weird
it does bring up a good pointthe fact that the Doctor and
Blade don't have this loveinterest.
But it's great because whenyou're watching the film it
doesn't feel like there shouldbe and you don't feel there's
(10:26):
anything missing.
There doesn't always have to bea love interest in a movie for
it to pop.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
The beautiful thing about 90s movies is like if
there's no space for it, don'tdo it, you've got so many other
things going on with the storyas well, there's literally no
room for it.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Man, wesley Snipes is a good-looking bloke.
I'm not going to lie.
I bet that dude's on like somecountdown of top 50 sexiest
dudes or something.
Guarantee Deadp countdown oftop 50 sexiest dudes or
something guarantee dead porn.
Wolverine is gonna hopefullycause this resurgence where
everyone's ironically just gonnare-watch all the blade films.
(11:03):
It'll probably cause moreissues for them recasting blade
and doing the whole reboot.
It would make me kind ofexcited to see a blade fall in a
way.
But tell us you know.
Comment down below what aresome of your favorite blade
moments.
Would you like to see a bladereboot or would you prefer they
(11:23):
made a blade fall with wesleysnipes and gave him the proper
send-off that this characterdeserves?
Comment below and let us know.
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