I read Dracula for the first time when I was ten years old. It kind of made me feel weird about sex — at least, I realize now it made me feel weird about sex. But I still got up at 6:00 one morning to watch the Hammer Horror version of Dracula on Turner Classic Movies, starring Christopher Lee as Dracula (it’s great!). My mom was into Dark Shadows and Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles—although she never shared my interest in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, big mother-daughter opportunity missed—so vampires were kind of a thing in my house.
Once I tried to convince my little brother and my cousin I was becoming a vampire. I wore bat earrings my mom got me for Halloween every day and slept in them every night until one day I woke up and they had to be physically cut out of my hair. And vampires may also have been or currently be a thing for you, it’s OK. But I am betting money right now you have not watched enough of the Blade movies.
Context is pretty key here. The first Blade came out in 1998 and its visual aesthetic can only be described as The Late ’90s. It was written by David S. Goyer, back when his only credit worth talking about was Dark City, way before Batman Begins. Before the Mayor of Hollywood decreed that we will view six comic book movies per annum whether we want to or not; before Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man and Bryan Singer’s X-Men, which spawned franchises that have already been rebooted. And Blade was great, but what I really want to talk about is Blade II, the sequel and easily the best entry in the trilogy. Still written by David S. Goyer, but this time directed by Guillermo Del Toro, whose genre-specific greatness is pretty universally recognized at this point.
Blade II is not really a comic book movie the way we think of them now, in this darkgrittygrittydark post-Batman Begins world. And it’s not a vampire movie in the sense of, well, any vampire movie ever. This might be the most sexless vampire movie ever made. It fails the Bechdel test pretty spectacularly (named female characters: two; number of times those female characters speak to each other: zero), but also steers clear of any overt sexuality in general, aside from everyone’s predisposition towards leather pants and shirts and masks and vests. Vampires have historically and painfully obviously served as a metaphor for sexual enticement and the corruption of pure, virgin women through sex. But Blade II pretty firmly decides that no, vampires are just really cool monsters in sunglasses that run very sketchy blood drives and like raves.
And Blade II has a vampire lady named Nyssa who is a love interest in the sense that Blade eventually stops telling her he wants her to die, but that’s pretty much it. And it’s not perfect, but at least our female character options aren’t helpless love interest/harpy demon-bitch, for once.
The movie centers around a forced truce between the vampires and Blade—a part-vampire with none of the traditional vampire weaknesses but all of the strengths, plus the unending thirst for blood—to address a new “breed” of vampires called Reapers, who feed on other vampires and have been making raves less pleasant for everyone. The Reapers’ only weakness is sunlight (or, more accurately, UV light), and they are strong, fast, and have terrifying monster mouths. They very obviously intentionally resemble Nosferatu, which presents an interesting visual contrast between the Stoker-style sexy, aristocratic vampires and the feral, ghoulish, perhaps more folklore-derived Reapers.
I’m not going to recap this movie in-depth because it’s really just a linear depiction of (very, very good) action sequences. But I will highlight these very good reasons for watching it:
1. It’s like watching a comic book movie wireframe.
Very specifically, a Batman Begins wireframe. The hard-science gadgetry, lengthy action set pieces, supporting character after supporting character after supporting character. It’s all here, but you can see the gears grinding behind it a little more clearly. Action movies, to me, are best when devoid of pretentiousness, and Del Toro is the anti-Nolan.
2. Blade the character is pret-ty great.
Blade’s blackness is overtly acknowledged exactly one time, when Ron Perlman’s skinhead vampire Reinhardt tells Blade that his vampire gang was wondering if Blade can blush (which, WHOA). Blade puts a remote-detonated mine on the back of Perlman’s head. He cares about his old buddy Kris Kristofferson and killing vampires and lives in a combined dojo/garage/aircraft hanger. Wesley Snipes’ portrayal of Blade is awesome enough that Marvel ultimately retrofitted the character to match the film version in backstory, abilities, and personality.
And Blade II DOES pass the Racial Bechdel Test. Nyssa is played by Latina actress Leonor Varela, and nice-guy vampire Asad is played by Cat from “Red Dwarf” Danny John-Jules, and they both talk to Blade, mostly about The Plot, which is not technically a white person, although pretty much every other vampire is white. And John-Jules’ character still hews a little close to the “magical, all-knowing, black hero-helper” idea; but then, that dynamic shifts a little when the hero is black as well. Guillermo Del Toro: doing better on race/gender issues than most of Hollywood.
3. It’s a non-scary scary movie.
Nothing jumps out of the darkened doorway, nobody gets possessed, vampires fight with martial arts. Perfect alternative to your friend’s persistent suggestion to watch something actually terrifying.
But what of the other two Blade movies? What do they have to offer you? I have made the below handy venn diagram of all the awesome things in the Blade movies, which you may use to determine the Blade movie most appropriate for you.
Tags: black vampires, blade, jessie guy-ryan, vampire movies, wesley snipes
Blade: Trinity circle could also include: “Features a scene in which Wesley Snipes refused to open his eyes & they had to CGI in his eyes from a different scene”.
That’s just good cinema.
What? Seriously…what?
http://snipeseyes.ytmnd.com/
Bonus fact I just found out: ytmnd.com still exists!
someone on Twitter reminded me that in Blade 1, Blade ritualistically kills all his houseplants before the final battle, just in case he doesn’t make it back to them.
I adore these movies, and have watched them so, so many times.
Also, in Blade III, the REAPER DOGS. Blade III has terrifying vampire Pomeranians. And Ryan Reynolds when he wasn’t quite yet so tiresome.
Yes! Ryan Reynolds, when I still like Ryan Reynolds. Ryan, man, what happened?
Blade’s grouchiness is so choice.
One Valentine’s Day, my friends and I watched the entire trilogy, ate lasagna, and drank lots of vodka. I don’t think there’s any holiday that can’t be improved with a Blade marathon.
Your logic is sound! I have in fact not watched and am not currently watching enough Blade! Resolved: watch more Blade.
OK I’m convinced (it was was John-Jules that did it if I’m being honest.)
BLADE 1 has New Order’s Construction [Pump Panel Reconstruction Mix] and that is the most nineties song never heard on the Matrix soundtrack.
%%%%%%% Fannish Nitpicking/Spoilers
It really irritated me that you could tell Red Wig Girl Vampire was gonna die the moment she showed up due to a severe case of being in a Del Toro flick while wearing scarlet lipstick (see also: Pacific Rim’s Russian squad), fawning over a male. It still annoys me that she died of not turning on her special magical UV flashlight.
How can you leave “Ryan Reynolds: bearded, shirtless, and bloody” off the diagram for B:3? I mean, that’s my main reason for watching it over and over.
I saw B:2 in the theater and was not impressed. I own all three but have never gone back to rewatch it. I should give it another chance.
Honestly…former sexiest man alive (may the triad of Goddesses have mercy on his soul, long may Sexiest Man Adam Levine live, etc.) Ryan Reynolds has never…really…done it for me. I have brought great shame upon my house.
To be honest, in other roles where he’s shaved and generic white guy leading man I’m pretty eh. But this look totally does it for me. Also the smartass motormouth thing makes me really want him for the rumored Deadpool movie he was attached to for a while, but that seems to be stuck in development hell. 🙁
His smartass timing is just so good in this. I’ve almost always hated him since, but he’s delightful here.
And Natasha Lyonne! I am only semi-ashamed to admit I have both watched this multiple times and listened to the actors’ DVD commentary track.
OH MY GOD HOW DID I LEAVE OUT NATASHA LYONNE
Blade I is one of about three movies that my dad and I can consistently watch together and both enjoy unironically. It may have been part of our family’s “Blood and Guts Friday Night” when I was a teenager. Thanks for reminding me that there are two more delicious campire (camp + vampire) masterpieces out there!
OH MY GOD HOW DID I LEAVE OUT NATASHA LYONNE
This is a wonderful article and now I want to rewatch all three movies. I will add that my favorite is the first one, because its circle includes Stephen Dorff as a ridiculously petulant vampire supervillain.
MY PEOPLE!
I’m honestly not sure how I’ve managed to go this long without picking one or more Blade movies to rewatch at random.
Ooh, I’ve not watched Blade for far too long!
His smartass timing is just so good in this. I've almost always hated him since, but he's delightful here.
2014 is the year of Great Cinema for me so I decided to finally watch Blade II last night… and the film was just ending at 2AM when SUDDENLY there was a persistent knock at the door!!!! I was home alone. I practically shit myself. Then I barricaded myself into my room thinking ‘Blade Blade channel Blade’ but this morning I am pretty sure it was my neighbour from upstairs who hit on me last week? Not so Blade-esque.
All hail Blade!!!