BLADE

Blade is a 1998 superhero action flick based on the comic book of the same name. Blade stars African-American actor Wesley Snipes as the title character who's a half-human/half-vampire who's not only at war with full-blooded vampires but, unlike full-blooded vamps, he can walk out in daylight without getting his blood-sucking ass fried to a crisp. Helping Blade with this task is a rather rough older gent who's a weapons expert named Whistler played by country crooner Kris Kristofferson along with a nurse he rescues from vampires who agrees to help him in his quest to wipe out vampire-kind. Blade's nemesis in the film is a rogue vampire named Deacon Frost--played by Stephen Dorff in what's perhaps his most memorable role to date--who's intent on becoming king of the vampires and/or wiping out humanity. You know, "typical" vampire shit. Anyway, as you might've guessed, Blade is a slice-'em-up/dice-'em-up vampire flick--like, for instance, Blade violently wipes out an entire vampire nightclub at the beginning of the film--that came out years before the sappy-crappy teenage angst-ridden vampiric-esque Twilight flicks. Blade also came out years before the current spate of mega-budgeted superhero flicks. Actually, I feel Blade is a better film than at least some of said current mega-budgeted superhero flicks (and, yes, I'm looking at YOU, Spider Man!). Blade became a huge box office success at the time and spawned two equally-successful--though, at least in my view, not as good--sequels. These films were released before Snipes was more or less regulated to doing B-movie-esque action flicks. Of course, these films were also released some years before Wesley went to the pokey for a bit for reportedly evading his taxes or whatever, but I digress. In any case, I think Blade is a prime example of how not only a vampire flick SHOULD be made but also a superhero flick as well (and, again, I'm looking at YOU, Spider Man!).