I rented this movie at one point and was intrigued from start to finish. Lots of action, if excessively gory, and vampire slaying. Kind of like a certain she-slayer from the mind of Joss Whedon. But this is something like Batman meets Zorro with a nocturnal protagonist who also wields a sword and various other sharp implements. I hadn't seen this much blood since Duke Nukem 3D. The villain is really good too and we get to see Donal Logue from the TV sitcom Grounded For Life as a voracious minion of the vampire Deacon Frost. Is the world doomed to the mercy of the bloodsuckers? Is the darkest truly before the dawn? You'll see!

Wesley Snipes is well-cast as the half-vampire, half-mortal, and deservedly won an award for favorite actor in a Horror movie. The visual effects are top-notch and the film has a solid premise. The action is exciting and fast-paced and the fight scenes (especially the final battle with Stephen Dorff) are excellent. Great photography and music, as well.

I had heard of Blade for years. He was a character I knew about and also some of the things that made him. I was still taken back by how badass Wesley Snipe could be; standing ominously before turning into a full on machine. The story was great, the cast was great and they had great source material and absolutely delivered. Looking forward to Balde 2 and 3!

Is this the movie that started it all? I'll go in and say "no, not Blade," though it does certainly need it's share of credit.For starters, it was rated R, and even though it was rater R back in 1998 where R was far from the kiss of death and Hollywood could feel free to make movies that weren't kid friendly and expect a solid return, it was still rated R. R is harder to turn into a franchise.And then there is the character himself, Blade. For those of us that wandered the comic book racks, Blade was awesome...but awesome in the way that us Catholics and probably most Jews view Angels...as in you love and respect them, but never want to meet them in person.You see an angel you know there is about to be blood, a lot of blood, you probably won't live through it sort of blood and the same goes with Blade.And mind, that applies across the board, Tomb of Dracula, The Nightstalkers, and the insanely short lived solo series.So of course the movie is rated R. I mean, the opening with the with the blood sprinkelers told us two things straight up, the first was that the movie was going to be way too much fun. And the second was that it would be far from kid friendly.Seriously though, what a way to open a film. Gets you hooked from the start. In fact, it was so good that we even overlooked the fact that vampires were dusted ala Buffy.Buffy/Blade show down, you'd pay to watch that wouldn't you? I know I would.So, yeah, this does not at all start the Comic Franchise movie trend, but it was important. It really proved that there could be a movie based on a comic that didn't involve Superman or Batman and still be a success, still be good.Sure, The Punisher 1990 proved that, at least in the B-Movie world, but Blade was summer blockbuster sort of good.Sure we wanted to see Frank Drake and Hannibal King, Rachel Harker and Doctor Strange, but for the first installment, Blade was enough...even if Deacon Frost was too young it was still miles and miles of awesome.And now that Snipe is out of jail, Strange is out in theaters, and the MCU has Marvel Edge...we can only hope to see another.