Blade (1998)

Dir: Stephen Norrington

Action-packed comic book adaptation about a leather-clad mutant bad-ass (Wesley Snipes) who devotes his life to avenge his mother's death at the hands of nocturnal predators (vampires, not raccoons). To make things worse, there's a conspiracy afoot involving Stephen Dorff and some ancient, gelatinous Blood God, which threatens to put our hero out of action once and for all if he doesn't fight back with krazy kung-fu and novelty gadgets. This brief synopsis should warn you not to expect anything cerebral and, in fairness, "Blade" is pacy enough to not be completely dull. Unfortunately, the story never quite engages and the almost constant stream of atrocious CGI effects manages to detract from, well, everything. There are no real surprises here and, in spite of a few imaginative action sequences, the plot is stunningly predictable. Even brief cameos from trash icons like Traci Lords and Udo Kier don't improve things as much as they should do. Maybe I was just tired; maybe I wasn't in the right mood but overall, this just didn't do much for me. *1/2