The Super Network

Whether you feel Twilight represents the real definition for them or sad excuses for them, vampires are in, and more popular than ever. However, back in the late 90s, the presence of vampires was only reduced to the small screen in a little show called “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” (a show that I will be doing an “In Retrospect”column on soon). Also, as hard as it is to believe with all the comic book movies released now, there was a big absence of films that were produced using Marvel characters. Both of these were changed in 1998, when the most unlikely of Marvel comic book characters was brought to screen in a film called Blade. A movie that starred Wesley Snipes and depicted a tortured half human, half vampire that felt it was his duty to rid the world of vampires. After a more successful (both creatively and financially) sequel directed by current Hollywood fantasy powerhouse Guillermo Del Torro, New Line Cinema wanted to make a third film and, much to the dismay of Snipes, depict a new set of heroes that is the classic case of the new taking over the old. In the end, not only did the franchise jump start the careers of many creative forces in Hollywood, it is also the franchise to make the logo of Marvel first spread across something other than the pages of a comic book. Spiderman? Thor? Captain America? Meet the hero that started it all in the late 90s and early 2000s. Meet Blade.

In 1973, a writer for Marvel named Marv Wolfman, along with artist Gene Colan, did a comic called Tomb Of Dracula. In the book, the comic reading public was introduced to a character called Blade, who fittingly used knives and was not depicted as a human-vampire hybrid. Purely human, and quite frankly pretty boring, Blade was an all human, very flawed character who simply used his hatred for vampires as the driving force behind his mission. Flash forward to the 90s. Screenwriter and big comic book fan David Goyer, who was in good graces with New Line Cinemas after his script for Dark City was pointed out by lots of critics to be among the most creative of 1997, brought to the table his intentions of bringing one of his favorite and, among his own mind, most underrated, comic book characters to the big screen. You have to remember: Comic book films were not really looked at as surefire successes. In fact, the only ones to come out in 1997, Batman & Robin and Steel, were critical and financial flops. The days of Superman ruling the screen were over, as the original was 19 years old. So, if Batman and Superman was not a go to success anymore, what made Goyer think that Blade would?

Reluctantly, Blade was green lit by New Line Cinema. They hired an ex music video director named Stephen Norrington, based on the creativity of his 1994 film Death Machine (or based on his cheapness) to direct the film. Then, they needed their Blade. Goyer thought of only one man. He went to Wesley Snipes with the role, who agreed and jumped onboard as not only the main character, but also as producer. The film was given a $45 million budget and released in 1998. The character of Deacon Frost, played by indie favorite Stephen Dorff, was also changed from the comics. In the books, he was an older gentleman who had the ambitions, but not the bratty (and at times amusing) characteristics Dorff brought to the film. I remember going to the film, and being amazed by the very first scene. The infamous bloodbath scene, and Blade’s introduction afterwards, set a tone for a movie that told me that these were not the vampires I grew up with. Instead of being the type of sexualized vampires that I watched in Buffy and the 1985 film Fright Night, these were vampires that were just a pain in the ass, and wanted control. The movie’s computer graphics were a little too ambitious for 1998, as they do not hold up very well. The make-up effects, however, were great, and just the atmosphere that Norrington creates with his film is enough to make it a pretty decent watch despite some underwritten characters and a ridiculous series of events that lead to a possible end of the world by Frost.

After making $131 million, New Line knew that they had a franchise on their hands. However, it also gave Marvel reason to think that maybe comic book characters were not dead to the audience after all. In 2000, they launched a film called X-Men. Its script went through the hands of everyone from Andrew Kevin Walker (Seven) to Joss Whedon (Buffy, The Avengers). But, in the end, Bryan Singer came in and directed the film that ended up making $296 million worldwide. This gave them reason to think that another Blade was also ready to be launched. David Goyer was once again hired to write the script. But, it was the director they hired that gave Blade 2 the kick that it needed. On a quest to make his dream project Hellboy, a little known horror/fantasy filmmaker named Guillermo Del Torro was hired to bring Blade to the screen once again to prove he could handle a comic book franchise. Taking out a bunch of the same flaws Goyer made in the script to the sequel that he had also made in the previous installment, Del Torro was determined to make a scary comic book movie. In fact, if you look at Snipes in a lot of the scenes he is in, his ending stances look like they are taken almost directly from a comic book. Goyer deserves credit for this sequel as well, as the reapers that are threatening the vampire population is a pretty creative direction to take the seemingly dark as can be character of Blade. Sure, it is old adage to put a character in harm’s way by making him team up with his enemies, but Del Torro makes it work. Between the scary shapes of the reapers, and the entertaining back and forth between Snipes and Perlman, Blade 2 is a very capable, superior to the original in almost every way, sequel.  Even introducing us to an actor named Norman Reedus who would come to the horror audiences’ attention 8 years later in the TV show Walking Dead. Released a month prior to Marvel’s own Spiderman,  Blade II would go on to gross $155 million, setting the stage for Spidey to take the world by storm.

Noticing a bit of a pattern here? Blade was a franchise that really set a standard. It was the first time I can recall that Stan Lee had his name onscreen in an executive producer capacity (even though he had almost nothing to do with the creation of the character himself), and made it known that the Marvel universe was a money maker. After the ambition of the first film, the fun scariness of the second, it makes me wonder what they were thinking when they let Goyer write and direct Blade: Trinity. Maybe it was the fact that Norrington and Del Torro were able to bring something to his scripts to make them work. Maybe it was the moods that they set. In any event, putting Goyer in the director’s chair for the third film was a mistake. Remember, this was the winter of 2004, where a few months before Spiderman 2 became one of the most successful films of our time. So, it was awesome to see the Marvel logo in front of this film. However, a  joke of a Dracula caricature, a new set of Nightstalkers, and a film that goes all over the place from the presence and non presence of the FBI all contributed to Snipes wanting to take his ball and go home from the set. Which is too bad because he needed this film so bad, and would go on a few years later to make direct to DVD films and go to prison for tax fraud. His career wasn’t going very well, and this was his ticket to more successful films in the future. Unfortunately, Goyer decided to concentrate more on the Nightstalkers, thinking they would launch into a franchise of their own. Even Kris Kristofferson wasn’t happy with the way he was handled. While I do not blame Snipes for being angry, this was not the way to handle it. As a producer, you can make any changes you want to the script in the beginning stages, therefore not cause such a hard time for everyone on set. The tension was hard for producers to hold back, as even during the producers’ commentary, producer Peter Frankfurt accused him of “phoning it in.” Now, whether this affected the film or not, is hard to tell. Because, the script of this film is an absolute mess. Even with the lackluster box office and critical lashing this film took, there was a positive. Before this film was made, Ryan Reynolds was known as the guy in “Two Guys, A Girl, And A Pizza Place.” He worked out hard and improvved his lines throughout the film and showed that, while his character was pretty annoying, he had a presence that would make him a star in the future. While a filter for Goyer’s vision wasn’t realized, he was able to bring Blade to the big screen for the third (and final?) time. And, even through off-screen pouts, it was great seeing Snipes kill a few vampires again.

In Retrospect, Blade will never be known as a franchise of great films. All of them have their faults. However, it is a franchise that many people have to thank for the success they have today. Writer David Goyer has hitched himself to Chris Nolan’s new version of Batman, outlining stories Batman Begins, Dark Knight, and this summer’s Dark Knight Rises, that Nolan and his brother Jonathan turn into gold. Ryan Reynolds is still enjoying portraying comic book characters onscreen (even if Hannibal King was made up for Blade: Trinity). Guillermo Del Torro would get his opportunity to do Hellboy, starring Blade 2’s Ron Perlman in the title role, and made that a bit of a franchise on its own one of our most creative directors and successful producers of today, Oscar nominated for Pans Labyrinth and producing films such as Splice and Puss In Boots (you read that right). It also put vampires back out in the spotlight of film-goers, a light that still has not dimmed. The Blade franchise made Marvel realize it could possibly branch out as a franchise as well. After all, they are months from bringing us one of the most anticipated summer films in years in The Avengers. And, while Thor will not be seen swinging his hammer at the undead, it sure was fun seeing Blade swing his sword at vampires and familiars that inhabited his world. Get out of jail soon, Wesley!