I have a soft spot for modern vampire action movies like The Lost Boys, Near Dark, The Forsaken or John Carpenter’s Vampires. The original premise of a cursed Romanian vampiric count with his horde of bisexual harpies is abandoned, reducing the genre antagonists to sexy humanoid bloodsuckers who must be killed just for being there. But cutting off subtexts and plot tangents to get a no holds barred action horror fest is not an inherently bad idea. However, I get suspicious when a movie, any movie, is based on a comic book character, even when he is Desmodos Rotundus. Hollywood’s disastrous output of filmed comics has provided ample evidence that comic book heroes only look cool in their source material. Here is Blade.

Our eponymous hero saw the light of life right after his pregnant mother received a vampiric kiss while she was in labor. She died in surgery, but the doctors managed to save the sibling. Blade isn’t entirely unaffected though. He is a so-called daywalker, immune to sunlight and silver but still has a vampire’s strength, healing powers -- and bloodlust. His self-appointed mission to rid the world of vampires is hampered by this blood thirst, which he counters with a decreasingly effective serum.

People are unaware that the vampires are omnipresent. They have backdoor alliances with influential humans and vast offshore bank deposits. They dress in accordance with the latest Parisian fashion and meet in cavernous boardrooms to discuss their fragile co-existence with humans which is based on discretion, restraint and huge amounts of money. Their modus vivendi is compromised by Deacon Frost (Stephen Dorff), a Generation X vampire who runs blood fest raves in abattoirs. Being a human turned vampire rather than a pureblood, he is insecure about his status, which manifests in his desire to take over the world. He intends to resurrect an ancient vampire blood god. To do so, he needs the blood of a daywalker, thus setting the stage for a cat and mouse game between Blade and Frost through the remaining reels.

The setup is, mildly put, a cinematic challenge. The synopsis requires morphine-prone amounts of disbelief suspension on the viewer’s part. But in spite of all the obvious odds, this movie works quite well. It's skillfully directed, technically outstanding, with fine acting performances throughout the entire cast, an impressive and effective production design, and awesome special effects. There are a few accomplished and unforgettable action sequences. The opening rave party scene, which Blade inconveniently crashes, is sheer brilliance and simply the best mass sweep-up ever confined to celluloid to date. The brush with death on the subway is impressive and breathtaking, and a case study for aspiring filmmakers on how to execute a daredevil sequence.

Blade is really one of the most stylized movies in recent years. It predates The Matrix but already features the camera swirling around bullets traveling in slow motion. The fights are smooth and violent with gallons of blood, impalements, explosions, decapitations and fang dentistry. Norrington carries the movie forward with flashes of imagination, various icky effects, and a fabulous soundtrack.

What really needs watching, however, is Wesley Snipes’ performance. This movie was his magnum opus -- he produced, starred, and choreographed the fighting sequences. He is very obviously having a hell of a good time, loving every minute of his cooler-than-thou characterization and showing off his impressive martial arts prowess.

In addition, Stephen Dorff is a cool-bad delight in a role that he seems born to play. Even Kris Kristofferson turns in a tolerable performance as Blade's mentor Whistler, portraying a father figure and maker of vampire-hacking gadgetry.

The finale of the movie is in fact my only real issue with this movie. Sadly, I have that quite often with this type of movies. Somehow, movie producers are persistently unwilling to resist the temptation of a big climactic showdown in which they will resort to all the technology they can get and afford to get it done. This always reminds me of a dog chasing its own tail: once he catches it, he doesn’t know what to do with the damn thing. Same here -- it more often than not feels like an afterthought, a sort of obligatory display of cinematic power that nobody really knew how to properly fit into the narrative. It’s just there because it always is so that’s how one’s supposed to wrap a movie up or else your movie will take a nose dive into the crap basement beneath the box office. It is an assumption nobody seems to argue. Alas, Blade falls into the same trap. Thankfully, the Asians are teaching a lesson or two on how to make a more ambiguous movie ending work.

Nevertheless, I firmly recommend Blade. You can’t go wrong if you’re in the mood for a brainless two hour thrillride of a movie. And who isn’t from time to time? I know I certainly am.