Movies Worth Seeing
Movies Worth Seeing is a comedy podcast that explores all the best trending films and blockbuster releases. A big movie buff, Michael is an unconventional reviewer of all things movies. This podcast is for anyone sick of watching crappy movies and wants only to watch the best
Movies Worth Seeing
Blade Rediscovered: Why This 1998 Vampire Hunter Still Matters
Step into the blood-soaked underworld where vampires rule the night and only one man walks between worlds. Wesley Snipes' portrayal of Blade isn't just a performance—it's a declaration of superhero cinema's untapped potential that continues to resonate decades later.
What made the 1998 Blade so revolutionary was its complete disinterest in franchise-building. Before shared universes dominated the landscape, this film stood confidently alone, establishing its own unique visual identity and R-rated sensibilities. The result? A marvel property that doesn't feel like a "Marvel movie" at all.
Snipes brings an undeniable magnetism that elevates every scene. His physical prowess shines through extended fight sequences captured in long takes—no quick cuts hiding stunt doubles here. Even when delivering the corniest lines imaginable, there's something mesmerizing about his presence that makes it all work. As one viewer notes, "If you can take something that's not cool at all and create a character that makes that cool, you get a guaranteed hit."
The film's practical effects and minimal CGI give it a gritty authenticity that many modern superhero films lack. While some visual effects might look dated ("like PlayStation 1" as one fan puts it), they're used sparingly enough to maintain the film's impact. Stephen Dorff's Frost provides an interesting villain, though his character development sometimes feels rushed or incomplete compared to the fully realized Daywalker.
With Blade's recent cameo in Deadpool & Wolverine sparking renewed interest, the question remains: would you prefer a complete reboot or a proper Blade 4 with Wesley Snipes getting the send-off this iconic character deserves? Share your thoughts and favorite Blade moments in the comments below!
Holy shit, man. Oh fuck, I love this movie Pretty much. What started this was watching Deadpool and Wolverine and seeing Wesley Snipes' Blade, but you had not seen any of the Blade movies.
Speaker 2:No, like I know the Blade movies, of course, but never watched them.
Speaker 1:What did you think of Wesley Snipes? I get the vibe you're not familiar with his work.
Speaker 2:No, I'm not familiar with his work at all. I'm actually only familiar with his work as Blade.
Speaker 1:If I was to tell you a few things about Wesley Snipes. He's known for having a lot of weird hairdos in his movies. Only Wesley Snipes could pull that off. There's no way a white guy is going to pull off a hairstyle like that For his girl.
Speaker 1:I don't know, let's pull it up on the editing chair, like I mean, look, tom Hanks gave it a fair go, but he ain't. You know, he ain't doing martial arts and shit like that. He ain't flying across the room and ice skating uphill while pulling off that hairstyle. The thing I love about Blade 1 is number one. As we're watching it, we could easily forget that this is a Marvel movie.
Speaker 1:Yes, absolutely it doesn't set up any cinematic universe and I kind of miss those days when each Marvel superhero film had its own unique identity. It wasn't like how it is now, where, like, disney just owns most of them except Spider-Man. Because we need more of those Spider-Man villain movies. You know what I'm saying. I want some more Morbius 2 and f***ing Madam Web and Kraven the Hunter. The point is, this was a great time when you didn't know what to expect from superhero movies, but they also were like really bad. So Blade just had to be cool. And by having Wesley Snipes playing Blade, that's like 90% of the cool factor right there. F***ing badass. Even when he's like his best friend is dying in front of him, he's just like whatever happens, happens, man. I've got to go kill some vampires. I don't give a fuck man.
Speaker 2:No, his reaction was pretty good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but like it's all, like very, it's all contained in his eyes, but like I don't know how some actors do it where it's like you can see that they have this protected wall that they've got up, but underneath is like the little cracks of emotions, Skill, baby skill. I remember Robert De Niro said a famous quote where he was like it's not about the emotions that you can show as an actor, it's about the emotions that you hide. You can tell Wesley Snipes does his own fight choreography because you don't see stunt doubles or anything.
Speaker 2:And he's so shitty little cutaways like this one second where you drop, it's like no, it's just like one long take and it's such a g up when he gets his sunglasses back at the end.
Speaker 1:It sounds so stupid to say it, but when you're watching the movie you don't. It doesn't feel cheesy because it's Wesley Snipes and it's like I have the source of my power because it's late 1990s and sunglasses is all you need.
Speaker 2:It's so funny those sunglasses. They just suit his face.
Speaker 1:It's just like perfect fit for him.
Speaker 2:Like one of the other characters, grabs the sunglasses, chucks it on and he's like oh yeah, he doesn't have the aura.
Speaker 1:That is a good point. It's similar to all superhero films in a way. You take the costume off that actor, put it on another actor, like recasting and stuff, and you start to realize that actor was way more talented than you thought. It wasn't just simply a matter of taking the costume and putting it on a different actor. There's just this magnetism, this aura, this natural charisma about Wesley Snipes. It's just f***ing amazing. Awesome to watch. Man, it's just a f***ing blast.
Speaker 2:If you can take something that's not cool at all and create a character that makes that cool, you get a guaranteed hit.
Speaker 1:There's barely any CGI in this movie, for one, because it's 1998., so they've got to use it sparingly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there were some moments where we said that it looked like PlayStation 1 game, but still was better than thor, love and thunder. The other thing that I really like just seeing wesley snipes be like stone cold, dead, serious, and then out of nowhere, for no reason at all. Just mother, why are you shooting at me? Are you serious for real? I remember when I was a kid and even as a kid I remember thinking to myself that didn't seem like it was the same character that I'm seeing. This whole film that's a perfect example of Wesley.
Speaker 1:Snipes can do the corniest s*** and it gets a pass. Can you imagine how much cornier would have been if someone like Jesse Eisenberg yes, holy f**k. Can you imagine him trying to pull that off and make it look cool as soon as we get introduced to Blade? It's badass. You're seeing all the vampires just crawl away and like, oh my god, it's him the Daywalker, it's like one of the best. Like, oh my God, it's him the Daywalker, it's like one of the best. Just, that shot is such a great intro to Blade of how much of a badass he is without saying anything. I have a question. I don't know why he has the opportunity to kill this one particular character called Quinn, like 20 f**ks in times and just doesn't do it.
Speaker 2:But then he kills him like that at the end of the movie anyway and he just like burns up.
Speaker 1:So the whole time this dude's getting more screen time than Frost. So you're thinking something big is going to happen where he's going to get killed in like a super creative way, and then nah, he just boom, just vanquished in like two seconds. It didn't ruin the movie, but Bit of an anticlimactic point.
Speaker 2:What did you think of frost as a villain? He gets some really cool moments. I like the character. Odd casting, I've got to say this guy looks a little bit like um robert pedersen, you know, and vampire robert pedersen's kind of like twilight series all over again. I know I see like more of a rough kind of character.
Speaker 1:It's hard to take him seriously because he gets bitch slapped by some vampire dude who's wearing a suit, who's like a nobody. He doesn't look like a physical presence that's going to be able to compete against wesley snipes physically and the only time.
Speaker 1:Once he is a physical kind of threat, it doesn't last very long. We don't really understand a lot about why he's the way he is. We just know he's he's just trying to be like a leader for the vampires into the new age and do something radical everybody keeps saying he's not a pureblood and that's why he frustrated, but it's like it doesn't feel like he cares about it. I feel that because there wasn't enough depth there, then they just decided oh, he's also the vampire that bit Blade's mum.
Speaker 2:Feels like a bit of a cheap way out, kind of thing.
Speaker 1:That would be cool for a whole separate villain for like a different movie. If that was the story, though, because then you'd have a villain where you kind of empathise with him in a way, and it would be interesting to see a vampire villain who hates being a vampire. By now, everyone's so sick of seeing the superhero origin story of by now this is the first one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no even then they were like no, let's do it a more creative way. We don't want to just show the superhero getting the powers and discovering everything, and it also gives us way more mystery that can be uncovered throughout the sequels, even though there's no post-credit scene or whatever. It ends in a fun way that leaves you wanting more. You don't know where the sequel is going to go at all.
Speaker 2:I suppose because this was the first in 1998, so I feel there was no promise for the second movie.
Speaker 1:I don't even know if they knew by the end of this that they were going to make a second film.
Speaker 2:From a one to five. How many stars would you give it?
Speaker 1:I reckon four out of five. The only reason I don't give it five is because Blade 2 is better. After watching that now I'm just ready to go into Blade 2. It makes me appreciate Blade 2 more because I look at Blade 1 and I'm like, wow, they improve every single thing in the sequel, with a completely different director.
Speaker 2:I would give it a four and a half stars. It's a little fire cgi here and there and the skeletons flying, reminding myself it's 1998, like they had to go through it frame by frame sticking stickers on it. I don't know how they freaking did it. I thought it was pretty f***ing good. It was a trendsetter. It started a whole new industry, changed the whole industry, yeah, the whole style of the movie.
Speaker 1:I thought it was very progressive for 1998. The humour was not in-your-face humour and it didn't detract from Blade being an absolute badass.
Speaker 2:If anything, most of the humor came from how serious he is wesley snap's mom's storyline of her coming back, so an extra five minutes of them like almost kissing with each other real weird how the hell did we forget?
Speaker 1:about that and the argument could be made that she's been a vampire for so long. She's forgotten completely about her human life? Yeah, but why?
Speaker 2:why go so sexual with her? With him, sorry, why. Why is she getting so sexual up his nose, touching lips? Because it's wesley.
Speaker 1:It was her input, she just wanted it I reckon wesley snipes took her aside and was like man, you got to do some nose rubbing or something. The scene needs something more and I'm wesley are you really?
Speaker 2:gonna argue with wesley sniped absolutely not, but still questionable decision from the movie making perspective she just rubbed noses like it's not like she gave him a vampire hand job.
Speaker 1:Oh come on, they were touching lips like it was Weird it does bring up a good point the fact that the Doctor and Blade don't have this love interest. But it's great because when you're watching the film it doesn't feel like there should be and you don't feel there's anything missing. There doesn't always have to be a love interest in a movie for it to pop.
Speaker 2:The beautiful thing about 90s movies is like if there's no space for it, don't do it, you've got so many other things going on with the story as well, there's literally no room for it.
Speaker 1:Man, wesley Snipes is a good-looking bloke. I'm not going to lie. I bet that dude's on like some countdown of top 50 sexiest dudes or something. Guarantee Deadp countdown of top 50 sexiest dudes or something guarantee dead porn. Wolverine is gonna hopefully cause this resurgence where everyone's ironically just gonna re-watch all the blade films. It'll probably cause more issues for them recasting blade and doing the whole reboot. It would make me kind of excited to see a blade fall in a way. But tell us you know. Comment down below what are some of your favorite blade moments. Would you like to see a blade reboot or would you prefer they made a blade fall with wesley snipes and gave him the proper send-off that this character deserves? Comment below and let us know.