47
Metascore
25 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 75Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertWesley Snipes understands the material from the inside out and makes an effective Blade because he knows that the key ingredient in any interesting superhero is not omnipotence, but vulnerability.
- 70SalonCharles TaylorSalonCharles TaylorBlade in no way resembles a good movie, but its combination of music-video bombast, goth-rock sensibility, high-tech industrial production design, cold-blooded glossy magazine visuals, high-fashion club culture, horror movies, blaxploitation movies, Hong Kong movies and comic-book nihilism make it diverting trash.
- Sure, the story is pretty standard, and the dialogue is laughable or worse. But creative cinematography and non-stop, decently choreographed gratuitous violence make watching this comic-book movie—Blade is a minor, almost-forgotten Marvel comic—entertaining.
- 67Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovAustin ChronicleMarc Savlov"Interview With the Vampire" it's not, but marginally thrilling nonetheless, and besides, any film that features a house party in which the ceiling-mounted fire extinguishers expel freshets of crimson goo in place of H2O gets my vote.
- 63ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliBy the time the film is well into its second hour, we begin to wonder whether there's ever going to be a variation on the carnage and mayhem. As it turns out, there isn't.
- 60Washington PostMichael O'SullivanWashington PostMichael O'SullivanBlade's stomach-turning special effects, bone-crunching martial arts and cynical humor will more than satisfy any action-film addict's need for a fix of eye-popping escapist adrenaline.
- 50New Times (L.A.)Andy KleinNew Times (L.A.)Andy KleinAt best, second-rate pulp, hampered by excessive length, a thematically meandering screenplay, and a general lack of excitement.
- 38Chicago TribuneMichael WilmingtonChicago TribuneMichael WilmingtonOften ridiculous, mostly poorly written and, surprisingly poorly acted too. No matter how many flashy scenes the filmmakers shoot, the bad lines just keep dripping down. [21 Aug 1998]
- 38San Francisco ExaminerWalter AddiegoSan Francisco ExaminerWalter AddiegoIf only it wasn't such bloody nonsense.
- 30TV Guide MagazineKen FoxTV Guide MagazineKen FoxThe few good lines go to Kristofferson and the ever-amusing Kier, but Snipes's considerable energy is buried under an affectless, Terminator-style demeanor.