Blade (4k Ultra HD + Blu-ray)

“Wesley Snipes stars as the tortured soul Blade – half man, half immortal. Blade sharpens his lethal skills under the guidance of Whistler (Kris Kristofferson), his mentor, guardian and fellow hunter of the night. When the bloodthirsty Immortals’ lord, Deacon Frost (Stephen Dorff), declares war on the human race, Blade is humanity’s last hope for survival.”

Disclaimer: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided us with a free copy of this Blu-ray/DVD that we reviewed in this blog post. The opinions we share are our own.

Blade was a breath of fresh air for the vampire genre, being a more obscure character in the Marvel Universe that saw great success in films before Marvel took off. The franchise has so far has spawned three films, with the character finally back in the hands of Marvel Studios who is set to reboot the character. But, if it weren’t for the success of early comic book films like Blade, we may never have seen the rise of the MCU.

The character of Blade had always fascinated me. A hybrid vampire hunting his own kind, with the help of the old grizzled character of Whistler, the perfect mentor character with a hardened and vicious streak in him that is complimented well with Blade. These days Wesley Snipes is probably more identified with Blade than any of the other characters he’s done, and for good reason. It’s obvious it is a character he cares deeply about and does his best to embody, to the point by the third film he made everyone on set call him Blade. Regardless, Wesley Snipes was the perfect choice for Blade. The action, the subdued but hilarious one liners, the joy he takes in dispatching those bloodsucking vermin, all are elements that Snipes uses to make the character so likable.

Kris Kristofferson was another perfect choice for Blade’s mentor. Created by writer David S. Goyer, the character of Abraham Whistler originally made his debut in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, and was liked so much he was adopted by Marvel. Now making his live-action debut in this Goyer written film, Whistler is able to show off all the tools he’s given Blade to work with. His character’s backstory, his family tortured and killed by vampires, is a tragic one. One of the things I feel is the biggest missed opportunity in the franchise was the further exploration of Whistler’s backstory and his early relationship with Blade. Who knows what the future holds for these characters for the reboot, but this could have supplemented the Blade/Whistler relationship to make it all the more poignant in this and subsequent sequel.

The Deacon Frost character is a pretty entertaining villain, an ambitious vampire in an underground society that places pure-blood vampires, which he isn’t, as more respected members of the race. This hinders his ambitious plans to release the Blood God. Stephen Dorff does an excellent job in this role. Though I do like that this character received quite a bit of story himself, I feel at times there was too much time spent with him that could have been further allocated to perhaps the Blade/Whistler relationship. However, a protagonist is only as good as the antagonist, and any deviation may have altered that balance.

The film itself looks great, especially here in this 4k transfer. What doesn’t age well is the special effects. The opening sequence is one of the better examples, when Blade infiltrates the night club and slices and dices through a bunch of Vampires with his silver sword, instantly disintegrating them to the bone and eventually dust. When it’s done fast and if the editing is right, it looks fine, but any hesitation to cut away from the falling bones and you can see just how cartoonish they look as they crumble to the ground. The 4k accentuates this, and on the plus side they do look a bit better, but just a bit. The Blood God at the end still suffers from the horrible effects, but it’s a part of the film and something I begrudgingly look forward to each time I watch it.

Video

Blade is presented in 2160p 4k Ultra High Definition Widescreen 2.39:1. The film itself utilizes so many colors and hues to highlight specific sequences, and these all look excellent in this HDR transfer. The blue tint to the majority of the film particularly stands out, offering a very detailed picture that I believe blows the Blu-ray presentation out of the water. The film boasts some very deep darks thanks to the HDR, with the colors in those scenes looking especially vivid. The special effects are accentuated, as I mentioned, and can look a little rough, but it’s a small price to pay in seeing the beauty of the rest of the film that looks like it was shot yesterday.

Audio

The audio is presented in Dolby Atmos, again, a stunning track to listen to. The opening sequence in the nightclub will clearly demonstrate just how amazing this is, with the totally immersive music, to the blood sprinklers that turn on, which sounded like they were right overhead, spewing out liquid in my living room. The Atmos speakers are utilized quite well in this mix, with several other instances that stood out during viewing. The rest of the mix is well balanced. Powerful sound coming from the surrounds and dialogue clear and concise through the center channel. If the 4k video wasn’t enough for an upgrade, if you have the equipment, this audio mix should be.

Special Features

There are no new extras on this set, but do contain all the ones from previous releases, which include:

4k Disc:

• Audio Commentary by Cast and Crew

Blu-ray Disc:

• La Magra
• Designing Blade
• The Origins of Blade: A Look at Dark Comics
• The Blood Tide
• Theatrical Trailer

Blade looks and sounds fantastic on this new 4k set. As a fan of the film and owner of the trilogy already on Blu-ray, the quality of this release is definitely worth the upgrade, even if it is just the original film. With the potential of the character to be revisited in the next year, this is a great time to revisit the franchise and the film that helped give rise to the modern comic book blockbuster.