Wesley Snipes stars as a vampire slayer with heaps of style and martial arts.

Comic book characters meet kung fu with Wesley Snipes starring in the lead role as half-human, half-vampire Blade, a ruthless vampire hunter. Blade is seeking revenge for the death of his mother at the hands of vampires, with the aid of friend Whistler (Kris Kristofferson), and Karen Jenson (N'Bushe Wright), a haematologist who hopes to cure Blade.

As in any good comic book, Blade faces an arch nemesis, here played by Stephen Dorff as Deacon Frost, who has found a way to resurrect the Blood God (or 'La Magra'). By doing this, Frost hopes to trigger a vampire apocalypse, whereby vampires take over the World from humans, who are nothing but their food.

The focus of Blade is clear from the outset - the movie tries to show off with its classy style, in conjunction with Blade's steely glare and witty one-liners borrowed straight from 80's action movies. Be prepared to be overwhelmed by awesome martial arts sequences, taking heavy reference from the cyber-punk style featured in The Matrix .

The plot can be a little on the creaky side, but it would be wrong to deny that it has depth. Blade's character has an interesting past, elements of which get dug up as the movie progresses. However, the roles of some of the supporting actors (Wright in particular) get stereotypical, which is somewhat disappointing.

This version of the DVD comes complete with some very good featurettes, which fortunately aren't too short, giving a well-rounded disc.

See also: Wesley Snipes ; Stephen Norrington

Blade is the movie to which all others in the action / comic book genre should aim for.