Bled

Yesterday evening I watched a number of tapes, most of them short in length. I had an episode of "Gilligan's Island" left to watch, a tape containing two episodes of the 80's "Ewoks" cartoon (about which I could write a post, and perhaps might), an episode of "Mystery Science Theater 3000" (about which there is no need to write) and finished out things with a viewing of the 1998 film "Blade" (which I had not yet seen). That's worth writing about.

It's a reasonably enjoyable movie. Blade is an exceptionally taciturn vampire hunter, to the point that I repeatedly and openly pleaded for a smile or some sign that the character felt anything ever. The vampires, by comparison, enjoyed a noticeable zest for life that made them easy to root for by comparison. Indeed, all the bad guys seemed to feel joy and none of the good guys did. Is that not the very opposite of what you would expect?

In any case, Blade must take down the vampires before they carry out their prophecy (for there always must be a prophecy) and of course Blade's blood is essential to the process. Now, I don't mean to get caught up in the plot. The point is that Blade kills a lot of faceless vampires and vampire flunkies and never moves a muscle in his face area, maybe even when he is speaking. His sidekick Kris Kristofferson was a little more interesting. His romantic interest could have balanced things out, but she follow's Blade's lead on emotions.

I have to give the movie a lot of credit, though. It's got some style, and it manages the task of conveying about ten movie's worth of exposition in a way that sometimes approaches natural. The effects aren't terrible when they rely on practical methods, but get really bad when they go digital. There's a lot of swelling up and exploding like a balloon filled with blood. There's not a lot of evident reason to go on with life, as grim as things are. I don't expect to watch the remaining films in the series, but the gulf between my actual desire and that which would be necessary is not that severe.