This is one sick movie. Too sick to be justified by a shallow, insubstantial, escapist action movie. A more thoughtful pursuit that required the violence and depravity to get its point across might have been ok, but Blade is no such thing. Instead, it's a sadistic cliche parade in which the surface is all there is. The hero, Blade, played by Wesley Snipes, is "cool," no question about that. But it's "cool" to an extreme. He'll never look his opponent in the eye, for instance, if it would ruin a neat profile shot.

The villains aren't particularly interesting -- they're just grungy, nondescript evil guys with flaring eyes and aspirations for world domination. The plot involves a ridiculous prophecy (there's even a reference to "The Chosen One"), and the dialogue appears to have been pieced together entirely of sound bites written for the express purpose of their inclusion in advertisements. Pour liberal doses of blood and laughable action sequences, all of which put "cool" ahead of "plausibility," and Blade is complete.