Full Transcript for Comic Horror Fest - Blade (1998) feat. Paul Waller - A Year in Horror podcast

--> 00:03:47.599 You, Paul? Ah? What an intro? What a smashing voice 38 00:03:47.599 --> 00:03:51.000 you've got, sir, And yeah, I do love it. When ever, 39 00:03:51.080 --> 00:03:54.560 I speak to our fellow friend Lono, who goes, please 40 00:03:54.599 --> 00:03:57.680 don't start liking father Malone more than me. So, yeah, 41 00:03:57.960 --> 00:04:01.319 more than happy to be back with you. And yeah, 42 00:04:01.560 --> 00:04:07.080 Stephen Norington's he's delivereds a film for the ages here. 43 00:04:07.080 --> 00:04:09.680 Now, okay, we aren't talking blade, we're gonna start this 44 00:04:09.719 --> 00:04:13.120 off with Blade Everybody, Blade, which came out in nineteen 45 00:04:13.360 --> 00:04:16.600 ninety eight August twenty first, nineteen ninety eight, one hundred 46 00:04:16.639 --> 00:04:19.120 and twenty minutes, forty five million dollar budget, pulled in 47 00:04:19.120 --> 00:04:21.879 one hundred and thirty one million dollars. People will tell 48 00:04:21.920 --> 00:04:24.680 you that this is the actual start of the Marvel 49 00:04:24.839 --> 00:04:28.920 cinematic universe. Prior to this, there were no incarnations. That's wrong. 50 00:04:29.399 --> 00:04:32.079 There was Howard the Duck before this. Before that, there 51 00:04:32.120 --> 00:04:34.879 was the Doctor Strange television movie or the Captain America 52 00:04:34.959 --> 00:04:39.560 TV movies. There have always been cinematic adaptations of Marvel films. Okay, 53 00:04:39.600 --> 00:04:41.720 in some way, shape or form, not everything has to 54 00:04:41.800 --> 00:04:46.240 be a landmark. Nevertheless, this motherfucking film is a motherfucking 55 00:04:46.360 --> 00:04:49.079 landmark because it might be the first time that a 56 00:04:49.480 --> 00:04:52.959 non traditional superhero hit the big screen in such a 57 00:04:52.959 --> 00:04:57.920 way that was actually goddamn decent. Paul, Yeah, yeah, take 58 00:04:57.959 --> 00:05:00.519 me back to nineteen ninety eight, would you where are you, 59 00:05:00.839 --> 00:05:03.920 Paul Waller? Culturally? What are you wearing? Who are you 60 00:05:04.040 --> 00:05:07.000 listening to? What are you going to see at the movies? 61 00:05:07.759 --> 00:05:10.000 Okay, I was. I can tell you exactly what was 62 00:05:10.040 --> 00:05:13.959 going on. I discovered hardcore. It was the likes of 63 00:05:14.360 --> 00:05:18.120 I don't know. The first thing was Nirvana, and when 64 00:05:18.160 --> 00:05:20.680 that had finished, I was like, right, that list Kirk 65 00:05:20.759 --> 00:05:23.040 Bain's given us, That's what I'm going to do with 66 00:05:23.079 --> 00:05:27.319 my life. And I discovered underground American indie music and 67 00:05:27.720 --> 00:05:31.519 hardcore and I got so heavily into hardcore and emo 68 00:05:32.160 --> 00:05:35.240 with that very first wave bands that people will have 69 00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:39.759 never heard of. But like, I was just obsessed with 70 00:05:39.800 --> 00:05:43.319

this stuff. I was so desperate I formed a band 71 00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:47.360 and when we were on tour, Blade was one of 72 00:05:47.360 --> 00:05:50.560 the watches that we did. It was nineteen ninety nine 73 00:05:50.600 --> 00:05:53.040 in fact, when I first saw Blade and we were 74 00:05:53.079 --> 00:05:55.040 on tour and we were in Germany at the time. 75 00:05:55.720 --> 00:05:58.759 With this's a VHS, I think it must have been like, 76 00:05:59.199 --> 00:06:01.680 it's a bit vague that, but it no, Maybe it 77 00:06:01.720 --> 00:06:06.800 wasn't because we watched it in English, so yeah, and 78 00:06:06.839 --> 00:06:09.800 we were in Germany, so maybe it was. I don't know, 79 00:06:09.879 --> 00:06:13.319 but either way, we watched it late one night and 80 00:06:14.040 --> 00:06:15.759 the rest of the band were just like you know 81 00:06:15.879 --> 00:06:19.160 when you leave a cinema and you're so excited about 82 00:06:19.199 --> 00:06:21.800 what you've seen and you're reenacting little parts and things 83 00:06:21.800 --> 00:06:23.879 like that. The rest of the tour was then being 84 00:06:23.959 --> 00:06:25.639 Blade and it was so annoying. 85 00:06:26.160 --> 00:06:30.079 That's fucking fantastic, man, I love that. Yeah, for me, 86 00:06:30.319 --> 00:06:32.800 I saw Blade when it came out. I've been a 87 00:06:32.839 --> 00:06:36.800 Blaede fan for a long time. But before I delve 88 00:06:36.800 --> 00:06:40.800 in any of that fucking autobiographical bullshit, I gotta ask you, what, 89 00:06:41.720 --> 00:06:43.959 at this point, you're seeing Blade for the first time, 90 00:06:44.079 --> 00:06:46.160 did you know Blaede was a comic book character. 91 00:06:46.279 --> 00:06:49.360 I did, Yeah, I did, thanks to things like Empire 92 00:06:49.439 --> 00:06:51.560 magazine and things like that. I also knew it was 93 00:06:51.600 --> 00:06:56.279 a horror as well, although like from what my friends 94 00:06:56.399 --> 00:06:59.600 were sort of saying, it wasn't that they were like 95 00:06:59.720 --> 00:07:02.800 even in the comics, it really is, right, Oh yeah, 96 00:07:02.879 --> 00:07:05.959 it's a horror comic. But yeah, to be honest with you, 97 00:07:06.079 --> 00:07:08.519 I knew like a little bit of the history with 98 00:07:08.600 --> 00:07:11.399 it because of that Empire article that had come out, 99 00:07:11.519 --> 00:07:13.439 and it was something that I did want to see, 100 00:07:13.439 --> 00:07:15.199 but I didn't want to go to the cinema, and 101 00:07:15.279 --> 00:07:18.399 I had free cinema tickets where I lived, so it 102 00:07:18.519 --> 00:07:21.199 was that much of an effort not to actually go 103 00:07:21.240 --> 00:07:23.079 and see it. I was just not bothered. 104 00:07:23.720 --> 00:07:27.000 Wow, that's incredible. Note they do need to bring up 105 00:07:27.160 --> 00:07:29.519 a couple of things here. This will let you know 106 00:07:30.079 --> 00:07:33.920 where Blade was for me in nineteen ninety

eight when 107 00:07:33.920 --> 00:07:37.160 this movie came out, because I've been an avid reader 108 00:07:37.399 --> 00:07:40.639 of the comic for fucking Ever's. 109 00:07:39.839 --> 00:07:41.639 Going to be such a nerd here, I can't write. 110 00:07:41.879 --> 00:07:43.720 Let's do it all right now. Listen. 111 00:07:44.199 --> 00:07:48.079 In the Marvel universe, all evil comes from their version 112 00:07:48.120 --> 00:07:51.160 of the Necronomicon. It's called the Dark Hole. So this 113 00:07:51.360 --> 00:07:55.439 evil book and the book begat the first vampire. His 114 00:07:55.519 --> 00:07:58.600 name was Varney, and then he gave us Dracula, and 115 00:07:58.639 --> 00:08:02.439 then Dracula was the ruler of vampires in the Marvel universe. 116 00:08:02.480 --> 00:08:04.839 He got his own comic book in nineteen seventy one 117 00:08:04.920 --> 00:08:09.600 called Tomb of Dracula, where he became the antagonist. But 118 00:08:09.680 --> 00:08:12.040 really he's the protagonist. But we can't really say he's 119 00:08:12.040 --> 00:08:14.240 the protagonist because he drinks blood and he's trying to 120 00:08:14.279 --> 00:08:17.120 take over the world. So what they had was this 121 00:08:17.319 --> 00:08:22.920 trio of vampire hunters and they're chasing Dracula all around 122 00:08:22.959 --> 00:08:25.040 the globe. A couple of years in the comic is 123 00:08:25.079 --> 00:08:29.199 taken over by a guy named Marv Wolfman. No joke, Well, 124 00:08:29.240 --> 00:08:32.519 Marv Wolfman and his first order of business is to 125 00:08:32.639 --> 00:08:37.559 introduce While the characters are traveling across Europe, they stop 126 00:08:37.639 --> 00:08:41.679 in London and there they meet Blade. He's black and 127 00:08:41.759 --> 00:08:47.600 he's English. I'm gonna say that again, everybody, Blade is English. 128 00:08:47.720 --> 00:08:49.039 He's from London. 129 00:08:49.720 --> 00:08:50.159 Okay. 130 00:08:50.519 --> 00:08:54.120 Now, Blade is not an ally of this trio of 131 00:08:54.200 --> 00:08:57.559 vampire hunters. He's just his own independent contractor. He's out 132 00:08:57.600 --> 00:09:01.200 to fucking kill Dracula. And he gets his name because 133 00:09:01.440 --> 00:09:06.960 he uses these teak wooden daggers that he throws. 134 00:09:07.759 --> 00:09:10.080 And okay, this. 135 00:09:10.159 --> 00:09:13.039 Gid's even weirder man right, So his origin is the 136 00:09:13.080 --> 00:09:15.799 same in the comics. His mom was bitten while she 137 00:09:15.960 --> 00:09:20.320 was pregnant and that imbued him with powers, except he's 138 00:09:20.360 --> 00:09:23.120 not a vampire at all in the comics. What he 139 00:09:23.320 --> 00:09:27.759 is immune to the vampire infection. If a vampire bites him, 140 00:09:27.799 --> 00:09:31.600 he'll still be human, and he can sense when evil 141 00:09:31.720 --> 00:09:35.919 is around, so basically he has incorruptible blood. Now, throughout 142 00:09:35.960 --> 00:09:39.399 the seventies, Blade would pop up in comics here and there, 143 00:09:39.639 --> 00:09:42.919 but by the eighties he completely disappeared for a very 144 00:09:42.960 --> 00:09:46.440 good reason, because vampires were banished from the Marvel universe 145 00:09:46.480 --> 00:09:49.279 for the entirety of the nineteen eighties, Doctor Strange just 146 00:09:49.279 --> 00:09:51.879 got sick of them and got hold of the Dark 147 00:09:51.919 --> 00:09:55.039 Hold and he banished them, so we wouldn't see Blade 148 00:09:55.039 --> 00:09:58.240 again until the late nineteen eighties, where he shows back 149 00:09:58.360 --> 00:10:01.480 up with a group calling them selves the night Stalkers, 150 00:10:02.200 --> 00:10:05.039 which is again, this is Hannibal King and Frank Drake 151 00:10:05.200 --> 00:10:07.679 that was the third from the other, right. Now, Hannibal 152 00:10:07.759 --> 00:10:10.799 King is a vampire himself, and Frank Drake is the 153 00:10:10.879 --> 00:10:15.320 last living relative of Dracula. So before Dracula was turned, 154 00:10:15.360 --> 00:10:18.240 he still had a bloodline and this is his last guy, right. 155 00:10:18.480 --> 00:10:21.480 So they formed this trio called the night Stalkers who 156 00:10:21.519 --> 00:10:25.120 are hunting just they're basically it's like the X Files, okay, 157 00:10:25.360 --> 00:10:27.799 because there are no vampires, so they're hunting demons and shit. 158 00:10:28.240 --> 00:10:28.840 Now there's this. 159 00:10:28.799 --> 00:10:32.440 Whole other group of superheroes that are all the dark 160 00:10:32.559 --> 00:10:35.799 versions of Marvel. So we got two versions of ghost Rider, 161 00:10:36.039 --> 00:10:40.320 we got Morbius, the Living Vampire, and oh and Doctor 162 00:10:40.360 --> 00:10:43.919 Strange himself. They all get together with the Knight Snalckers 163 00:10:43.919 --> 00:10:46.679 and they form a group called the Midnight Suns who 164 00:10:46.759 --> 00:10:49.279 have to defeat Lilith. It's a great fucking run of comics. 165 00:10:49.279 --> 00:10:51.519 Everyone should be reading these They were fucking great, right. 166 00:10:52.360 --> 00:10:57.039 Basically that ends, vampires end up getting reintroduced. At the 167 00:10:57.120 --> 00:11:00.320 end of it, Blade gets his own series, and this 168 00:11:00.360 --> 00:11:04.480 is when he gets the attention of Avi A Rod 169 00:11:04.519 --> 00:11:07.600 who's running Marvel and trying to sell off properties and movies, 170 00:11:07.639 --> 00:11:09.919 who brings it to David Goyer, who's the screenwriter of 171 00:11:09.960 --> 00:11:13.120 this movie. And David Goyer sees this as an opportunity 172 00:11:13.360 --> 00:11:16.320 to make a superhero movie without a real superhero, and 173 00:11:16.440 --> 00:11:20.240 to create a because the Blade's history is still vague 174 00:11:20.279 --> 00:11:23.159 at this point, vague enough where he can turn him 175 00:11:23.159 --> 00:11:26.360 into something else. So what you

end up getting is 176 00:11:26.759 --> 00:11:29.159 and this happens rarely, but it happens more in comics 177 00:11:29.200 --> 00:11:32.240 than any other sort of media. The movie comes out 178 00:11:32.320 --> 00:11:35.360 and is so influential that they go back and rewrite 179 00:11:35.399 --> 00:11:38.919 the character. So now Blade is a vampire day walker 180 00:11:39.279 --> 00:11:42.559 who has to feed on blood in the comics, where 181 00:11:42.639 --> 00:11:44.639 up until nineteen ninety eight he was not. 182 00:11:44.879 --> 00:11:48.879 Okay, isn't this going against your the rules though of 183 00:11:49.240 --> 00:11:51.639 this series? With I take it this is episode one, 184 00:11:51.639 --> 00:11:54.000 so you've already gone against the rules. So no, this 185 00:11:54.039 --> 00:11:56.480 is comic adaptations. There's no rule at play here. 186 00:11:56.639 --> 00:11:59.159 This is I want to see what they do with it, 187 00:11:59.399 --> 00:12:02.200 and if what they do with it is good, then 188 00:12:02.240 --> 00:12:03.799 I'm going to continue to praise it. 189 00:12:04.000 --> 00:12:06.879 And what David Goyer did here was great. 190 00:12:06.679 --> 00:12:11.200 Man because he took this character and gave us a 191 00:12:11.240 --> 00:12:15.559 real world version of the vampires, and then he built 192 00:12:15.600 --> 00:12:17.679 on top of it what we end up getting in 193 00:12:17.720 --> 00:12:19.519 this film with the House of Arabas. 194 00:12:19.200 --> 00:12:21.240 And the Twelve Clans and all that kind of stuff. 195 00:12:21.279 --> 00:12:25.240 That's all Dave Goyer, and that's what this series needed overall. 196 00:12:25.720 --> 00:12:29.080 So like his contribution to it, the film ends up 197 00:12:29.159 --> 00:12:33.360 being as important as the comic itself, except the comic 198 00:12:33.440 --> 00:12:36.679 still stands. Here's the thing, this is so comic Bookie. 199 00:12:36.720 --> 00:12:39.679 I'm such a fucking nerd about this. But they don't 200 00:12:39.679 --> 00:12:44.080 go back in retcon anything. What they do is Blade, 201 00:12:44.480 --> 00:12:47.759 after the movie has come out, gets attacked by Morbius, 202 00:12:47.799 --> 00:12:51.360 the living vampire. Now Morbius is like a scientific vampire, 203 00:12:51.399 --> 00:12:56.919 he's not a traditional vampire, so his attack changes blades 204 00:12:57.000 --> 00:12:59.279 bloodstream and turns him into a day walker. 205 00:13:00.360 --> 00:13:02.879 There's a rhyme reason then, right, So. 206 00:13:03.000 --> 00:13:04.960 I'm not I don't think this is breaking any rules 207 00:13:05.039 --> 00:13:07.440 or anything here. This is not a retcon this is. 208 00:13:07.480 --> 00:13:10.000 They just continued the character and went, oh, yeah, that's 209 00:13:10.080 --> 00:13:13.639 yeah the movie that does actually link up continuity wise 210 00:13:13.720 --> 00:13:18.320 because he is. But maybe the events happened after Morbius attack. 211 00:13:18.639 --> 00:13:21.240 Then I've got another question. If that was the case 212 00:13:21.320 --> 00:13:27.559 with pre film Blade, Was Whistler part of that pre film? 213 00:13:28.320 --> 00:13:31.519 No makes sense. Yeah. Blade was a solo act and 214 00:13:31.600 --> 00:13:32.799 Blade had been raised. 215 00:13:33.080 --> 00:13:35.080 He was an orphan obviously because his mom is dead 216 00:13:35.120 --> 00:13:37.639 and his father was a fucking his father was absent 217 00:13:37.720 --> 00:13:41.600 and a vampire turned his mother. But he received some training, 218 00:13:42.200 --> 00:13:44.759 but he didn't have a mentor character who was out 219 00:13:44.759 --> 00:13:47.600 there doing it. Certainly not what seems like a lineage 220 00:13:47.840 --> 00:13:50.960 of vampire slaying like we did in this movie. But interestingly, 221 00:13:51.039 --> 00:13:53.639 now here's okay, here's this weird thing. Now people claim 222 00:13:53.759 --> 00:13:57.879 that Whistler did exist in the continuity beforehand, because in 223 00:13:57.960 --> 00:14:01.480 between his return in comic Book in this film's debut, 224 00:14:01.799 --> 00:14:05.440 there was an episode of an animated series called Spider Man. 225 00:14:05.600 --> 00:14:08.559 The animated series where I think it was season two 226 00:14:08.639 --> 00:14:11.399 or three, where Blade shows up for it's season two. 227 00:14:11.440 --> 00:14:13.879 Blade shows up for an episode or two because there's 228 00:14:13.879 --> 00:14:17.440 a vampire epidemic and in it we meet Whistler. So 229 00:14:17.519 --> 00:14:20.360 people are like, Whistler existed, he was created for that cartoon. 230 00:14:20.399 --> 00:14:24.120 But here's what happened. They wrote that cartoon and then 231 00:14:24.159 --> 00:14:26.519 somebody said, hey, look they're making it into a movie 232 00:14:26.519 --> 00:14:28.240 as well, and they gave him the script, and then 233 00:14:28.279 --> 00:14:32.159 they wrote Whistler into the cartoon, which ended up coming 234 00:14:32.159 --> 00:14:35.240 out long before them because the movie was just it 235 00:14:35.279 --> 00:14:37.720 wasn't in production, it was in development at that moment. 236 00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:42.600 So this movie creates so much lore for him. Two things. 237 00:14:43.120 --> 00:14:46.000 First of all, I've scrolled down my notes. It was 238 00:14:46.240 --> 00:14:50.559 October two thousand in Dresden. They go, so I was 239 00:14:50.600 --> 00:14:53.600 completely wrong with regards to when I saw it second 240 00:14:53.639 --> 00:14:59.080 European tool, not the first one. There's that. Secondly, Whistler 241 00:14:59.679 --> 00:15:04.200 is it's so important to how I see Blade that 242 00:15:04.279 --> 00:15:08.240 I can't see a Blade comic series or anything without him. 243 00:15:08.440 --> 00:15:10.559 I can't see it. It doesn't work. 244 00:15:11.960 --> 00:15:14.399 And is that because Chris Christofferson is playing him or 245

00:15:14.480 --> 00:15:16.720 is it because the character is just so fucking cool? 246 00:15:17.000 --> 00:15:20.279 I think both. I think both may yeah, yeah. 247 00:15:20.279 --> 00:15:24.039 Yeah, you can see other people playing different characters, but 248 00:15:24.720 --> 00:15:27.519 that character I don't think needs recasting if they're going 249 00:15:27.559 --> 00:15:30.600 to remake this or do anything, else with it, because 250 00:15:30.600 --> 00:15:31.399 why would. 251 00:15:31.120 --> 00:15:34.240 You Okay, I want to go into a couple of things. 252 00:15:34.399 --> 00:15:36.960 First of all, I guess because you are such a 253 00:15:36.960 --> 00:15:40.399 big fan of this. I read an article twenty seven 254 00:15:40.480 --> 00:15:43.200 years ago or something, and I cannot remember any of 255 00:15:43.200 --> 00:15:47.600 it with regards to the introduction of this franchise in 256 00:15:47.639 --> 00:15:52.200 this film, with the EDM pumping scene and the blood 257 00:15:52.279 --> 00:15:55.320 showers that had to have come from a comic like 258 00:15:55.440 --> 00:15:58.440 that had to it can't be original for the screen. 259 00:15:58.679 --> 00:16:00.000 It's original for this script. 260 00:16:00.440 --> 00:16:02.679 I was gonna ask you, it's so crazy, like you 261 00:16:03.000 --> 00:16:06.840 were in Germany in two thousand and this is being 262 00:16:07.080 --> 00:16:09.559 displayed on the screen. Are you seeing any raves like 263 00:16:09.639 --> 00:16:11.080 this where you're out there in the world. In the 264 00:16:11.159 --> 00:16:14.200 music scene, there's no blood showers where you're going, which, 265 00:16:14.240 --> 00:16:16.440 by the way, the opening scene always makes me think 266 00:16:17.240 --> 00:16:21.279 that DJ has to have really great insurance for that equipment, 267 00:16:21.480 --> 00:16:24.399 Like who's spot Deacon Frost is sponsoring that gig? Is 268 00:16:24.440 --> 00:16:28.120 he covering that because that equipment's done right. 269 00:16:29.679 --> 00:16:32.679 If that's what you're thinking of, Like, yeah, I guess 270 00:16:33.159 --> 00:16:36.399 they've got the like cheap logo in the background as well, 271 00:16:36.840 --> 00:16:40.600 like sort of thing, so it looks like a makeshift thing. 272 00:16:40.679 --> 00:16:43.919 It doesn't look like it's a regular do. It just 273 00:16:43.960 --> 00:16:46.799 looks like just as a one off. He's probably stolen 274 00:16:46.919 --> 00:16:49.039 that equipment and like they're. 275 00:16:48.919 --> 00:16:52.360 Most likely, yeah, it probably killed some DJ at some 276 00:16:52.480 --> 00:16:55.240 other party and just taking his equipment over there. Yet 277 00:16:55.480 --> 00:16:58.679 the opening scene, which is great, amazing, nobody's thought of 278 00:16:58.720 --> 00:17:02.399 it prior the a vampire nightclub where they're going to 279 00:17:02.679 --> 00:17:05.440 bathe in fountains of blood, like of course they would, 280 00:17:05.519

--> 00:17:08.680 why wouldn't they do that? And ultimately that becomes the 281 00:17:08.680 --> 00:17:10.680 theme in the movie, which is the sort of old 282 00:17:10.880 --> 00:17:15.440 versus the new, And that's I have a complicated relationship 283 00:17:15.440 --> 00:17:17.680 with David Goyer. I think he's one of my favorite 284 00:17:17.720 --> 00:17:21.079 screenwriters and one of my least favorite screenwriters because he 285 00:17:21.160 --> 00:17:25.079 always comes up with such fucking good ideas and then 286 00:17:25.119 --> 00:17:31.160 he always delivers a ham fisted dialogue poor. Structure is great, 287 00:17:31.240 --> 00:17:34.480 but the characterizations are just okay. Kind of a screenpoint. 288 00:17:34.720 --> 00:17:37.640 But like case in point, this what a way to 289 00:17:37.720 --> 00:17:41.400 open your fucking movie. Man, Let's introduce the world of vampires. 290 00:17:41.480 --> 00:17:44.200 Let's see what they are up to in the modern age. 291 00:17:44.279 --> 00:17:47.880 This is look up until now, there have been plenty 292 00:17:47.920 --> 00:17:50.839 of vampire movies and We've seen them in all sorts 293 00:17:50.880 --> 00:17:54.440 of guys is, but I can't think of one that 294 00:17:54.640 --> 00:17:57.640 kind of dragged them into the technological age the way 295 00:17:57.759 --> 00:18:01.559 this movie dispenses with gothic trappings entirely. 296 00:18:01.599 --> 00:18:05.440 It's Tracy Lord's she does this. She literally drags this 297 00:18:05.559 --> 00:18:08.279 bloke in off the street and says, get into this 298 00:18:08.359 --> 00:18:11.599 meat looker with me. Yeah, I'm yeah, she's the one 299 00:18:11.640 --> 00:18:15.079 doing it. Man, she's fantastic. What an opening, Like, You're 300 00:18:15.119 --> 00:18:20.079 totally right, it's incredible. Don't you wish she had survived? Man? Yes, yes, 301 00:18:20.160 --> 00:18:20.400 I do. 302 00:18:21.160 --> 00:18:23.680 God, the sequels could have been saved if Tracy Lawi's 303 00:18:23.720 --> 00:18:24.720 had just kept popping up. 304 00:18:25.680 --> 00:18:27.319 What do you mean the sequels are better than this. 305 00:18:29.680 --> 00:18:32.640 I'm just trying. I'm just trying to we're gonna get there. 306 00:18:32.720 --> 00:18:34.200 No, I mean we're not gonna get there because I 307 00:18:34.200 --> 00:18:37.000 don't want to talk about those movies. But all right, Blade, 308 00:18:37.920 --> 00:18:40.640 Oh so let's talk you know what, Let's talk about 309 00:18:40.680 --> 00:18:43.480 Blade himself as a character. I want to talk about 310 00:18:43.519 --> 00:18:47.920 an anti hero. I think he's the ultimate perfection of 311 00:18:47.960 --> 00:18:51.359 an anti hero. When you have anti heroes in movies, 312 00:18:51.400 --> 00:18:54.680 they have to end up caring about other people. I 313 00:18:54.720 --> 00:18:57.839 don't get the sense that Blade ever did from beginning 314 00:18:57.920 --> 00:18:59.839 to end. I think he has a bit of affection 315 00:19:00.079 --> 00:19:02.319 for what people can do for him, and certainly he's 316 00:19:02.359 --> 00:19:06.720 sad that his mentor goes. But like, really, this is 317 00:19:06.759 --> 00:19:10.400 the distillation of what people expected from an antihero. 318 00:19:11.000 --> 00:19:14.839 Yeah, he doesn't bring a lot to empathize with. That's 319 00:19:14.839 --> 00:19:17.240 the word I was trying to think of earlier, But yeah, 320 00:19:17.480 --> 00:19:21.799 there isn't. He's like a blank, but for good reason, 321 00:19:22.119 --> 00:19:25.000 Like it's difficult to read what he's thinking because he 322 00:19:25.119 --> 00:19:31.319 never shows like any emotion apart from revenge for you know, 323 00:19:31.960 --> 00:19:34.279 so many things, the way his life's turned out. He 324 00:19:34.440 --> 00:19:38.480 just wants revenge. He just wants to kill every other 325 00:19:38.640 --> 00:19:41.240 vampire that there is. But the thing is he doesn't 326 00:19:41.279 --> 00:19:44.319 care if someone gets in his way, and yet he 327 00:19:44.680 --> 00:19:47.839 every now and again he'll do something to buck that. 328 00:19:48.319 --> 00:19:51.759 So I don't know how much sense that that sort 329 00:19:51.799 --> 00:19:54.720 of character makes to me, because if you are going 330 00:19:54.799 --> 00:19:57.839 to go completely down that line, like he gives the 331 00:19:57.960 --> 00:20:01.000 nurse a chance, you know, a fighting chance. The way 332 00:20:01.680 --> 00:20:03.240 I would have preferred his character he is if he 333 00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:06.319 didn't give a shit, I don't care, Well, don't care. 334 00:20:06.319 --> 00:20:07.839 Do you want a child? I don't care. You won't 335 00:20:07.839 --> 00:20:09.359 get it from me. I'm on to my next thing. 336 00:20:09.400 --> 00:20:12.359 You know. That's how I would like to see Blade, 337 00:20:12.400 --> 00:20:15.720 and I think surely in the comics that's how he's written, 338 00:20:15.880 --> 00:20:18.079 like a kick ass doesn't care. I'm on to the 339 00:20:18.119 --> 00:20:19.440 next thing. I've got the same goal. 340 00:20:20.200 --> 00:20:22.599 He has to be a little bit more empathetic. Look, 341 00:20:22.880 --> 00:20:26.640 and when he came back in the early nineties with 342 00:20:26.640 --> 00:20:29.559 the Knight Stalkers, he had to be empathetic then because 343 00:20:29.559 --> 00:20:32.160 he's on a team. Prior to that, as a solo guy, no, 344 00:20:32.240 --> 00:20:34.559 he didn't give a shit about anybody anywhere, like he 345 00:20:34.599 --> 00:20:37.799 would fuck up other heroes who got in his way 346 00:20:38.039 --> 00:20:41.160 prior to that. Once he came back with the Knight Stalkers, which, 347 00:20:41.200 --> 00:20:43.559 by the way, when we first meet him, he's in 348 00:20:43.599 --> 00:20:47.359 an asylum in the comics, so he's a broken man 349 00:20:47.400 --> 00:20:49.559 when we finally get back to him. But the comics 350 00:20:49.559 -->

00:20:52.359 don't really matter. We're talking about Blade here on screen 351 00:20:52.440 --> 00:20:55.799 and Wesley Snipes's portrayal of him. What do you think 352 00:20:56.000 --> 00:20:58.160 of mister Wesley Snipes as Blade? 353 00:20:58.839 --> 00:21:02.920 When anyone says Blade, he's all you think of, Like 354 00:21:03.200 --> 00:21:05.680 it's just the way it is, Like there's no other 355 00:21:05.839 --> 00:21:09.440 way around it, and he was the reason I didn't 356 00:21:09.480 --> 00:21:12.480 really gel with the series anyway. I don't really rate 357 00:21:12.599 --> 00:21:15.799 him as an actor, But on the really watch of this, 358 00:21:16.599 --> 00:21:19.359 like what more does he have to do? You know what? 359 00:21:19.680 --> 00:21:23.559 He nails this character. And it's not that I don't 360 00:21:23.599 --> 00:21:25.319 like the character. I just think I don't. You know 361 00:21:25.400 --> 00:21:28.240 some actors you just don't like, you don't gel with, 362 00:21:28.319 --> 00:21:31.319 and Wesley Snipes is one of them. But like, if 363 00:21:31.319 --> 00:21:34.359 I take myself out of my own like weird likes 364 00:21:34.359 --> 00:21:38.440 and dislikes, he kicks us throughout this and like he's 365 00:21:38.559 --> 00:21:42.519 so well trained. I can't imagine what the training was 366 00:21:42.640 --> 00:21:45.000 like just to get match fit for this film. I know, 367 00:21:45.119 --> 00:21:49.480 like he's an action star anyway, but christ like what 368 00:21:49.599 --> 00:21:53.000 he brings to this performance is something special. The wirework 369 00:21:53.079 --> 00:21:56.039 alone just would have like broke his back for the 370 00:21:56.039 --> 00:21:59.000 rest of your life, surely, like amazing. 371 00:22:00.119 --> 00:22:02.680 I totally agree with you as far as the Wesley 372 00:22:02.759 --> 00:22:07.559 Snipes aspect of it, where I do not like that guy. 373 00:22:08.559 --> 00:22:13.400 There's something arrogant and troubling about Wesley Snipes as a 374 00:22:13.480 --> 00:22:17.000 human being, but I love him as a performer, Like 375 00:22:17.240 --> 00:22:21.960 I'd never seen a bad performance from him, and for 376 00:22:22.279 --> 00:22:25.920 whatever reason, this seems to be the perfect meeting of 377 00:22:25.960 --> 00:22:29.519 those two halves, the arrogant prick of a human being 378 00:22:29.759 --> 00:22:34.079 and the total perfect action star. And what makes it 379 00:22:34.119 --> 00:22:38.400 better is because Blade is something not unemotional, but such 380 00:22:38.400 --> 00:22:41.400 a shut down human being. We know all the arrogance 381 00:22:41.480 --> 00:22:44.359 is there, but he's keeping it in check, so it's like, 382 00:22:44.400 --> 00:22:45.359 what could be better? 383 00:22:46.160 --> 00:22:49.200 I got a DVD of another horror film that Wes 384 00:22:49.279 --> 00:22:52.319 leads in. I think it's something Walkers. I can't remember really, 385 00:22:52.960 --> 00:22:58.319

Death Walkers, Gargallo Walkers, I think anyway, I got it 386 00:22:58.359 --> 00:23:01.039 when it was on Hygen being those shelves that you 387 00:23:01.079 --> 00:23:02.960 get at the bottom of like a thing which is 388 00:23:03.000 --> 00:23:05.079 like we're just going to sell this stuff cheap, and 389 00:23:05.119 --> 00:23:07.160 it was one of them, and I got gifted that 390 00:23:07.279 --> 00:23:09.720 and I was like, oh, thanks for that, but I 391 00:23:09.799 --> 00:23:11.440 knew in my head I would never watch it. I've 392 00:23:11.480 --> 00:23:15.759 still got this unwatched DVD of this thing that he's in, 393 00:23:15.839 --> 00:23:17.960 Like that's how much I just don't care for his 394 00:23:18.119 --> 00:23:21.039 character that I got given something for free. All I 395 00:23:21.079 --> 00:23:23.400 have to do is press play and I'm never gonna 396 00:23:23.400 --> 00:23:27.480 actually like pull the trigger on that one. But like, yeah, 397 00:23:27.680 --> 00:23:31.319 as I said, he kicks ass in this. I'm glad that, 398 00:23:31.599 --> 00:23:35.359 like he's still vocal about it now, Like still whenever 399 00:23:35.440 --> 00:23:39.119 anyone brings up this and his name is included, like 400 00:23:39.559 --> 00:23:44.599 he's disgusted and too right, like he makes this character his, 401 00:23:44.960 --> 00:23:47.920 Like I don't know anything about like the comic book 402 00:23:47.920 --> 00:23:50.200 stuff of it, apart from that it was a comic book. 403 00:23:50.440 --> 00:23:54.200 So whenever anyone mentions Blade, I'm just thinking Weresley Snipes, 404 00:23:54.240 --> 00:23:58.640 he encompasses that character and as far as acting goes, 405 00:23:58.640 --> 00:24:03.000 apart from that film with Demolition Man, like which again 406 00:24:03.759 --> 00:24:06.359 I don't mind him in but I wish he wasn't 407 00:24:06.359 --> 00:24:09.640 in it, which it was someone else, But like, I 408 00:24:09.680 --> 00:24:11.200 just think this is it for Wesley Slip. 409 00:24:11.200 --> 00:24:13.000 It's the only film of his that I will watch. 410 00:24:13.359 --> 00:24:15.880 I will watch Demolition Man. I think he's a I 411 00:24:15.880 --> 00:24:17.720 think he's a fun element to that movie. I think 412 00:24:17.720 --> 00:24:20.440 you're if you wanted to make a great movie, then 413 00:24:20.480 --> 00:24:23.880 you should take out the Simon Phoenix character altogether and 414 00:24:23.920 --> 00:24:27.359 have some other plot at foot for that film. But 415 00:24:27.799 --> 00:24:30.799 if you're gonna make that movie with the taco bell 416 00:24:30.920 --> 00:24:35.279 jokes and Sandra Bullock and you know, murder, death kills, 417 00:24:35.640 --> 00:24:38.839 then yeah, then Wesley Snipes is the perfect part. Plus 418 00:24:39.000 --> 00:24:41.319 seeing him with the fucking with the hair, with the 419 00:24:41.359 --> 00:24:44.279 fucking blonde hair and the blue eyes, just a cuckoo 420 00:24:44.400 --> 00:24:47.519 like going for broke. Like you want a comic book villain, 421 00:24:47.519 --> 00:24:49.799 I'll give you a comic book villain. Speaking of comic 422 00:24:49.839 --> 00:24:54.799 book villains, Deacon Frost played by Stephen Dorf, what's your 423 00:24:54.839 --> 00:24:57.319 opinion of that performance? 424 00:24:57.680 --> 00:25:00.279 Not so much the character. It's a good character. And 425 00:25:00.359 --> 00:25:03.079 so this is where me and my wife differ. She 426 00:25:03.319 --> 00:25:06.359 hated it. She was just like, I don't buy him 427 00:25:06.559 --> 00:25:09.839 as like this sort of a surpa of like you know, 428 00:25:09.960 --> 00:25:12.960 menace from within and he's going to overtake the cartel 429 00:25:13.039 --> 00:25:15.920 sort of thing. I'm completely buying him. I think he's 430 00:25:16.039 --> 00:25:21.759 fantastic in it. He it's almost camp in his like 431 00:25:21.920 --> 00:25:25.240 villainous the ways. But you mentioned it at the beginning, 432 00:25:25.279 --> 00:25:29.200 it's so modern this and for the time it really 433 00:25:29.519 --> 00:25:32.799 was modern. There was no of that previous sort of 434 00:25:32.960 --> 00:25:36.799 vampire trace and this was a new sort of vampire villain. 435 00:25:37.160 --> 00:25:40.440 It was as much as like like a Wolf of 436 00:25:40.519 --> 00:25:44.079 Wall Street sort of thing, whereas there was political intrigue 437 00:25:44.079 --> 00:25:47.519 in this, like how are you going to overtake this cartel? 438 00:25:48.160 --> 00:25:50.160 I don't know, I think he was great for it, 439 00:25:50.440 --> 00:25:53.960 but I completely get what my wife was saying and 440 00:25:54.000 --> 00:25:56.279 she doesn't buy it. So I can see both sides, 441 00:25:56.319 --> 00:25:58.720 but for me like no complete pass. 442 00:25:59.319 --> 00:26:02.920 Yeah, Dwarf comes off kind of a bit, let's say, 443 00:26:03.400 --> 00:26:10.920 youthful and whiny at times, but that's Deacon Frost, So 444 00:26:11.480 --> 00:26:13.279 I can see being off put by that as a 445 00:26:13.359 --> 00:26:16.160 character trait. But that doesn't mean he ain't doing a 446 00:26:16.160 --> 00:26:18.920 good job because it is that thing. This is a 447 00:26:19.039 --> 00:26:22.960 character who in rewatching it. I never really noticed how 448 00:26:23.039 --> 00:26:26.480 wounded a character he is. He does feel the sting 449 00:26:26.599 --> 00:26:29.279 that he's not a pure blood vampire. Like as much 450 00:26:29.319 --> 00:26:32.880 as he's going to topple that regime and be and 451 00:26:32.920 --> 00:26:35.799 put in the new order, it does really bother him, 452 00:26:36.200 --> 00:26:38.240 which that was a nice thing, and I think that's 453 00:26:38.240 --> 00:26:42.440 Stephen Dorf bringing that to the character. But he doesn't 454 00:26:42.480 --> 00:26:44.319 ever come off as incapable. 455 00:26:44.880 --> 00:26:46.599 The thing is, when you look at his face, do 456 00:26:46.640 --> 00:26:48.680 you

think of the Gate anymore? Do you think he's 457 00:26:49.079 --> 00:26:51.000 not that kid in the Gate? Do you think he's 458 00:26:51.680 --> 00:26:53.799 I always think of the Gate? What are you talking about? 459 00:26:55.160 --> 00:26:57.480 Because I can't get it out of my head? But 460 00:26:57.799 --> 00:26:59.839 I still give him, as I say, a complete pass 461 00:27:00.079 --> 00:27:03.440 this like the way that all it would take for 462 00:27:03.480 --> 00:27:05.759 them is to be able to and this is the 463 00:27:05.759 --> 00:27:08.279 people above him at the beginning of the film. All 464 00:27:08.319 --> 00:27:10.799 it would take is for them to see which way 465 00:27:10.839 --> 00:27:15.079 the tide was turning and to stop being such like 466 00:27:15.119 --> 00:27:18.440 the Royal family and sticking to like tradition and moving 467 00:27:18.440 --> 00:27:22.039 with the times. And they would have, I reckon they 468 00:27:22.039 --> 00:27:24.599 would have got Blade, they would have just done Blade 469 00:27:24.640 --> 00:27:27.599 over that that would be it. But they don't. They 470 00:27:27.680 --> 00:27:32.400 don't stick together, they don't bond together. The Evil Vamps 471 00:27:33.519 --> 00:27:37.359 fail and lose the day because of like Stephen Dorf's 472 00:27:37.400 --> 00:27:41.839 like oh sorry, Deacon Frost's will to a serpent become 473 00:27:42.119 --> 00:27:45.160 like this is what we need to do to, you know, 474 00:27:45.519 --> 00:27:48.559 be like we should we need to be like not 475 00:27:48.640 --> 00:27:52.680 respecting humans in any way. We just need to kill 476 00:27:53.200 --> 00:27:58.759 is it Eric Bloody Brooks is Blade's name, That's correct? Yeah, 477 00:27:58.880 --> 00:28:01.319 Eric Brooks. We need to Eric Brooks, we need to 478 00:28:01.359 --> 00:28:05.480 kill him. And yeah, we need to overtake this the cartel. 479 00:28:05.640 --> 00:28:08.240 I've got my little posse, my gang behind me. We 480 00:28:08.319 --> 00:28:10.079 can do it, and they do, but all this inner 481 00:28:10.240 --> 00:28:13.759 internal fighting costs him the game. Yeah. 482 00:28:13.799 --> 00:28:16.839 I love this character and this is again a step 483 00:28:16.920 --> 00:28:19.440 up from the original Deacon Frost character, who is just 484 00:28:19.480 --> 00:28:22.160 this wandering vampire funck shit up. This guy's got a 485 00:28:22.279 --> 00:28:26.319 plan and I love the battle of old versus new. 486 00:28:26.400 --> 00:28:32.160 I love the throwing off the marbled old world quiet speaking, 487 00:28:32.240 --> 00:28:34.759 we're oh so proper when we're actually just a bunch 488 00:28:34.759 --> 00:28:40.359 of fucking monsters, genteel version of the vampire versus the 489 00:28:40.400 --> 00:28:43.359 one who will throw a rave at an avatoir and 490 00:28:43.559 --> 00:28:45.599 know that there is good to do that, and you 491 00:28:45.720 --> 00:28:48.319 should be doing it and there shouldn't be any human 492

00:28:48.440 --> 00:28:49.680 interference in that. 493 00:28:50.079 --> 00:28:50.519 Why not? 494 00:28:51.119 --> 00:28:53.759 He's right, they are the top of the food chain. 495 00:28:54.200 --> 00:28:57.519 I think he goes a little extreme. Maybe you don't 496 00:28:57.519 --> 00:28:59.359 want to bring back a blood god who's going to 497 00:28:59.400 --> 00:29:02.599 turn to everyone to a vampire. That's counterproductive, Deacon, but 498 00:29:02.960 --> 00:29:05.279 he should be fucking smashing the fuck out of the 499 00:29:05.319 --> 00:29:07.359 House of arab Us. 500 00:29:07.400 --> 00:29:11.920 I would love to know, like the pre Blade film, 501 00:29:12.240 --> 00:29:14.599 like what was going on there? What's the deal with humans? Like, 502 00:29:14.680 --> 00:29:17.359 let's go through that, Let's go through the political intrigue, 503 00:29:17.519 --> 00:29:20.039 Like there is a TV series set up there just 504 00:29:20.160 --> 00:29:24.039 for you know, for the ages, like imagine like all 505 00:29:24.079 --> 00:29:26.519 the Cloak and Dagger stuff and like how that first 506 00:29:26.559 --> 00:29:29.480 come about and how they quietly live with each other. 507 00:29:30.039 --> 00:29:33.240 That's really interesting. I want more of that stuff, and 508 00:29:33.279 --> 00:29:35.119 we don't get it, damn it. We just get it 509 00:29:35.160 --> 00:29:38.880 all hinted at, which at the same time does work 510 00:29:39.200 --> 00:29:42.759 for this film, because like they just sprinkle enough world 511 00:29:42.799 --> 00:29:45.680 building where you know, like any sequel could go anywhere. 512 00:29:46.200 --> 00:29:50.839 So yeah, again, I think you're right. Like he's a 513 00:29:51.119 --> 00:29:54.200 great actor doing a great role, and I think he's 514 00:29:54.440 --> 00:29:59.000 perfect for it, pretty much like Wesley Snipes is perfect 515 00:29:59.039 --> 00:30:01.960 for Blade. And I don't know if it's because I've 516 00:30:02.000 --> 00:30:04.720 seen it so much that I think that and I 517 00:30:04.759 --> 00:30:06.920 can't see it any other way. But as I said 518 00:30:06.920 --> 00:30:08.799 at the beginning, you close your eyes, you think of 519 00:30:08.839 --> 00:30:11.240 these characters. You can't think of anyone else in that role. 520 00:30:12.119 --> 00:30:13.279 Now we have in Bushy E. 521 00:30:13.400 --> 00:30:18.559 Wright as Karen the hypotologist, the human character our proxy. 522 00:30:18.599 --> 00:30:20.960 The audience is proxy, because this is still a time 523 00:30:21.720 --> 00:30:24.960 and we would still be stumbling through this particular fog 524 00:30:25.119 --> 00:30:27.839 for a few more years. With comic book movies, where 525 00:30:28.640 --> 00:30:31.480 the filmmakers do not trust us to just go with 526 00:30:31.559 --> 00:30:34.480 the fucking premise, they have to give us our human proxy. 527 00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:36.440 So same with hell Boy. 528 00:30:36.480 --> 00:30:39.319 We got

some agent nobody from Nowheresville who's never going 529 00:30:39.359 --> 00:30:42.839 to reappear guy. So that's effectively with Karen is Karen 530 00:30:42.880 --> 00:30:46.240 has a little more agency than most of the human 531 00:30:46.240 --> 00:30:50.480 proxy characters in that she provides the sort of mcguffin 532 00:30:50.519 --> 00:30:52.279 for the climax of the movie at least, and she 533 00:30:53.000 --> 00:30:57.279 actually helps along the way. But ultimately so we need 534 00:30:57.319 --> 00:31:00.200 her like at all. 535 00:31:01.319 --> 00:31:03.640 I do not think we do, and I don't think 536 00:31:03.640 --> 00:31:08.960 her character is handled correctly by Blade, but I will 537 00:31:09.079 --> 00:31:13.160 say it's believable how quick she gets with the program. 538 00:31:13.279 --> 00:31:16.680 And they do set it up so you would also 539 00:31:16.839 --> 00:31:18.960 get with the program at the same speed she does, 540 00:31:19.039 --> 00:31:21.359 Like you know how some of these films will be 541 00:31:21.440 --> 00:31:24.759 like someone will believe just straight away. Here she's given 542 00:31:25.119 --> 00:31:27.799 like the story, she's like, oh come on, she sees 543 00:31:27.839 --> 00:31:32.279 the evidence, She's like, oh god, come on quick. So 544 00:31:32.440 --> 00:31:34.960 I completely believe it. And that's really well written. Like 545 00:31:35.039 --> 00:31:37.000 there are some problems with the writing here, but that 546 00:31:37.119 --> 00:31:37.799 isn't one of them. 547 00:31:38.279 --> 00:31:41.640 Yeah, No, there are some minor miracles with the writing here, 548 00:31:41.680 --> 00:31:45.240 and I do think that you handle this ultimately completely 549 00:31:45.279 --> 00:31:48.920 superfluous character in a really good way. Look the movie, 550 00:31:49.079 --> 00:31:52.519 what's funny to me? Is if you go back and 551 00:31:52.599 --> 00:31:55.119 read earlier drafts of the screenplays and you listen to 552 00:31:55.319 --> 00:31:59.279 David Goyer talk about the movie. He describes this sequence 553 00:31:59.319 --> 00:32:03.319 as it is, it is easing us into the story 554 00:32:03.480 --> 00:32:06.599 as a character we're going to identify with, and it 555 00:32:06.720 --> 00:32:09.599 is our world. Right. They're working in a hospital and 556 00:32:09.640 --> 00:32:12.200 it's very mundane, and he said he very he kept 557 00:32:12.200 --> 00:32:16.519 the dialogue basically to melrose Place levels of ness, right, 558 00:32:17.599 --> 00:32:20.599 and then when Quinn, the vampire who's been brought in, 559 00:32:20.720 --> 00:32:24.359 jumps up and attacks them, then all the all reality 560 00:32:24.400 --> 00:32:25.640 goes out the window. 561 00:32:25.359 --> 00:32:26.640 For her and for us. 562 00:32:27.119 --> 00:32:29.319 And that's true, but I would also say we began 563 00:32:29.400 --> 00:32:32.640 with a blood rave. At the end of the Blood Rave, 564 00:32:32.920 --> 00:32:34.720 just follow Blade and get in his car and have 565 00:32:34.799 --> 00:32:38.039 a fucking narration. Come on and goes, My name's Blade. 566 00:32:38.279 --> 00:32:40.839 I've been doing this for twenty years. The world you 567 00:32:40.880 --> 00:32:43.640 see is candy is a candy coated topping to the 568 00:32:43.640 --> 00:32:44.559 horrors underneath. 569 00:32:44.759 --> 00:32:46.880 Here we go. I got to get this guy, Deacon Frost, 570 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:50.640 that prick, and we as it's happening, you're seeing like 571 00:32:50.759 --> 00:32:54.119 everything happen outside of the window, so you can see, oh, like, 572 00:32:54.279 --> 00:32:56.920 here's the vampire on the corner of the street, like 573 00:32:57.000 --> 00:32:59.599 we're just not We're seeing it, but we just don't look. 574 00:33:00.119 --> 00:33:00.279 You know. 575 00:33:00.960 --> 00:33:03.000 Let's talk about that for a minute. The look of 576 00:33:03.039 --> 00:33:05.720 this movie, Oh my god, I want to live in 577 00:33:05.759 --> 00:33:08.400 that Los Angeles. I was living in Los Angeles when 578 00:33:08.440 --> 00:33:10.759 this movie came out, and that's the la. I want 579 00:33:10.799 --> 00:33:15.039 to live in a completely darkened Neon Litz Street where 580 00:33:15.079 --> 00:33:17.680 not trash but newspapers just loose. 581 00:33:17.680 --> 00:33:21.400 Newspapers are blowing everywhere all the time. What could be 582 00:33:21.440 --> 00:33:24.920 better than that? Having them not blowing everywhere? 583 00:33:25.160 --> 00:33:28.119 Perhaps, Oh, then there's no atmosphere. I lived in the 584 00:33:28.200 --> 00:33:30.519 not blowing everywhere. I blew with the trash everywhere on 585 00:33:30.559 --> 00:33:33.039 the ground. At least it's airborne here. The look of 586 00:33:33.079 --> 00:33:34.960 this movie is gorgeous, is what I'm saying. 587 00:33:35.519 --> 00:33:39.079 It's Yeah, it's I would say it's sort of post 588 00:33:39.079 --> 00:33:43.240 apocalyptic without being post apocalyptic. It has that feel about 589 00:33:43.279 --> 00:33:46.759 it still be in without the annihilation. Yeah, there we 590 00:33:46.839 --> 00:33:50.599 go perfect. I would say with the budget that this has, 591 00:33:50.640 --> 00:33:53.680 with the cast that this has, with the lead up, 592 00:33:53.759 --> 00:33:56.279 they know it's going to be a success, Like that's 593 00:33:56.279 --> 00:33:59.960 the very minimum that they should be delivering, though they 594 00:34:00.079 --> 00:34:03.599 should be getting that stuff correct first of all before 595 00:34:03.640 --> 00:34:07.400 everything else, and mentioned all the stump work. Why work 596 00:34:07.799 --> 00:34:11.920 all their effects digital? And otherwise? Well, let's talk about 597 00:34:11.920 --> 00:34:13.679 those for a second, shall we. I agree? 598 00:34:15.079 --> 00:34:18.519 Look, we can all agree not only digital effects in 599 00:34:18.559 --> 00:34:22.400 general never age well unless

they're done supremely well. To 600 00:34:22.519 --> 00:34:27.920 begin with the effects, here are early days of CGI. Look, 601 00:34:28.079 --> 00:34:31.360 we've had the triumph of Jurassic Park, and now we 602 00:34:31.400 --> 00:34:34.519 think we can do anything. And so they come up 603 00:34:34.559 --> 00:34:37.400 with a pretty cool innovation here, which is whenever Blade 604 00:34:37.760 --> 00:34:41.639 kills a vampire, they immediately combust, which is different, which 605 00:34:41.639 --> 00:34:43.559 is funny. If you read the original script, they turn 606 00:34:43.599 --> 00:34:46.280 into goo. They just they dissolved into a pile of go. 607 00:34:46.719 --> 00:34:49.519 And then somebody went, we can make them explode. That's 608 00:34:49.559 --> 00:34:53.000 more dynamic. What do you think of those though? Now 609 00:34:53.039 --> 00:34:54.639 looking at them, I'll tell you what. 610 00:34:54.760 --> 00:34:57.960 If you couldn't get with it, forget this film, like 611 00:34:58.039 --> 00:35:00.360 the first time that happens. If you've taken out it, 612 00:35:00.639 --> 00:35:03.159 forget it because there is a lot of it, and 613 00:35:03.480 --> 00:35:08.519 it's key to key to every fight scene because it 614 00:35:08.639 --> 00:35:11.480 is such a thing of awe when you look at it. 615 00:35:12.199 --> 00:35:14.840 I'll be honest, like I'm okay with it, Like it 616 00:35:14.920 --> 00:35:18.639 doesn't annoy me as I say overall, I don't love 617 00:35:18.679 --> 00:35:22.320 this film, but it isn't that I can't pick apart 618 00:35:22.719 --> 00:35:24.639 the reason as to why. There are a couple of 619 00:35:24.639 --> 00:35:27.760 things that really annoy me, and I'll get to them, 620 00:35:27.960 --> 00:35:31.079 but that isn't one of them. And I see how 621 00:35:31.119 --> 00:35:33.239 hokey it is, and I can see how much better 622 00:35:33.280 --> 00:35:38.000 that's become since. But that's the onset of technical stuff. 623 00:35:38.039 --> 00:35:41.119 You know. I wonder if cgi if this was pushing 624 00:35:41.159 --> 00:35:43.559 it at the time, because you know, we're not seeing 625 00:35:43.639 --> 00:35:46.960 exploding dinosaurs in Jurassic Park. We're seeing the movement and 626 00:35:47.000 --> 00:35:49.880 how they got that correct and the texture and things 627 00:35:49.920 --> 00:35:54.440 like that. This is different. This is like supreme blood splatter, 628 00:35:55.119 --> 00:35:58.400 and I get for me, it's I'm okay with it. 629 00:35:58.599 --> 00:36:00.840 I'm okay, I'm all right, don't upset me. 630 00:36:01.599 --> 00:36:05.400 Two things I would say if they had concentrated all 631 00:36:05.440 --> 00:36:11.360 of their effects were force and budget toward the exploding vampires, 632 00:36:11.639 --> 00:36:13.559 then I think we would be marveling at them to 633 00:36:13.679 --> 00:36:18.519 this day instead of the lamagra ending that we'll get 634 00:36:18.559 --> 00:36:22.480 to which we'll get to. Okay, that it, we'll get 635 00:36:22.519 --> 00:36:25.960 to it. I do think just as early as like 636 00:36:26.000 --> 00:36:27.960 the opening scene, not the opening scene, but the first 637 00:36:28.000 --> 00:36:28.880 time you see Blade. 638 00:36:28.920 --> 00:36:30.400 In Blade two, he. 639 00:36:30.400 --> 00:36:34.239 Starts killing vampires. The effects had already like it was 640 00:36:34.800 --> 00:36:39.159 geometrically better as far as what the look of it was. 641 00:36:40.679 --> 00:36:44.559 I do agree with you, though maybe it's nostalgia or something, 642 00:36:45.159 --> 00:36:48.719 but it's not like my brain is now looking at 643 00:36:48.719 --> 00:36:51.719 the effects and going, oh no, those were bad. They 644 00:36:51.719 --> 00:36:54.320 were the My reaction was the exact same in the 645 00:36:54.360 --> 00:36:56.519 movie theater. It wasn't like I was bowled over by 646 00:36:56.599 --> 00:36:58.880 how fucking fantastic this computer shit looked. 647 00:36:58.920 --> 00:37:01.719 You know what I mean? And you know what's funny 648 00:37:01.719 --> 00:37:03.639 to me is on a pure editing level. I think 649 00:37:03.639 --> 00:37:04.320 they could have fixed it. 650 00:37:04.360 --> 00:37:06.000 If you can probably still do it now, maybe I'll 651 00:37:06.039 --> 00:37:08.840 do it. I've been listening to a podcast, the Lonely 652 00:37:08.840 --> 00:37:11.360 Island Podcast, a group of comedians. I don't know if 653 00:37:11.400 --> 00:37:13.960 you're familiar with their work, but they were on Saturday 654 00:37:14.039 --> 00:37:15.800 Night Live here in America, and they used to do 655 00:37:15.800 --> 00:37:19.119 these little digital shorts and there was always esoteric little bits. 656 00:37:19.360 --> 00:37:22.679 They had a sketch called people eating food getting punched. 657 00:37:22.960 --> 00:37:26.280 The premise is very simple, a person in frame starting 658 00:37:26.280 --> 00:37:28.559 to eat something and before as they're getting it to 659 00:37:28.639 --> 00:37:31.440 their mouth, Andy Samberg would pop into the frame and 660 00:37:31.480 --> 00:37:33.840 just punch them in the face and then dance. What 661 00:37:33.880 --> 00:37:35.960 a kiva schaff for the guy who directed it figured 662 00:37:36.000 --> 00:37:39.440 out was if he removed one frame of the film 663 00:37:39.599 --> 00:37:42.840 right before he connected with the punch, then the punch 664 00:37:42.880 --> 00:37:45.960 became savage. And if you watch it, I'll put a 665 00:37:46.000 --> 00:37:47.519 link in the show notes to it so everyone can 666 00:37:47.559 --> 00:37:49.519 watch it. If you watch it, you can see, like, 667 00:37:49.559 --> 00:37:52.320 what is an innocuous little comedy Skit looks like somebody 668 00:37:52.400 --> 00:37:55.280 is really just wrecking people if they I think if 669 00:37:55.320 --> 00:37:56.840 you had just taken out one frame, they were so 670 00:37:57.000 --> 00:37:58.719 in love with the fact that

you were getting to 671 00:37:58.760 --> 00:38:02.159 see the skeleton that if you took that one frame 672 00:38:02.320 --> 00:38:04.360 of the skeleton out, I think we wouldn't have a 673 00:38:04.360 --> 00:38:05.159 problem here at all. 674 00:38:05.400 --> 00:38:09.239 You'll have to do it. What about the hospital scene 675 00:38:09.239 --> 00:38:12.519 with the burned up vamp me that looked great. 676 00:38:12.760 --> 00:38:15.760 That was a great makeup. That's a great character. Quinn 677 00:38:15.800 --> 00:38:20.599 played by Donald Logue, who is that character? As written 678 00:38:20.760 --> 00:38:24.800 was a know nothing, no say nothing character who maybe 679 00:38:24.800 --> 00:38:26.880 says three lines in the entire movie, was just a 680 00:38:26.960 --> 00:38:31.199 right hand man. And then Donald Loge kept improvising all 681 00:38:31.280 --> 00:38:33.679 of that shit, and he turns out one of the 682 00:38:33.679 --> 00:38:36.679 best characters in the entire movie. But funny thing is, 683 00:38:37.880 --> 00:38:41.079 Donald Logue was in a motorcycle accident in his youth 684 00:38:41.440 --> 00:38:46.599 that broke his jaw. So if his jaw gets struck 685 00:38:46.639 --> 00:38:50.559 in a certain way, it it locks itself open. So 686 00:38:50.920 --> 00:38:53.719 during the hospital sequence when he was wrestling with and 687 00:38:53.840 --> 00:38:56.800 busche E Wright, they fell to the ground and that happened, 688 00:38:57.280 --> 00:38:59.679 so they had to rush him to the hospital and 689 00:38:59.719 --> 00:39:02.599 he's in full burn makeup and they walk into the 690 00:39:02.920 --> 00:39:05.840 er and everyone's like, holy shit, and they're like they 691 00:39:05.840 --> 00:39:06.400 all rest to. 692 00:39:06.480 --> 00:39:10.719 Help him fair as you would, what can you do? 693 00:39:11.039 --> 00:39:13.440 But it does look that real as well, you'd be like, 694 00:39:13.559 --> 00:39:15.559 I'm not prepared for this. 695 00:39:16.400 --> 00:39:18.400 All the practical effects in the movie are great, Like 696 00:39:18.480 --> 00:39:22.400 talk about Pearl, for instance, the age old vampire who's 697 00:39:22.480 --> 00:39:25.679 grown so morbidly obese that he can no longer move 698 00:39:26.159 --> 00:39:28.800 in the archives, I thought that effect looked great. 699 00:39:29.039 --> 00:39:32.440 Yeah, but that for me, that is pushing it to 700 00:39:32.519 --> 00:39:36.039 the edge, Like that's at the edge where I don't 701 00:39:36.039 --> 00:39:38.360 want to see anything beyond that. Don't go more silly 702 00:39:38.440 --> 00:39:41.519 than that, Like you that is right there for me, 703 00:39:42.119 --> 00:39:44.519 Like I feel like this should be what am I 704 00:39:44.519 --> 00:39:47.320 trying to say? You know? How sometimes in total weekle, 705 00:39:47.480 --> 00:39:51.199 it's just like, oh, you've introduced this another mad thing 706 00:39:51.239 --> 00:39:54.800 that Arnie's bumped into, you know, like

the face coming apart. Oh, 707 00:39:54.800 --> 00:39:57.280 it's just another mad thing. And it becomes so many 708 00:39:57.360 --> 00:39:59.960 mad things that are happening that this film's just become 709 00:40:00.199 --> 00:40:03.360 mad and completely unbelievable. Like it or loathe it, but 710 00:40:03.639 --> 00:40:06.239 it's just crazy. And when you get you're built, you're 711 00:40:06.280 --> 00:40:09.400 already into this world. It's already been introduced as like, 712 00:40:09.400 --> 00:40:12.320 like we've said, like this post apocalyptic thing without being 713 00:40:12.440 --> 00:40:15.519 post apocalyptic, So we've already got this like hype of 714 00:40:15.639 --> 00:40:19.320 future real sort of thing, and then we're introducing another 715 00:40:19.480 --> 00:40:22.400 wacky sort of aspect to it. We've already got to 716 00:40:22.440 --> 00:40:25.960 deal with the whole ending thing. That's a lot already, 717 00:40:26.159 --> 00:40:29.239 and we introduced to another characters. Well, I don't push it, 718 00:40:29.480 --> 00:40:32.440 and luckily it doesn't really push it too much further 719 00:40:32.800 --> 00:40:33.679 before the ending. 720 00:40:34.000 --> 00:40:36.119 Well, let me defend Perl because if you're watching the 721 00:40:36.159 --> 00:40:39.159 movie for the first time, yeah, you might feel like 722 00:40:39.239 --> 00:40:42.119 it's pushing there, but you have no idea what's coming. 723 00:40:42.280 --> 00:40:44.639 Because let's talk about the ending, shall we. There's a 724 00:40:44.679 --> 00:40:47.559 mystic gotten ending the once again and look, maybe it 725 00:40:47.639 --> 00:40:50.280 wasn't the once again, but the idea of the chosen 726 00:40:50.320 --> 00:40:54.159 One I'm so fucking tired of Blade isn't necessarily the 727 00:40:54.280 --> 00:40:56.639 chosen one. He's not going to lead the vampires, but 728 00:40:56.679 --> 00:40:59.239 it is his blood that ends up being the key 729 00:40:59.519 --> 00:41:04.199 to Unliine. Like this amorphous mcguffin ending of we're going 730 00:41:04.280 --> 00:41:08.519 to release La Magra, the blood Tie, the ancient demon 731 00:41:08.679 --> 00:41:12.039 that created vamporism to begin with. I think, I mean, 732 00:41:12.039 --> 00:41:14.039 we're going there, and it does all make sense. I'm 733 00:41:14.039 --> 00:41:16.679 not saying it doesn't, it's just what are your thoughts 734 00:41:16.679 --> 00:41:17.599 on the ending that we got. 735 00:41:17.760 --> 00:41:20.559 I just think it's too much, and it's probably one 736 00:41:20.599 --> 00:41:25.719 of the reasons that I wasn't loving the film, and 737 00:41:25.760 --> 00:41:29.519 it's because it's so mad. I just put that there. 738 00:41:29.639 --> 00:41:32.119 It is mad, right, the whole ending is mad. But 739 00:41:32.199 --> 00:41:35.320 then on top of it, we've got this most ridiculous, 740 00:41:35.480 --> 00:41:39.519 over the top fight going on. It's so crazy. It's 741 00:41:39.920 --> 00:41:42.440 do one or the other, choose a lane. Let's have 742 00:41:42.480 --> 00:41:45.599 the face off and we'll deal with that for a sequel. 743 00:41:45.639 --> 00:41:48.360 Maybe put it in a post credit scene of like, oh, 744 00:41:48.480 --> 00:41:52.480 we've actually kicked this thing off inadvertently or something like that. 745 00:41:52.599 --> 00:41:54.400 But the fact that it's all going on at once 746 00:41:54.679 --> 00:41:58.280 reminds me of that the return of the Jedi problem, 747 00:41:58.280 --> 00:42:00.960 where you've got all these sort of things happening at 748 00:42:00.960 --> 00:42:03.199 the ending, you don't know really which one to focus on. 749 00:42:03.239 --> 00:42:04.880 The think I think they get away with it because 750 00:42:04.920 --> 00:42:08.320 we've all watched it forty thousand times. But it's just 751 00:42:08.400 --> 00:42:11.199 a lot going on and we're not concentrating on any 752 00:42:11.199 --> 00:42:14.199 one thing. And I think that's the problem for me, 753 00:42:14.480 --> 00:42:18.000 is that I'm not focused enough on whatever. And the 754 00:42:18.079 --> 00:42:21.360 fight is so ridiculous that is putting me, starting to 755 00:42:21.599 --> 00:42:23.920 make me not likee Blade because he just seems like 756 00:42:23.960 --> 00:42:26.199 he's never gonna lose anything no matter what happens, it 757 00:42:26.239 --> 00:42:29.519 doesn't matter. He's so tough. Yeah, it started pissing me 758 00:42:29.519 --> 00:42:30.880 off a bit far from alone. I'm sorry. 759 00:42:31.039 --> 00:42:33.000 Well, they do throw a lot of minions at him 760 00:42:33.000 --> 00:42:35.159 at the end, which leads me to think, like, why 761 00:42:35.239 --> 00:42:38.079 you guys aren't dressed the same, aren't you Because they're vampires. 762 00:42:38.079 --> 00:42:41.679 These aren't even familiars, like they're exploding when he kills them, which, 763 00:42:41.719 --> 00:42:44.280 by the way, not to keep praising or deriding the 764 00:42:44.320 --> 00:42:46.880 exploding party this is in this case, it's praising. When 765 00:42:46.880 --> 00:42:48.960 you do have a sequence where you're killing tons and 766 00:42:49.000 --> 00:42:52.920 tons of faceless minions, having them just explode is great. 767 00:42:53.280 --> 00:42:54.719 Like a video game, we don't even have to think 768 00:42:54.719 --> 00:42:58.039 about them again. But I think that the main problem 769 00:42:58.239 --> 00:43:00.320 for the movie, for the script for me, is in 770 00:43:00.400 --> 00:43:03.760 this scene. Because Dave Goyer, in every one of his 771 00:43:03.840 --> 00:43:07.920 movies you can tell has done the scientific research in 772 00:43:07.960 --> 00:43:10.840 one way or another, Like he's always trying to figure 773 00:43:10.880 --> 00:43:13.760 out a solution to a problem even if no one's 774 00:43:13.840 --> 00:43:17.880 noticed the problem. So he's overly scientific here. So we'll 775 00:43:17.880 --> 00:43:22.360 find out

that it's Alium sativa is from the garlic plant, 776 00:43:22.400 --> 00:43:24.840 and if you've synthesized that and make it liquid, you 777 00:43:24.840 --> 00:43:27.360 can use it. If you use a UV light, it 778 00:43:27.400 --> 00:43:30.800 replicates the sun's rays. Right, So he's all focused on 779 00:43:30.920 --> 00:43:35.000 Blade using technology. He's all focused on Deacon Frost using 780 00:43:35.119 --> 00:43:39.440 technology and shaking off all the old world bullshit. To 781 00:43:39.480 --> 00:43:42.239 that end, they have Deacon Frost like using a computer 782 00:43:42.360 --> 00:43:46.480 program to decipher this old text to bring about this demon. 783 00:43:46.840 --> 00:43:49.360 And I would say, we don't need a fucking demon 784 00:43:49.559 --> 00:43:51.960 who gives a shit about any of this blood business. 785 00:43:52.119 --> 00:43:53.800 At the end of the movie, just. 786 00:43:53.960 --> 00:43:57.400 Have a new ending, like just something new. Like the 787 00:43:57.480 --> 00:44:00.559 idea of summoning anything from the past and all we're 788 00:44:00.559 --> 00:44:02.880 trying to do is kill the past in this movie 789 00:44:03.039 --> 00:44:04.519 seems fucking crazy to me. 790 00:44:04.800 --> 00:44:07.719 But it has been like, to defend it a little. 791 00:44:07.800 --> 00:44:11.119 It has been brought up throughout the whole film, like 792 00:44:11.159 --> 00:44:13.199 it's not like they just brought it out of nowhere. 793 00:44:13.719 --> 00:44:17.199 I just don't think it was the best path for 794 00:44:17.280 --> 00:44:20.000 the film to end on whilst all that battle's going on. 795 00:44:20.079 --> 00:44:22.159 Oh would much rather just like I just have the 796 00:44:22.639 --> 00:44:27.159 like an exciting battle, you know where then a blade 797 00:44:27.320 --> 00:44:30.840 might introduce something that we haven't seen or what's worth 798 00:44:31.480 --> 00:44:35.320 maybe even frost, like having something that we didn't know about. 799 00:44:35.400 --> 00:44:38.880 But it is just has been like laid like, oh, 800 00:44:38.880 --> 00:44:41.440 there's a little clue in the first twenty minutes or something. 801 00:44:41.639 --> 00:44:43.840 Do you know anything like that would have improved it. 802 00:44:44.199 --> 00:44:46.800 And I tell you the worst moment for me when 803 00:44:47.320 --> 00:44:50.320 he mouths what the fuck and it was just like, 804 00:44:50.400 --> 00:44:52.880 oh man, it's so cheesy. 805 00:44:53.280 --> 00:44:56.840 Yeah, it's very superhero. It turns into a very superhero 806 00:44:56.880 --> 00:45:00.480 movie in the last ten or fifteen minutes. Unfortunately, did 807 00:45:00.480 --> 00:45:02.320 you see the did you ever see the original ending? 808 00:45:02.800 --> 00:45:05.239 Oh? Please? No, I have not oh. 809 00:45:05.079 --> 00:45:09.320 Boy, there is no battle TwixT Deacon Frost and Blade. 810 00:45:09.320 --> 00:45:13.400 What happens is Deacon Frost immediately turns into a blood 811 00:45:13.480 --> 00:45:17.599 tornado that completely engulfs the room. It is literally a 812 00:45:17.719 --> 00:45:22.280 spinning vortex of blood, and Blade is hanging on to 813 00:45:22.440 --> 00:45:25.639 debris and trying to work his way up toward his 814 00:45:26.039 --> 00:45:30.000 the serum, the anticoagulant that will make the bloody explode. 815 00:45:30.280 --> 00:45:32.800 You can see it. It's on YouTube. It only exists 816 00:45:32.840 --> 00:45:36.280 a pre visual. They've already filmed this. Oh yeah, it's done. 817 00:45:36.280 --> 00:45:40.039 You can watch it, so the effects aren't finished, so 818 00:45:40.199 --> 00:45:43.480 you can't really ding it for the effects looking pad. 819 00:45:43.920 --> 00:45:47.800 And it gets even worse because they cg in or 820 00:45:47.840 --> 00:45:51.239 they just layer in Stephen Dwarf like they filmed him 821 00:45:51.239 --> 00:45:52.320 and you can tell they were going to do some 822 00:45:52.360 --> 00:45:56.119 blood version of him, but instead it's just him going. 823 00:45:56.079 --> 00:45:58.360 Hey, Blade, I'm gonna go fuck the world in a minute. 824 00:45:58.480 --> 00:46:00.760 So see, yuh. It's awful. 825 00:46:00.880 --> 00:46:04.079 And you can tell fight that we get is an 826 00:46:04.079 --> 00:46:07.920 improvement over it, but not by much. That fight only 827 00:46:07.920 --> 00:46:12.679 becomes interesting when Blade lops off Deacon Frost's arm and 828 00:46:12.719 --> 00:46:15.440 it comes back to him Like at that moment, I thought, 829 00:46:15.440 --> 00:46:18.800 oh this could be interesting. This could be a whole 830 00:46:19.119 --> 00:46:23.800 fight of this unstoppable blood thing that he Deacon Frost 831 00:46:23.800 --> 00:46:27.239 has now become like that to me is interesting, but 832 00:46:27.360 --> 00:46:29.079 they don't do anything with it because they were just 833 00:46:29.119 --> 00:46:31.159 so desperate to have a fucking ending that wasn't a 834 00:46:31.159 --> 00:46:33.679 blood tornado that we just got a quick sword fight. 835 00:46:34.119 --> 00:46:36.599 I've got a question for you. And this was my 836 00:46:37.039 --> 00:46:41.960 most frustrating thing of the whole film. Blade's mum is introduced. 837 00:46:42.239 --> 00:46:44.719 She talked about but then we get her introduced. She's 838 00:46:44.760 --> 00:46:48.840 been kept alive, she's a vampire, and she makes an 839 00:46:48.880 --> 00:46:53.800 appearance to try and sort weaken Blade and to make 840 00:46:53.840 --> 00:46:57.679 Blade question things and things like that, and unfortunately, I 841 00:46:57.679 --> 00:47:00.000 if you're going to do that, you can't just introduce 842 00:47:00.280 --> 00:47:03.119 so like this is Blade's mum. I want way more. 843 00:47:03.599 --> 00:47:06.000 You can't just throw that in there as like that's 844 00:47:06.079 --> 00:47:09.320 another five minutes tops, and then Blade's going to get 845 00:47:09.320 --> 00:47:13.119 out of it

like a cinch anyway, Like no, like, 846 00:47:13.280 --> 00:47:16.199 let's go into that. Let's I mean, that is such 847 00:47:16.719 --> 00:47:22.039 heavy dialogue, friendly, loads of potential. Let's deal with it, 848 00:47:22.119 --> 00:47:25.079 and it's not. It's just washed out so quick. 849 00:47:25.599 --> 00:47:29.679 Yes, this is the main problem with the movie because 850 00:47:30.360 --> 00:47:35.039 when at that moment it's revealed Blade's mom is still 851 00:47:35.039 --> 00:47:39.159 alive and she's in league with Deacon Frost. She's just 852 00:47:39.239 --> 00:47:45.039 as she's just as villainous as Deacon Frist that I thought, 853 00:47:45.079 --> 00:47:49.599 Oh my god, this is what a turn for our hero. 854 00:47:50.159 --> 00:47:52.199 How will he deal with this for the rest? Oh no, 855 00:47:52.320 --> 00:47:55.440 she's dead, and isn't that Blade's reason for being Blade? 856 00:47:55.679 --> 00:47:58.199 Right? Yeah, that's it. Yeah, And here's the thing. 857 00:47:58.280 --> 00:48:02.679 It's my understanding that when the script first was coming together, 858 00:48:02.920 --> 00:48:05.400 he was writing it for Ernest Dickerson to direct. Ernest 859 00:48:05.440 --> 00:48:08.360 Dickerson was Spike Lee's DP. He did tell from the 860 00:48:08.559 --> 00:48:11.360 Crypt Demon Knight, and then the second director was going 861 00:48:11.360 --> 00:48:15.000 to be David Fincher, and David Fincher's contribution to the 862 00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:19.119 screenplay was he told David Goyer about this, like kne 863 00:48:19.280 --> 00:48:23.039 or some Buddhist philosophy, that in order to be your 864 00:48:23.079 --> 00:48:25.760 own person, you have to kill your mother, kill your father, 865 00:48:25.960 --> 00:48:28.880 kill the Buddha. That's why during the course of this movie, 866 00:48:28.880 --> 00:48:32.000 Blade does exactly those things. He kills his mother, he 867 00:48:32.079 --> 00:48:35.119 kills Deacon Frost, his father, he kills Buddha, who is 868 00:48:35.440 --> 00:48:38.519 or does. He provides the gun for Whistler to kill himself. 869 00:48:38.920 --> 00:48:44.280 So that's there, and that's really fascinating. But it also, 870 00:48:44.760 --> 00:48:48.519 as you said, it's we're given such short shrift here 871 00:48:48.840 --> 00:48:53.280 because his mom should have been introduced halfway through this movie. 872 00:48:53.480 --> 00:48:56.719 That should have been a complication running throughout the movie. 873 00:48:57.119 --> 00:49:01.800 He's dealing with his father figure Whistler, his now figured 874 00:49:01.800 --> 00:49:05.320 out his other father figure Deacon Frost, and his actual mother. 875 00:49:05.639 --> 00:49:07.880 What a fucking cocktail? Why do we have? 876 00:49:08.000 --> 00:49:13.719 Karen correct, Yeah, so this is it just feels so messy. 877 00:49:13.760 --> 00:49:16.960 It feels like all the ingredients are there and they 878 00:49:17.000 --> 00:49:19.639 have been put together in

such a I want to 879 00:49:19.679 --> 00:49:22.800 say that it feels like as a viewer, and as 880 00:49:22.800 --> 00:49:24.840 I say, I've seen this four times in five years 881 00:49:24.840 --> 00:49:27.639 for some reason. I do not know why, but it 882 00:49:27.840 --> 00:49:32.559 just seems so haphazardly bummed together when there is so 883 00:49:32.719 --> 00:49:35.679 many ingredients for such a wonder. I watched Spider Man. 884 00:49:35.760 --> 00:49:38.559 Let's just say that, I watched Spider Man Sam Raimi's 885 00:49:38.559 --> 00:49:41.440 one the other day and it worked so well, like 886 00:49:41.920 --> 00:49:45.199 everything seemed to be clicking, and it was like it 887 00:49:45.320 --> 00:49:47.920 completely makes sense in the world that it's built up 888 00:49:47.960 --> 00:49:51.960 around it, and I left it completely satisfied. And I 889 00:49:51.960 --> 00:49:54.440 haven't watched it since when it came out of the 890 00:49:54.440 --> 00:49:57.239 cinema and I was just like, Wow, that really held up, 891 00:49:57.360 --> 00:50:00.280 really loved it. Coming back to this, I don't know. 892 00:50:00.320 --> 00:50:02.199 I wish people would stop asking me to watch it. 893 00:50:02.440 --> 00:50:07.400 God, and they're going through after this, and yet look, 894 00:50:07.440 --> 00:50:09.400 I still give this a really good score. 895 00:50:09.880 --> 00:50:13.559 Like I feel like Blade is iconic. I feel like 896 00:50:13.760 --> 00:50:18.440 the action work, especially in the first half, is some 897 00:50:18.480 --> 00:50:21.480 of it's incredible. I still can't figure out how they 898 00:50:21.519 --> 00:50:23.679 did it. As I say, some of that why work 899 00:50:23.800 --> 00:50:26.880 must have just been intense. I just don't know how 900 00:50:26.920 --> 00:50:29.400 you can make your body go through that, because it 901 00:50:29.480 --> 00:50:32.480 definitely wasn't like a you could tell at this age 902 00:50:32.480 --> 00:50:35.519 when it's a c cgi human bouncing around the room 903 00:50:35.559 --> 00:50:38.519 and things like that. They'll see it in the fucking sequel, 904 00:50:38.960 --> 00:50:42.559 you certainly will, But this is Wesley Snipe's going through it. 905 00:50:42.960 --> 00:50:45.480 So yeah, I, as I say, I give it a 906 00:50:45.480 --> 00:50:47.880 good rating, I think it's a solid seven for me. 907 00:50:48.440 --> 00:50:51.760 But I really just think this could have even been 908 00:50:51.800 --> 00:50:54.440 a ten with some care and attention given to it, 909 00:50:54.480 --> 00:50:58.119 because all the ingredients are already there. Rip Whistler couldn't. 910 00:50:57.800 --> 00:51:01.199 Have said it better myself. This is an almost their movie. 911 00:51:01.199 --> 00:51:04.360 This could have been a perfect movie. Let's get another 912 00:51:04.400 --> 00:51:06.880 one going. How about that Marvel? You've been talking about 913 00:51:06.920 --> 00:51:10.320 it for fucking five years, Paul Waller, thank you so 914 00:51:10.440 --> 00:51:12.440 much for joining us in my inaugural episode. 915 00:51:12.639 --> 00:51:14.840 When people are looking for you, where do they find 916 00:51:14.840 --> 00:51:18.199 you in a Year in Horror? Honestly, just go to 917 00:51:18.320 --> 00:51:21.639 wherever you search your podcasts out put in a Year 918 00:51:21.679 --> 00:51:23.920 in Horror. If you want to listen to some horrible 919 00:51:24.360 --> 00:51:30.639 doom music, go and put Ome's double HMS India Music 920 00:51:30.679 --> 00:51:34.800 platform listening preference. But like, yeah, all I would say 921 00:51:35.360 --> 00:51:38.719 is over last year, Father Malone, I've been sort of 922 00:51:38.800 --> 00:51:42.159 addicted to your shows, So keep it up, keep the 923 00:51:42.440 --> 00:51:46.039 keep this spunk pummeling. I want all that energy. Don't 924 00:51:46.039 --> 00:51:48.760 give up on this, because you make my days better 925 00:51:48.920 --> 00:51:51.039 for being there. I'll do it just for you. 926 00:51:51.280 --> 00:51:55.519 Everybody, keep listening here, Patrons, thank you for patroning, and listeners, 927 00:51:55.559 --> 00:51:58.320 thank you for listening. We've got so many fests going 928 00:51:58.360 --> 00:52:01.159 on right now, Star trek Fest, We've got Climb Barker's 929 00:52:01.199 --> 00:52:03.440 Books of blood Fest, and now we have our comic 930 00:52:03.519 --> 00:52:05.679 book horror Fest. I don't really have a name for 931 00:52:05.719 --> 00:52:07.559 this one yet. We'll figure that one out anyway, Thank 932 00:52:07.599 --> 00:52:09.599 you all for listening. We'll check you out next time. 933 00:52:09.800 --> 00:52:11.280 I got to come up with a comic book phrase 934 00:52:11.320 --> 00:53:02.880 at the end. God damn itent