Blade (2008)

Blade is a 2008 American superhero horror film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. It is a remake of the 1998 film directed by Sam Raimi and starring Jamie Foxx, Sam Elliott, Edward James Olmos and Thandie Newton.

Plot
As the film begins, a woman is rushed into hospital bleeding heavily from a vicious neck wound. The woman is in labour and soon dies while giving birth to a baby boy.

The woman is revealed to have bitten by a vampire, passing the vampire gene onto the woman's son before she birthed him. As a result, he became a hybrid; he inherited all of the vampire's strength's, yet none of their weaknesses. Except for the thirst for blood.

The boy runs wild on the streets for his early life, driven mad by the thirst. A vampire hunter named Abraham Whistler discovers him and almost kills him, but realises that he is unlike the other vampires; he is a Dhampir, or a Daywalker. He spares the boy helps him to create a serum which quells the thirst. He then trains the boy to be a vampire hunter.

Years later, the man is now known as Blade, a widely feared vampire hunter. One night, a girl picks up a guy and lures him into an underground nightclub which turns out to be a vampire gathering. They quickly knock him to the floor and try to drain him, when suddenly Blade bursts in and a fight breaks out. A vampire named Quinn tries to tackle Blade but is pinned to the wall and set alight.

Quinn's body is taken to the local morgue, where we meet Dr Karen Jenson and Dr Curtis Webb, the two coroners on duty. The two argue over their failed love life when suddenly the charred Quinn jumps up and seemingly kills Curtis. Karen is bitten, but only on the arm, not the neck. Blade bursts in and fights Quinn off before smuggling Karen out.

Blade takes Karen back to he and Whistler's hideout. They treat her wound and manage to kill the strain before she changes. They then teach about the existence of vampires. Blade also explains her attacker, Quinn. His friend and boss, Deacon Frost, is a vampire who has created a chain of vampire nightclubs. Frost is angry at the Vampire Elders because they are afraid to reveal themselves to humans, but Frost sees them as being higher on the food chain. They also refuse to listen to Frost as he was turned into a vampire via bite as opposed being a pureblood, meaning he was born a vampire. The council are upset with Frost as he is drawing attraction to them. Blade then tells Karen that with her wounds healed, she is free to go.

At her apartment, Karen meets a young police officer, but she notices several holes in his story and deduces that he is a vampire, spraying garlic at him, which Whistler had given her earlier. It proves useless, however, as he is actually not a vampire. Suddenly Blade appears and beats the officer up, revealing that he is a familiar, a human minion of the vampires. Blade decides to release the cop with the condition that he tell Frost that he will be coming after him. Karen, recognizing the threat on her life, tells Blade that she wants to assist him in his vendetta against Frost.

The cop arrives at Frost's penthouse, where he is throwing a party. The cop informs Frost of his failure, who then appears to take it rather well. Suddenly he bites the cop's neck and throws his body out of a window. Meanwhile, Karen uses her skills as a hematologist to try and create a better serum for Blade, only to find that EDTA reacts explosively with vampire DNA.

Frost sets about deciphering ancient vampire glyphs thought to be undecipherable, and learns that he may be able to awaken La Magra, the ancient Blood God. He finds, however, that to do so he requires the blood of the vampire elders. He kidnaps the vampire chief Gitano Dragonetti and murders him before kidnapping the other council members.

Blade and Karen raid a vampire archive and discover ancient scripture which warn of La Magra. Blade then encounters Frost in a park, where Frost offers Blade a partnership, which Blade rebuffs. Later, Quinn invades Blad'es hideout and violently beats Whistler and kidnaps Karen. Blade heads for Frost's penthouse but is cornered and taken to Temple of Eternal Night, the place where Frost will attempt to summon La Magra.

Frost reveals that he needs Blade's blood to complete the ritual. Blade, succumbing to the thirst due to his lack of serum, is unable to fight and is dragged into the chamber where his blood is drained. Frost taunts Blade by revealing that he was the vampire who bit his mother, leading to her death and Blade becoming a dhampir, revealing that his real name is Eric Brooks. Karen is also thrown into a pit where she encounters Curtis, who is now a vampire. Karen manages to knock him out and escape the pit, where she rescues Blade.

Frost initiates the ceremony and sacrifices the elders. La Magra arrives and is absorbed into Frost. Blade makes his way through Frost's henchmen, including Quinn, who he decapitates. Meanwhile, Frost's lover Mercury chases Karen, who manages to spray her in the mouth with garlic and knock her into a pit.

Finally, Blade and Frost engage in a vicious sword fight. Blade severs Frost's arm, but he uses the power of La Magra to regenerate. As the battle intensifies, Blade manages to retrieve a handful of EDTA vials and throw them at Frost, using the final one to nail him in the head. With Frost dead, Karen and Blade's revenge is complete. The two leave the temple, where Karen explains that she cannot find a cure for Blade, but Blade tells her that he must maintain his abilities in order to continue his war on vampires. Karen then offers another way to help.

In the final scene, a Russian gentleman drags a Russian woman into an alleyway and is about to bite her when suddenly Karen appears, wearing gear similar to Blade. The vampire recognizes her as a new and feared vampire hunter; Safron.

Cast
Jamie Foxx - Eric Brooks/Blade

Sam Elliott - Abraham Whistler

Thandie Newton - Karen Jenson/Safron

Edward James Olmos - Deacon Frost

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley - Mercury

Derek Mears - Quinn

Christoph Waltz - Gitano Dragonetti

Colin Hanks - Officer Krieger

Beyoncé Knowles - Vanessa Brooks

David Costabile - Curtis Webb

Sequels
The film was followed by Blade 2 and Blade: Trinity.