17 Responses to “New essay on Polygon: The brilliance of Wesley Snipes as Blade”

1. 

   The Kurgan

   November 29th, 2019 at 4:37 pm

   Great article for a great performance. We just watched MY NAME IS DOLEMITE the other night and I was reminded how great Snipes can be. Coincidentally, I watched the DIE HARD episode of this Netflix “movies that made us” show today and learned that Snipes was originally up for the part of Al Powell, which is just unimaginable to me.

2. 

   Skani

   November 29th, 2019 at 7:40 pm

   Crushing it, as always Vern. Great piece!

3. 

   Tawdry

   November 29th, 2019 at 8:52 pm

   In summary, go watch Blade II again.

4. 

   The Cosh

   November 30th, 2019 at 3:05 am

   Nice read there Vern. Reminds that I’ve never actually seen Trinity. Might be the right time for a run through of the whole series.

5. 

   Felix

   November 30th, 2019 at 3:37 am

   Anyone here saw that Blade TV Series?

6. 

   neal2zod

   November 30th, 2019 at 9:11 am

   Great article on an iconic and too-often forgotten performance. I’m obviously going to watch the MCU Blade and I like Ali, but the man is older now than Snipes was when Blade Trinity came out. And I don’t think his movie will come out until like 2022! Then again, Daniel Craig’s Bond seems to be a success and played up the grizzled, broken-down aspect of his character even when he was a “rookie” in his first movie, so Ali might be able to pull it off.

   Felix – the Blade TV series is great. The whole thing is only $13 or so on Amazon, I think it’s worth a blind buy.

7. 

   RawBeard

   November 30th, 2019 at 12:11 pm

   If we can get a new Terminator film that ignores the other films in the series and acts as THE true sequel to Terminator 2: Judgment Day surely we can get a proper Blade 3 that just pretends Trinity didn’t happen. I’d like to see an Old Man Blade film with Wesley Snipes. Be a proper send off for his take on the character like Logan did for Wolverine.

   My dream idea for a third Blade film would be to take some plot details from Daybreakers. Vampires have won and have taken over the world, the remaining humans are being hunted, or being bred/farmed for blood banks. Blade has been missing for decades (held captive or isolated himself due to failing to stop the Vampire uprising) but a small group of humans track him down and bring him back to the fight.

   If not I think it might be interesting to give Wesley Snipes the Whistler role this time round.

8. 

   VERN

   November 30th, 2019 at 1:09 pm

   Goyer often talked in interviews about his plan for part 3 to be an I AM LEGEND situation where the vampires have won and Blade is alone in a post-apocalyptic future. I think maybe New Line didn’t like the idea or something.

9. 

   The Undefeated Gaul

   November 30th, 2019 at 2:28 pm

   Wasn’t Del Toro once talking about making another Blade movie with that set-up? I remember being very excited when reading that (because BLADE II is a perfect movie – I mean, if you cut out the CGI vampire ninjas) and being crazily disappointed when I discovered they were doing a lame Dracula thing instead with a different director

10. 

    Felix

    November 30th, 2019 at 5:58 pm

    I hope the new BLADE is a MCU movie and not just some half hour show on Disney+.

11. 

    Broddie

    November 30th, 2019 at 9:13 pm

    I gave up on the MCU many moons ago but I was willing to check out the Blade section when there was word they were talking to Wes. I still don’t get why they didn’t allow a reprise. The character actually ages despite being part vampire. He would’ve been the perfect elder statesman now that RDJ is out and BLADE would’ve been retconned as the first MCU feature.

    As it stands I probably won’t even bother with the new one and I actually like that actor. But I’m thankful for this essay.

12. 

    BR Baraka

    December 1st, 2019 at 11:11 am

    Okay how about this:

    “Logan”, but with Blade all alone.

    Snipes is getting to about the right age.

    Blade could have some sort of issue with his garlic and he is slowly going decrepit.

    Insert the usual serum/ biotech type stuff, some children vampires made in his genetic image who escaped a powerful vampire organization- out to reclaim them, and a decrepit rural practically homeless Blade who has to improvise and has one last hurrah.

    Blade dies successfully defending them and makes them promise to carry the mantle/ start a vampire hybrid utopia, I don’t know.

    Thank you for listening to my pitch, that will be $3.50 Hollywood.

13. 

    The Undefeated Gaul

    December 3rd, 2019 at 1:54 am

    Wesley approves of the article:

    

14. 

    The Undefeated Gaul

    December 3rd, 2019 at 1:56 am

    2nd attempt:
    https://www.facebook.com/RealWesleySnipes/posts/10157846498088197

15. 

    Johnny Cake

    October 6th, 2021 at 3:14 pm

    Did you hear Mahershala Ali will be stepping into Mr. Snipes’ shoes? It might come out as soon as next October!

16. 

    VERN

    October 6th, 2021 at 5:26 pm

    Yeah, that’s why they asked me to write that essay. But no, I hadn’t heard if they’re saying it could be that soon. I don’t believe they’ve announced a filming date.

17. 

    KayKay

    December 5th, 2025 at 5:09 am

    Figured this was the perfect spot to scrawl some Udo musings, since his brief turn here lit up the screen like a neon dagger. Sure, his character meets a bad end, but before that curtain drop he delivers one of the coldest power moves in the book.

    Picture it: Frost gets smacked with a stinging slap, then carved up with a contemptuous sneer—“You bore me.” That’s not just a put‑down, that’s a death sentence delivered in four syllables. On the Bad Ass Scale, it doesn’t just rank high—it breaks the dial clean off.

    Udo Kier never just acted—he slithered, prowled, and hypnotized his way across the screen. With those ice‑blue eyes and a voice that could drip honey or venom, he became the patron saint of cinematic strangeness.

    The Face was Angular, aristocratic, carved from marble and menace, making Kier look like a fallen angel or a nightclub ghoul depending on the lighting.

    The Voice was a silky purr that could seduce you into sin—or chill you into silence.

    He had an Aura that was equal parts decadent and dangerous marking him as the man you didn’t trust but couldn’t stop watching.

    He could play a vampire, a Nazi, a mad scientist, or a decadent aristocrat, and somehow make them all feel like variations of the same fever dream.

    He was cinema’s beautiful monster—a man who could turn a single glance into a threat, a joke, or a seduction.

    Udo Kier didn’t just appear in films. He haunted them. He left claw marks on celluloid, perfume in the air, and a lingering sense that you’d just seen something wickedly sublime.

    Truly Cinema’s Ultimate Vampire