BladeMovie Reviews

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So-so
Avg. Critic Score: 45 out of 100 Mixed or average reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
17 not for kids
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 75
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    Big as it is, Blade' is meticulous and subtle, not just in its camera technique but in the way it works its themes and creates a mood. Read full review

  • 75
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    Wesley Snipes understands the material from the inside out and makes an effective Blade because he knows that the key ingredient in any interesting superhero is not omnipotence, but vulnerability. Read full review

  • 60
    Washington Post | Michael O'Sullivan

    Blade's stomach-turning special effects, bone-crunching martial arts and cynical humor will more than satisfy any action-film addict's need for a fix of eye-popping escapist adrenaline. Read full review

  • 50
    USA Today | Susan Wloszczyna

    Director Stephen Norrington is more keen on finding new ways to explode the fiends... than developing a credible story. So the movie flits from one gore-laden assault to another with little suspense. Read full review

  • 50
    Los Angeles Times | Gene Seymour

    The noir atmosphere doesn't quite smother the dialogue's cheesy smell. Read full review

  • 40
    The New York Times | Stephen Holden

    Although the opening scene suggests a dark urban satire, Blade quickly turns into a cartoonish futuristic action-adventure yarn in which Blade is the only thing keeping humanity from being exterminated by vampires in a hematological holocaust. Read full review

  • 40
    Variety | Dennis Harvey

    Though slick and diverting in some aspects, increasingly silly pic has trouble meshing disparate elements --- horror, superhero fantasy, straight-up action --- into a workable whole. Read full review

  • 30
    Washington Post | Rita Kempley

    A vulgar attempt to revamp the undead genre by introducing computer-generated splatter and a casketful of themes from genetic tinkering to conspiracy theories. Read full review

  • 25
    New York Daily News |

    Pure hackwork. Read full review

  • 25
    Entertainment Weekly |

    The action involves lots of second-rate martial-arts choreography (made even less thrilling by the video's pan-and-scan job), while the psychological conflicts are filled with unconvincing angst. Read full review


Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says not for kids Boring vampire blood bath isn't for kids.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this movie is filled with violence -- in fact, violence seems to be its reason for existence. Blood falls from the ceiling onto dancing vampires. Blade graphically kills many vampires, and they in turn graphically kill many humans. There's swearing and partial nudity, as well as scenes that combine sexual lust with vampire blood lust.
  • Families can talk about violence, greed, and the need for absolute power. Why are some people not content to let others lead? Why is the character who needs absolute power so prevalent in film and literature? What separates Blade from the vampires? Why does the audience revel in someone who seeks to solve all his problems with violence?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: It's good guys against bad guys/vampires, but Blade is out for revenge first.
What to watch for
  • violence false5 Violence: This movie is a literal bloodbath of violence.
  • sex false5 Sex: Partial nudity.
  • language false5 Language: Vampires and vampire hunters tend to swear graphically.
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Not an issue
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Not an issue

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