Blade (film)
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Blade is a 1998 film starring Wesley Snipes and Stephen Dorff, loosely based on the published stories of the Marvel Comics character Blade. It was directed by Stephen Norrington and written by David S. Goyer. Snipes plays the character of Blade, a half-man, half-vampire superhero vampire hunter who becomes the protector of humans against the vampires. Blade grossed $70 million at the U.S. box office, and $130 million worldwide. This success is often credited with starting the current superhero revival in American cinema. Two sequels, Blade II and Blade: Trinity, were subsequently produced.
A man is led to a rave club by a seductive woman, only to find that the club is filled with vampires eager to feed on the human members of the crowd. In the middle of the carnage, a vampire-hunter named Blade arrives and slaughters all the vampires in the club. As a half-vampire hybrid known as a "daywalker", Blade has all the strengths of a vampire but none of their weaknesses except their blood lust which is referred to in the movie as "the thirst".
While tracking down a surviving vampire, Blade encounters Dr. Karen Jenson, a hematologist who has just been bitten. Blade brings her back to his lair and introduces her to Abraham Whistler, his mentor and weaponsmith. Karen resolves to study vampirism and find a cure before she becomes a vampire. She soon discovers that a particular chemical reacts explosively with the vampire infection. Meanwhile, Deacon Frost, a young upstart in the vampire community, clashes with his vampire elders. He believes that vampires should rise from the shadows and enslave humanity. The elders dismiss him for his radical views and because he was not born a vampire, like they were. Frost studies ancient vampire lore and comes to believe that he can awaken La Magra, to gain great power. Together with his minions, he kills the chief vampire of the region and imprisons the other elders.
Blade combats Frost's various minions in an effort to uncover his plan, but Frost manages to invade Blade's lair, kidnapping Karen and mortally wounding Whistler. Blade gives the infected Whistler a gun to commit suicide, then arms himself with a large supply of Karen's deadly chemical. He invades Frost's home and discovers his own mother, whom he believed dead, in Frost's bed. She reveals that Frost was the vampire that bit her while Blade was still in the womb and caused him to become a daywalker. Thunderstruck, Blade is defeated and taken to the Temple of Eternal Night for Frost's blood ritual.
Frost sacrifices the elder vampires in a magic ritual and gains the power of La Magra. Karen manages to break free and feed Blade her blood, giving him the power to fight back. He kills his mother and the rest of Frost's minions, then engages Frost in swordplay. Frost's new powers make him immune to normal weapons, so Blade injects him with the Karen's chemical, causing Frost to explode. Blade and Karen return to Blade's lair, where Karen successfully cures herself of vampirism. Blade chooses to forgo the cure in order to continue hunting vampires with their own powers. An epilogue finds Blade killing a vampire in Russia.