-- I came into this with very low expectations and ended up liking it alot. It's no classic, not by any means, but it's a perfectly enjoyable way to kill a couple of hours.

-- The damn thing is beautiful to look at, all shiny high gloss crispness. Snipes is shot throughout lovingly, even iconically. It's very savvily put together and edited, too, all sleekness. The fight scenes are well choreographed, for the most part, with frankly a better use of the quick-cut style than Greengrass managed in BOURNE SUPREMACY. (Disappointingly, though, the best fight isn't Snipes vs. the Final Boss, but rather Ryan Reynolds vs. Triple H. This is filmed as a full-on cage match kind of thing, which nicely sets it apart from all the martial arts everywhere else in the movie, as well as play to Triple H's strengths.)

-- The main beef about the movie, from what I've seen, seems to be the new sidekicks. Ryan is amusing, and may have a future career playing wisecracking sidekicks. Biel is pretty but not much else: she doesn't have the charisma you need in these kind of roles. Although in fairness she doesn't have all that much to work with.

-- Speaking of charisma, Snipes really is great. Every now and then I read a think piece about how there are no more iconic action heroes: it's sad nobody remembers Snipes, who has immense presence and can really act, when he's motivated. I'd love to see him in something substantial.

-- The real weakness here is the screenplay, which has the feeling simultaneously of being rewritten many times and yet not quite being done. There's two ideas here: "Blade looked at from the outside" and "Blade fights Dracula" and the two are just sitting side by side, without much connective tissue. (Did end up on the cutting room floor?) There's a whole backstory hinted at with the sidekicks, but that's about it: I'd rather have seen a lot more or a lot less. And of course the story's logic demands Blade's death, and of course that doesn't happen, which was predictable but still sort of a cheat.

-- Dracula ends up metamorphosizing from a Predator-type to just another Euro-trash victim, unfortunately. On the other hand, Parker Posey should really play villans more often, she's great at it.

It's got it's faults, but I think it's a lot better than the early reviews are describing. Check it out.

doug