The Blade trilogy is home to a lot of epic martial arts and fight scenes, expertly executed by Wesley Snipes. Here are the best of the bunch, ranked.
Big screen martial arts fights never get tiresome. They're an excuse to showcase brutal fighting styles in a choreographed manner that is dazzling to watch. When mixed with sci-fi or horror, martial arts fights can certainly go over-the-top - sometimesunintentionally - but they're still a lot of fun to watch. This goes double (or triple?) for the original Blade trilogy.
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Wesley Snipes played Bladebrilliantlythroughout the first two films, even if reports of his on-set problems plagued the third. That being said, he's still an amazing martial artist who manages to stand apart with his own unique style. Here's ten of the best fights in the Blade trilogy, ranked not just by cool factor, but also bruises, beheadings, and lacerations galore.
It's obvious the filmmakers wanted to capitalize on the success of Blade II when they made the follow-up, particularly when it came to the fights. This final scene fight against Drake's goons is reminiscent of the battle against Damaskinos' goons from the second film. It's Blade versus a cadre of similarly armored up foot soldiers who get tossed around like rag dolls.
What follows is a series of bone-crushing strikes that send bad guys flying into ceilings and face-first through plate glass windows with all the impact of a meteor strike. The scene then shifts to Abigail dishing out some damage of her own,utilizing some nicely concealed bladed weapons.
Blade II's fightswent a bit over the top on the CGI department in certain scenes, which greatly detracted from the realism of the shots. However, it's no less entertaining to watch the titular character bend the laws of physics in a fight with his "under normal circumstances, we'd be friends" antagonist Nomak.
It's the lesser of their two matchups, but there's enough cool moves and brutal hits to make audiences wince in discomfort. It ends with Blade piercing Nomak's heart through the side of his body - one of the few places he's vulnerable.
Blade II went for the creep factor in a big way. It eschewed the semi-sexy vampire trope in favor of the Reapers, a genetically modified vampire offshoot that were far more parasitic than humanoid in nature. Looking like a throwback to Count Orlok from the classic horror film Nosferatu, these creatures epitomized what it means to fear the dark.
Fantasy director Guillermo del Toro played on this characteristic by tossing the main characters in a dimly lit sewer, and turning them loose against scores of Reapers. It's a frightening, high octane battle between Blade and his vampire troops versus overwhelming numbers.
The third Blade film had some big shoes to fill. Blade II had managed to score big with audiences, which meant the crew would need to pull out all the stops to match it. Unfortunately, it wasn't such a great film, but that had more to do with the anemic storyline, rather than the action pieces.
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Blade Trinity opens up with some minor exposition before switching to the vampire hunter doing what he does best. It's an amalgam of various set pieces that allow him to showcase his lethal prowess, and a few weapons including a silver whip knife. Very cool stuff.
The third act of the original Blade finds the character going after Deacon Frost in order to prevent him from resurrecting a vampire blood God. Naturally, Frost's vampire henchmen are waiting for him, and that's all the excuse Blade needs for a warmup.
After driving his motorcycle straight through the compound window, Blade gets to work slicing, dicing and beating bones into powder. Neither vampire nor human familiar are spared as Blade takes revenge on them all for the death of Whistler, pushing him one step closer to his true target.
The Reaper subspecies in Blade II was an excellent plot device that helped differentiate the sequel from the original. It also gave Blade a chance to team up with the very vampires he loathed so much, adding an interesting dynamic to the story that gave audiences a chance to see things from the other side.
The wild card in the equation was Nomak, the progenitor of the Reaper strain with a score to settle against the vampire clans. Realizing that the Reapers were a far greater threat, Blade ignored Nomak's calls for a team-up, and took the fight to him. However, Nomak proved to be quite a match for Blade, and the fight ended in a draw.
The first Blade film finds both he and Karen infiltrating the vampire hall of records in order to gain intel on Frost's true plans. They eventually make their way into a hall containing the encased pieces of the Book of Erebus, otherwise known as the Vampire Bible.
What follows is a fight started by what appears to be an innocent teenage girl. In reality, she's quite the warrior who kicks off a hefty battle between Blade and Frost's squad. He allows them to get the upper hand long enough for Whistler to show up and even the odds, triggering a battle that spills out into the underground subway tunnels.
The opening act of Blade II was a big surprise for fans of the original. Blade's partner-in-crime Whistler had not, in fact been murdered by vampires, but taken and turned into one. The film kicks off with a dazzling action sequence involving motorcycles, intimidating weapons, and a hefty dose of cool factor for good measure.
Vampires from all four corners are turned to ash as Blade cuts them to ribbons in a variety of spectacularly creative ways.
Very few fights in the Blade trilogy can match the awesome power of this particular throw down. It occurs during the final act when a severely injured and weakened Blade falls into a pool of blood, allowing him to regenerate his wounds, strength and energy. As he emerges from the pool, the minions of the evil Damaskinos rush in, dressed to the nines in riot gear, with electrified batons in hand.
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Blade proceeds to beat the living tar out of every single vampire in vicious, brutal fashion, all to the sound of Crystal Method's killer track "Name Of The Game." Audiences couldn't help by wince and cheer as the evil henchmen dropped like flies, and it culminated with the very last one getting suplexed straight into the glass floor.
The very first of the Blade trilogy's fights is still the best, and it's hard to top. It was the first to introduce audiences to this amazing Marvel character in a fully R-Rated setting, and that was important when it came to selling the brutality of the story. It opens with Blade infiltrating an underground vampire club seconds before an innocent human is sucked dry.
The Pump Panel Reconstruction remix of New Order's "Confusion" gets the adrenaline pumping before Blade reveals himself. Afterwards, Junkie XL's "Dealing With The Roster" sets the musical tone for the vicious, fast-paced fight where Blade unleashes the fury on his loathed enemies. It's unparalleled vampire-killing brutality of the best kind.
NEXT:Blade: 10 Ways Mahershala Ali's Vampire Hunter Could Fit Into The MCU
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Derek started writing about video games at age 14 and went on to write for GamePro Magazine and several other prominent outlets. He now brings his veteran pop culture XP to ScreenRant, TheGamer and CBR.
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