Marvel’s Blade Problem

Articles

L Llewellyn James | Black Filmmakers Group

Let’s face something about Marvel Studios being completely adrift and dumbfounded about making a new “Blade” film: the original with Wesley Snipes was a watershed moment, not just because the film saved Marvel from Bankruptcy. Not just because it laid the groundwork for adult-oriented films, based on Comic books.

The real truth is…that film significantly helped to single-handedly change the game, for Action Cinema. That film capitalized on what “The Crow” had done a few years earlier, in bringing an entirely different and singular energy to action movies.

The Crow, Blade and The Matrix are the Holy Trinity of a very determined and often-emulated school of action cinema, that rose to the forefront in the 90s.

Sleek. Dark. Moody. Bloody. Hyper-charged. Fast-paced. Infused with Martial arts and gore, aplenty.

…and Marvel Studios is tasked to try and up the ante?

There is a reason Marvel Studios didn’t have any plans to make a “Blade” series…until Mahershala Ali called Kevin Feige to inquire if a new “Blade” would be possible, immediately after Ali won a damn Oscar.

The original is a truly hard act to follow…and (given Marvel Studios’ track record and the high expectations from the fanbase) Marvel Studios has to do nothing less, than to make a film that eclipses what Director Stephen Norrington, Screenwriter David S. Goyer and Star Wesley Snipes had done with that material, nearly 30 years ago.

It’s like remaking “Robocop”. Or “Total Recall”.

…and we all know how THOSE remakes panned out. This new revision on “Blade” is almost fated irretrievably to piss the highly petulant fanbase off, no matter what the hell Marvel Studios does.

…and Marvel Studios knows it.

So, yeah…they’re panicked, terrified and overwhelmed. And I don’t blame ’em.