If you like seeing vampires killed by the dozens and won’t be too put off by some pretty campy acting then SPIKE TV’s “Blade: The Series” might be something you will enjoy watching.
For me, the two-hour pilot was entertaining enough to keep me watching (I put it on my DVR so I could whip through those annoying ads), so I only had to deal with about 1-hour and 45-minutes of vampires disentigrating from Blade’s forthright and deft sword handling.
I will say one thing, while Kirk “Sticky” Jones lacks some of the charisma of Wesley Snipes, he does bring a freshness to the role that is a bit less brooding than Snipes. He handles himself well in the fight scenes and I was impressed with his martial arts abilities, however, his acting is rigid and forced at times. Hopefully, if SPIKE doesn’t pull the plug too early, Jones will grow into the part and relax those tense acting muscles.
The real bright spot, at least for me, was seeing Randy Quaid in a guest appearance. I love watching this guy perform in any role, be it movies, stage or television. He has that rare gift of being whatever he is called upon to be and making it seem real.
I felt the opening scene of the pilot was a real stroke of genius showing Blade on his motorcycle running after a Russian military officer in an underground facility within the heart of Red Square and after dispatching this Russian vampire, the camera pans to the streets of Detroit, Blade’s headquarters, and the street scene is accompanied with a hard down beat rap tune. It set the pace for the rest of the opener and if the writers and production crew can keep that kind of energy going for the entire season without falling into the trap of formula TV, the show should be a relative success.
I will watch it again and if the quality continues and doesn’t grow stale, will probably make it a regular part of my television viewing schedule.
Oh yeah, before I forget: In case you missed the pilot or want to catch the show on your computer, iTunes has reached an agreement with SPIKE TV and will be offering “Blade” The Series” as one of their many video downloads.
On the Uncle Sam scale of 0 to 5 – I give “Blade: The Series” a 2.5 with hopes of it attaining a 3 by the end of Season One.
karl says
That is one hell of a bad publicity shot.
Sounds like the show will be worth checking out at least though. I wodner if it ever make it over to old Blighty though…
Rob says
I have to agree with Sam’s review. It wasn’t half bad. For all those interested and did not see it, Itunes is giving away the pilot for free.
so it wont cost anything if you did not catch it on SPIKE.
Walter says
I downloaded it from iTunes and thought it was pretty good. They layed some interesting groundwork for the series with a few things that could very interesting if handles right. I will definitely watch it again.
Walter from LA
Mark in St. Louis says
I have to agree with Sam’s review, also. For those that believe they can judge a show by the first 5 minutes: don’t. The initial scenes seem to have little to do with each other, but they do eventually bring them together quite nicely. After the show there were scenes from the rest of the season that definitely will have me coming back, at least for now. Opinions are always subject to change.
Also, for those that missed it on Wednesday, SPIKE will be replaying it on Sunday, July 2nd at 9:00 pm eastern.
Lisa in Indiana says
You all are much more generous than I am. Camp doesn’t begin to describe this tedious offering Randy Quaid was indeed a bright spot, but since he’s a guest actor, he won’t be shedding much light on this dismal crew. A dialogue coach might be helpful to assist these folks in opening their mouths and actually making the feeble script intelligible. I was hoping for better, really I was. This was just awful.
Kyle Nin says
You can’t judge the entire series on one episode. And even then, this is the first one. It sets up the rest of the season. They can’t reveal everything NOW.
I gave the first half of the episode the benefit of the doubt, and the second half was, in my opinion, worth waiting through the first half.
There have been a lot shows that, in my opinion, started off bad (BSG – I’m sorry, but the beginning of the series was just too dark and depressing; and Andromeda – I just didn’t care about the characters at the start), but had eventually gotten better.
I’m definitely going to watch this show. I like the movies, but this isn’t a movie. It’s a TV show. So the storyline has to cover more than two hours. It seems as though they’re presenting a very interesting storyline. (The position that Krista is in probably wouldn’t have worked quite the same way if it were in a movie.)
It’s not a perfect show, but I think it’s off to a good start. I’d give it at least a 3 out of 5.
fred says
I thought it was alright, worth tunning in next week. The Krista/Blade relationship could be real interesting. The “pets” in the meat plant reminded me of the of the servants to the silent gentlemen from Buffy. Which was kinda cool.
P.G. Holyfield says
Get rid of Blade and just call it Krista. She was the only thing worth watching in the pilot, and she was definitely what they focused their time on when writing the pilot.
FuSnickens says
I plan to watch the next episode to make my final decision, but the initial offering was a major disappointment. It’s obvious that Sticky has no martial arts or swordplay skills. This Blade looks like an unseasoned amateur. The underlings wouldnt have gotten that many licks in if Wesley were here! If this series was called “Blade: The Beginning” maybe I’d understand. In the other movies, when Blade throws his “Glaive”, it cuts several vamps and returns to him. In the series, it sticks and you have to wait for it to explode! I’m used to more advanced fighting skills from Blade, more acrobatics, more amazing vampire stuff. They should have found some no name actor with a black belt in something to do this; they’d have more money left for some CGI. If the 2nd installment is like the first, I’m taking Blade off my Tivo list.
MrSinister says
Westley Snipes fan here, he can’t be replaced.
Could sya the same about Christopher Reed as Superman.
Ok. Ok…
I liked the pilot, and the second episode.
Back to the old BLADE 1 background idea of teh 12 houses of Vampires. And new twist in the vampire wanna-be/attics who do ‘Ash’
Nice work!
I myself can’t get enough of vampires turning to ash.
David Goyer has (almost) redeemded himself from Blade trinity. 😉
E. Kitchin says
Sam’s quite right–it IS campy, but I definitely feel that it can easily improve to be worth watching. I watched the second episode last night, and it seemed more cohesive. However, Jones is still far too stiff and wooden, ruining most of his scenes. Kristi is the main reason I’m watching, since her uncertainty with her new situation is cleverly done and since the actress actually has some ability.
Basically, don’t dismiss it out of hand–I would say watch a couple more episodes, and hope that Jones settles down into his role.
G. Clemons says
Sticky is too sticky. I know Wesley is saying “who is this clown?” He’s not as chrismatic enough to carry the character and tends to blend into the background. And where’s Whistler, man? It’s supposed to be Blade, not the Superfriends. I was rooting for the vampires after watching this hack.
robert randolph says
u r so wrong about it krista is so hot i like it most when they show the patrs of van skivers house and stuff alot. besides who needs wisler hes probably an old guy. besides blade was a little boy when he saw wisler hes problay old now . plus i have pointy like vampire teeth to. there long it would be cool if i could be a pure blood on the tv show or even better van skivers spy for odd things with blade. i could follow himm around and spy on blade withouth him knowing.
robert randolph says
one more thing if u want me on your tv show just call me (801)-840-4901