Blade (1998) |
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Blade (1998) |
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| BUY IT |
| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Vampire |
Menu Animation & Audio Theatrical Trailer Interviews-Cast & Crew Featurette-Martial Arts montage (2 mins) Featurette-La Magra (14 mins) Featurette-Behind The Scenes (3 mins) Featurette-Designing Blade (23 mins) Dolby Digital Trailer-City Biographies-Cast |
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| Rating |
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| Year Of Production | 1998 | ||
| Running Time | 116:03 | ||
| RSDL / Flipper | RSDL (93:42) | Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 4 | Directed By | Stephen Norrington |
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Studio
Distributor |
 Roadshow Home Entertainment |
Starring |
Wesley Snipes Stephen Dorff Kris Kristofferson N'Bushe Wright Donal Logue |
| Case | Top Button | ||
| RPI | $34.95 | Music | Mark Isham |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0  (256Kb/s)English MPEG 2.0 (224Kb/s)
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| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
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| Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles | None | Smoking | No |
| Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
| Action In or After Credits | No | ||
His arch-enemy is Deacon Frost (Stephen Dorff), a vampire who has unlocked the secret of La Magra, an apocalypse whereby humankind could be wiped off the face of the earth.
Blade is heavy on style and gore, and fairly light on for character development, so don't expect On Golden Pond. Indeed, Wesley Snipes spends his time in this movie equally divided between striking suitably heroic poses for the sake of the camera and kicking vampire butt. The special effects and action are sensational, all accompanied by a very stylistic musical score.
The transfer is presented at an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, 16x9 enhanced.
The transfer is very clear and very sharp. Shadow detail is excellent, with deep blacks and plenty of detail to be discerned. There is no low level noise. The opening titles are red on black, and they are blurry. This is not specific to the Region 4 version - the Region 1 version is the same in this regard.
The colours were unusually rendered. A large proportion of the film was rendered very blue, with little red saturation, to make the vampires seem bloodless. Scattered blotches of vivid colour disrupted this very anaemic colour palette.
No MPEG artefacts were seen. Film-to-video artefacts consisted of a number of sequences with more aliasing than I am used to seeing with current generation transfers. Whilst never being particularly bad, the aliasing was certainly more prominent than I would have preferred. Save for this artefacting, this transfer would have received a reference rating. Film artefacts were very rare.
The running time of this movie is 116 minutes, not 120 minutes as stated on the packaging.
Blade is presented on a dual layer disc, though there is no layer change within the movie itself, so it appears as if the extras occupy the second layer.
(Addendum 18th June 1999: The RSDL layer change is at 93:42, at the transition from Chapter 17 to Chapter 18. It is essentially undetectable with no audible or visible pause whatsoever.)
The dialogue was generally clear and easy to understand, though a few words here and there were drowned out by sound effects and ambience.
There were no audio sync problems with the movie.
The musical score was by Mark Isham and was very stylish, suiting the visual style of the movie admirably.
The surround channels were aggressively used throughout the movie, with frequent use of split surrounds for aggressive and dynamic sound placement. A very enveloping soundfield was created by this movie.
The subwoofer was used frequently and aggressively by this soundtrack to accentuate special effects and music.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The Region 1 version of this disc is a New Line Platinum Edition, so it is loaded to the eyeballs with extras.
The Region 4 version of this DVD misses out on;
Audio commentary
Isolated Music Score with commentary
Featurette-The Origins Of Blade
Featurette-The Blood Tide
Pencil to Post: Pencil sketches through to Production designs
Theatrical Trailer in 2.35:1 aspect ratio, Dolby Digital 5.1 sound
DVD-ROM content; Original Screenplay, Blade highlights from the 1998 ComiCon convention, Web access links
The Region 1 version of this DVD misses out on;
Cast & Crew Interviews
Featurette-Martial Arts Montage
Featurette-Behind The Scenes
Clearly, the Region 1 version of this DVD is the version of choice.
The video quality is basically excellent with slightly more aliasing than would be expected.
The audio quality is superb.
The extras are the best yet from Roadshow Home Entertainment. The Region 1 disc, however, still far exceeds the Region 4 disc for extras.
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| Extras | |
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| Overall | |
| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Pioneer DV-505, using S-Video output |
| Display | Loewe Art-95 (95cm). Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 576i (PAL). |
| Audio Decoder | Denon AVD-2000 Dolby Digital decoder. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
| Amplification | 2 x EA Playmaster 100W per channel stereo amplifiers for Left, Right, Left Rear and Right Rear; Philips 360 50W per channel stereo amplifier for Centre and Subwoofer |
| Speakers | Philips S2000 speakers for Left, Right; Polk Audio CS-100 Centre Speaker; Apex AS-123 speakers for Left Rear and Right Rear; Yamaha B100-115SE subwoofer |