The Best Wesley Snipes Movie Is Coming To Netflix
It's on its way!
The MCU may have launched the superhero genre into the stratosphere, but you’ve got to give credit to the OG pre-cinematic universe era that brought us some of the best superhero movies of all time. Films like the Spider-Man trilogy with Tobey Maguire and the Nolan Batman trilogy come to mind. But there’s a more underrated trilogy from this era that just so happens to be one of Wesley Snipes’ best roles. We’re of course talking about the Blade trilogy, which you get to enjoy in its entirety all over again when it hits Netflix on April 1.
The Blade trilogy shows Wesley Snipes as the vampire hunter Blade. Blade is a dhampir, which is a human that has vampire strengths but none of their weaknesses. The first Blade film was released in 1998 and featured Snipes in the lead role. The cast was rounded out by Kris Kristofferson, Stephen Dorff, N’Bushe Wright, Donal Logue, and Udo Kier. Though it didn’t kill with the critics, it’s a cult favorite with audiences loving the stylish and horror-tinged comic book adaptation. Also, Wesley Snipes excels as the stoic and badass vampire hunter.
The movie would go on to spawn two sequels, Blade II and Blade: Trinity. Blade II is around the same level of quality as the first movie, but the franchise goes a little astray in the final movie, with critics and audiences alike enjoying it significantly less than the first two. David S. Goyer handled writing duties on all three films, and he took over the director chair for Blade: Trinity. The first movie was directed by Stephen Norrington and the second was handled by Guillermo del Toro. Along with Wesley Snipes and Kris Kristofferson, new cast members would also rotate through, with Blade II featuring roles from Ron Perlman, Leonor Varela, and Norman Reedus. Blade: Trinity would bring Parker Posey, Jessica Biel, and Ryan Reynolds to the mix.
As far as the box office goes, the movies could all be considered a success. The first movie managed to pull in around $131 million, the second brought in $155 million, and the final movie also brought in around $131 million. No doubt, the star power of Wesley Snipes helped to bring in the box office bucks, plus the built-in comic audience for Blade along with the people who just want to see a cool vampire-hunter movie.
As one of the OG horror-superhero movie mashups, the Blade trilogy definitely holds up over two decades later. The cool effects, the macabre story and atmosphere, and the performance of Wesley Snipes are as engaging as ever. While your results may vary with the third film, people often debate whether the first or second film is better, with fans of the series enjoying both almost equally. It’s definitely a trilogy that is overall worth your time, especially if you’re a fan of vampire movies or superhero movies. It’s going to be even more relevant if you’re a fan of the MCU, because Marvel is rebooting the character for a brand new movie.
Though Wesley Snipes won’t be reprising his role for the MCU, now is the perfect time to catch up on some lore and backstory for the character before he makes his grand appearance. The role is being taken over by Mahershala Ali, which honestly seems like the perfect successor. We got to hear the character very briefly in a post-credits scene after The Eternals, though that scene was more focused on the future of Kit Harrington’s character than anything. There’s a chance that he could debut in a bigger role before his solo movie, but for now, we’ll have to just wait and see. Details for the Marvel Blade movie are very scarce right now. We really only have Mahershala Ali’s role confirmed, along with Delroy Lindo and Aaron Pierre in supporting roles. Details about the plot are unknown and there’s no set release date yet. Who knows? Maybe we’ll even get a Wesley Snipes cameo since the multiverse is very much in play now.
For now, fans of Blade will have plenty to enjoy. Once the Wesley Snipes trilogy hits Netflix on April 1, you can relive all the bloody vampire-hunting glory as we wait to see what Mahershala Ali does to make the role his own.
