Wolff rating: NOT BAD
Plot summary: A big guy with many weapons goes vampire hunting during a time of crisis among the vampire secret government.
Biased, pithy comments: This is definitely a triumph of style over substance. In fact, substance was lying bleeding on the ground after just 15 minutes of this film. The director Norrington's pedigree is more special effects than directing, and it shows. To get any amount of enjoyment out of this film, you have to pretty much ignore the ins and outs of the plot, and instead feast your eyes on directorial rampage. The throbbing techno sountrack, clever cinematography, and silly costuming makes this awash-in-digital-effects comic book fun on a visceral level. However, the plot, action, and dialog is pretty laughable---besides the fact that no one bothers to arrest this hulking guy in a huge black leather jacket, black body armor, and enough weapons to be a one-man S.W.A.T. team, you've really got to suspend your disbelief to get through the film. Snipes, although a veteran of action films, is adrift here, grimacing his way through the obligatory superhero angst; we're left only with Kristopherson's crusty limping and the beautiful Wright's reaction shots to know of really any emotion at all in the film. As with all vampire movies, it gets a little biological at times; I got a little grossed out by the continuous artery-gobbling, blood sampling, and needles, but hey, I guess that's why you watch vampire films. It's a hard movie to recommend unless you want to watch a full-length music video; I was reminded of my reaction to ``The Replacement Killers,'' except RK actually mostly made sense.
Other Notes: Watch for the ``Fist Full of Yen'' reference (a la Kentucky Fried Movie) near the end. ``What the...''
How many times I have seen it: x1
Starring: Wesley Snipes, Stephen Dorff, Kris Kristofferson, N'Bushe Wright, Donal Logue.
Directed by: Stephen Norrington