Blade

Move over, Buffy -- the summer's most exciting vampire slayer would have to be Blade. Wesley Snipes plays the title character, a half-vampire, half-human superhero who's assisted by a grizzled Q-like figure (Kris Kristofferson) and a brainy Pam Grier type (N'Bushe Wright). Blade battles a vampire underworld resembling the X-Files' Syndicate and led by hipster Deacon Frost (a strung-out Stephen Dorff) that's bent on destroying the world. Naturally only Blade can stop him. With well-choreographed fight scenes, imaginative special effects, and genuinely surprising plot twists, this may be the best mindless entertainment of the summer.

Director Stephen Norrington gives Blade a stylish, dark feel that remains true to its comic-book roots (Marvel Comics' Stan Lee even served as an executive producer), modernizing vampirism without sarcasm. Just as The Lost Boys imagined vampires as metal-heads, Blade sees them as club kids. Norrington's use of sound can be masterful, but too often the editing is choppy, and the script has too many dumb one-liners worthy of Ah-nold. It's also a shame that Snipes, so much fun as the bad-ass in White Men Can't Jump and even Demolition Man, interprets Blade as completely humorless. Blade works because it doesn't take itself that seriously. Too bad its star does. At the Harbour Mall, Holiday, Showcase, Tri-Boro, and Woonsocket cinemas.

-- Dan Tobin