Blade II

Other than the explanation of where he came from, who he and everyone else is, at the beginning, this film stands nicely on its own. for those of you that know the first one, then this opening explanation will be a little irritating (and a tad confusing, but it becomes clear later). The opening does smell strongly of franchise potential, being repeated in all the inevitable sequels still to come. Once past this though, we are lead through a massive fight and action scene that sets up the whole movie. and warns anyone who can't stand Hong Kong action scenes that they are probably watching the wrong screen.

The movie is essentially a platform for Snipes to have fun with his most renowned character. And he does so with very entertaining results. The movie has reasonably well rounded characters, suspicion piled on top of everyone, some amazing set pieces and a good sense of humour. The impact of all the blood and guts is reduced by the obvious fantasy of the fights (wires and SFX a lot of the time), but its still pretty powerful.

The lead performances are all very good, although some of the peripheral characters are a little too hammer horror. Luke Goss demonstrates great potential, although you would need to see him without the make up, body doubles, and special effects to really judge. and there is occasionally that urge to shout "when will I be famous." and the pure blood female vampire who takes a shine to blade is well worth being bitten by.

Overall it feels less like a sequel and more like a stand alone movie. with this in mind, I think its in fact better than the original (a rare example of the exception that proves the rule).

Beneath the streets, behind facades, above the law; conglomerations old and new, slash, shear and saw; unseen but all around, vigilant of every sound, taking lives, destroying chances, tooth and claw.

But a new strain has evolved and it bites back, renders vampires into beasts weapons can't crack, an allegiance is convened, to destroy the new obscene, with a violent and quite viscous, counterattack.

One of the more accomplished takes on the vampires taking over the world genre, with one of the more accomplished, and even to this day spectacular incarnations of a vampire slayer there's been.

The blood flows proportionally.

There are some types of movies that you walk into expecting a lot of killing,a lot of swearing and snappy dialogue. Blade II is this kind of movie, and it is great. The plot is great, (albeit a little predictable)and some of the computer graphics are extremely noticeable, but altogether this is a great action movie. So many people die a body count would be impossible. The second to last fight scene is unbelievable. Blade puts the icing on the cake when he vertical suplexes the last security guard through a plate glass floor. The music lines up perfectly with the fighting, and I was very impressed with the way the Reaper looks and feeds. A GREAT SEQUEL TO A GREAT MOVIE!!! Looking forward to a trilogy!!!

Sequels are always tough but I personally love sequels, sometimes even a bad sequel is good just because you missed the characters. Blade 2 brings Wesley Snipes back as a kick-butt action hero who is also part Vampire...how can you go wrong with a story line like that? I will say Blade 2 doesn't touch how good Blade was. Blade was a deep story, packed with action, and depth, and was so fascinating and dark. Blade 2 keeps it's dark appearance which is very good...I would hate to see Blade go soft on us. It's a relief that they also went out of their way to bring back Whistler (Kris Kristofferson) who gives us a anti-hero...something just not right about his character and yet he's like Blade's only weakness because of his love for his mentor and father-figure. In this story, Blade is approached by the Vampires seeking his help this time. Something is hunting the Vampires and ripped them to shreds and in the process creating something worse than a Vampire. They are called Reapers. Blade agrees to join a squad of mercenary Vamp killers who were trained to kill him originally and work with them to rid the world of these Reapers who will eventually turn on humans. Blade still doesn't let his guard down and doesn't trust his new allies. This is the basis of the story. The story is very shallow and could have been written so much better. It had so much potential and I just think they got through it as quickly as possible. Fortunately for them it's action packed, and the fight sequences are still pretty good. But for the most part the savior is Wesley Snipes and Kris Kristofferson returning in their roles. They save the movie they make it worth while because they are just great super hero's. Otherwise the movie is lost in RIDICULOUS special effects, that I could do sitting at home in front of my Desktop computer. The effects are computer generation and they show, you can pin point exactly where the real people end and AI takes over. It's annoying and campy. The music is just absolutely lost in this one. In the original Blade the music is unbelievably complimenting the story line and Blade. It's thumping and exciting and makes you heart race. In this one, the music is barely a part of it. Blade's sudden use of a magical gun that explodes Vampires into little computerized sparkles of dust is just plain stupid. Now can you believe after all those things I just listed that I would still tell you to go see this movie??? As I said, the original characters make it worth while and some of the new Vamps are interesting. I sincerely hope they carry on the Blade franchise but I hope they go back to the original Blade to continue from and not Blade 2. Definately go see it for action and just because Blade rocks but don't be surprised if it's not quite what the first one was. I give it a 7/10

I'm not sure why the overall rating of this is lower than Blade 1. I guess b/c the first one is original and perhaps many people's expectations were higher than expected. My assessment is that Blade 2 is superior to the first and an improvement in many areas.

First is the expanded story and cast, it includes a tactical unit of elite warriors. That was definitely a plus and very interesting. Next it dives much more into the vampire lore, as even Blade himself mention in the film it takes us deeper into their operation, their world. And thirdly, the mutation into the reaper strain was a plus and a logical step in the overall lore.

But what I appreciate most is how by introducing the squad, it demonstrated that yes other vampires can fight as well. That had always been an issue in the 1st movie b/c just b/c Blade is a hybrid and has all the vampire strength, why is it all the vampires were nothing more than background units that were so easily killed? This 2nd movie we finally see how formidable they can become.

Overall I'm quite pleased with this story, the action, and the overall plot. A much better improvement upon the 1st film.

8/10.