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Blade II
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Tim "Blood Sucker" Wann (Columnist)
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"Woah slim you STINK! Wash that ass before fighting me!" |
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There is a lovely word in the English language that causes movie fans both cower in fear and tingle with joy at the same time, that word is 'sequel'. It's the point at which a marketable movie becomes a franchise and can either go on to produce successful offspring or be milked and watered down into a sub par rehash of the original. And we all know how often the latter becomes the case. The sequel historically is rarely better than the original. Take a comic book-to-movie franchise, and those chances are cut in half. Throw in a different director than the original into the equation, and you nary have a shot in hell at making it better. Now you can see where I'm getting at when it came to Blade 2. The only real plus it had going for it was that Wesley Snipes and Kris Kristofferson were returning as Blade and Whistler and that writer David Goyer was again at the script helm. That was it, there was nothing else to bank on. Which is why Blade 2 pleasantly surprised me at how great of a sequel it is. There were so many places it could have gone wrong and didn't, and many places where it was already right and went even further.
Director Guillermo del Toro opens Blade 2 perfectly. Instead of easily regurgitating the high octane, in your face rave blood bath of the original it creeps in as subtle and as a spider starting at a blood bank in Prague (perfect location for classic vampire dank if you ask me) where a new breed of hunter, the Reaper, has emerged from its depths. Within the first 5 minutes you witness just how deadly this new breed is along with your first nutritious dose of blood splatter fun and gore. Believe me it won't be the last, because the horror meter is cranked up a few levels on this one, and the witty one liners toned down a hair. Blade is coaxed into an uncomfortable truce with the vampire nation and hired to help them kill the the Reapers who feed on blood sucking vamps as well as humans. The tension between the vampire "Bloodpack" and Blade and his team (featuring resurrected bad ass Whistler and a new hot shot techno wiz named Scud played by Norman Reedus) is thick as thieves, as both sides suspect the other can turn on them at any given moment. Snipes again plays Blade as if he were born for this role. You know how Harrison Ford just feels so natural playing Indiana Jones, same goes for Snipes as Blade. He slips effortlessly into the character as if he's putting on a pair of old jeans. And damn if it isn't great to see him back again as the sword toting daywalker. Blade is just a cool character, hands down. The action is fantastic and on par with the original blade (except for some VERY obvious CGI fight scenes that I'll wave off)... so if seeing a bunch of physics defying acrobatics coupled with blood and beefy chunks of smoldering vampire flesh is your bag, then dig in. It's all back and better than ever.
As I mentioned before the gore is more plentiful here, but it's also a hell of a lot more realistic. After you find out just why those Reapers have a nasty scar running down the center of their chin, the film becomes a Grey's Anatomy for twisted horror buffs like myself. The main course is being treated to a live Reaper autopsy all up close and personal like. Yummy. It's this attention to detail that made this film such a joy to watch. Everything looks fantastic from the ghoulishly green washed film quality to the absolutely nightmarish make-up. Again, some of the CGI I can do without, but I can see why it had to be used. The Reapers truly take center stage as engaging, formidable foes that are repulsive and gorgeous at the same time. Definitely the slickest protagonists to come down the action pike in a long time.
So is it better than the original? Well, that comes down to personal taste. Frankly, I enjoyed Blade 2 much more because of its realism (technically speaking) and increased sense of credibility. Del Toro and Goyer don't just provide a run of the mill sequel with the usual flash pots. You can tell they live and breathe this stuff and it shows. And my compliments to them for providing a sweet little intro that perfectly wraps up who Blade is, his origin, and some Blade 1 backstory to fill in the gaps. A nice touch for those that haven't see the first one. If you are one of those people that has raised the original Blade to an untouchable fanboy status over the last 4 years, then Blade 2 may not live up to your expectations. But let us not forget where this story and character came from. It's a comic book meant to be fun, cool, and exciting, which Blade 2 definitely is. The movie itself doesn't forget its roots and delivers the goods and then some. It's the next issue on the stands, and those buying it should be pleased. All the fun and thrill of the first with a bit more blood for your buck. Sink in.
7/10
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Blade II
Starring:
Wesley Snipes
Kris Kristofferson
Ron Perlman
Luke Goss
Leonor Varela
Directed by:
Guillermo del Toro
Written by:
Guillermo del Toro
David S. Goyer
Rated: R
Violence
Language
Some Drug Use
Sexual Content
Briefly, how we rate the movies we see...
| 10 |
_Perfect
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| 9 |
_Excellent
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| 8 |
_Great
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| 7 |
_Very Good
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| 6 |
_Good
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| 5 |
_Not Bad
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| 4 |
_Not Good
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| 3 |
_Pretty Bad
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| 2 |
_Really Bad
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| 1 |
_Suck Ass
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| 0 |
_Feces on Film
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