 Guillermo Del Toro directs this high-voltage adventure that explodes with spectacular effects and martial arts action. When the world is threatened by a new and deadlier breed of super vampire, the legendary Blade (Wesley Snipes) and his mentor Whistler (Kris Kristofferson) must join forces with the Bloodpack, an elite team of vampire warriors made up of Blade's sworn enemies. These ravenous fiends must be destroyed at all costs in this high-voltage adventure exploding with spectacular effects and martial arts action. The electrifying Snipes reprises his role from the original cult classic, Blade. Storyline: A rare mutation has occurred within the vampire community. The Reaper. A vampire so consumed with an insatiable bloodlust that they prey on vampires as well as humans, transforming victims who are unlucky enough to survive into Reapers themselves. Now their quickly expanding population threatens the existence of vampires, and soon there won't be enough humans in the world to satisfy their bloodlust. Blade, Whistler (Yes, he's back) and an armory expert named Scud are curiously summoned by the Shadow Council. The council reluctantly admits that they are in a dire situation and they require Blade's assistance. Blade then tenuously enters into an alliance with The Bloodpack, an elite team of vampires trained in all modes of combat to defeat the Reaper threat. Blade's team and the Bloodpack are the only line of defense which can prevent the Reaper population from wiping out the vampire and human populations. Written by Sean Daly Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Kenneth Brown, July 7, 2012 -- It's long been understood that sequels rarely surpass their predecessors. The same doesn't necessarily hold true, though, in the world of comicbook movies. For every Iron Man 2 there's an X-Men 2: X-Men United, Spider-Man 2, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, The Incredible Hulk, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, The Dark Knight, X-Men: First Class and, technically speaking, The Avengers, which was essentially a direct sequel to at least four different films. While we're at it, add Blade II to that list. Strike that. Bump Blade II toward the top of that list. Blade II isn't just a leaner, meaner Blade, it drives a silver stake into the first film's heart and plants a good, swift kick on the handle to finish the job. Director Guillermo del Toro is, as ever, a man with a vision. A man on a mission, really, bringing the full force of his talent to bear on Blade's action/horror cocktail, Wesley Snipes' steely resolved hybrid hunter, returning screenwriter David S. Goyer's bolder, bloodier screenplay, and a whole new breed of vampires, clawing, gnawing and chewing their way up the visually enthralling food chain. Two years after Blade (Wesley Snipes) put a stop to Deacon Frost's ascent to vampire godhood, an even greater threat rears its head: a more aggressive strain of vampirism that's rapidly producing deadlier, hungrier creatures of the night (dubbed Reapers) that are immune to everything but sunlight. It seems the Reapers' leader, Nomak (The Golden Army's Luke Goss) has a bone to pick with one of the oldest vampire lords in existence, Damaskinos (Thomas Kretschmann). Out-fanged, out-clawed and out of options, the standard-issue vamps turn to Blade and his team -- weapons master Whistler (Kris Kristofferson), back from the dead but not yet back to normal, and recent recruit Scud (The Walking Dead's Norman Reedus) -- for help. The daywalker agrees, reluctantly, and is given command of the Blood Pack, a highly skilled group of bloodthirsty assassins who, until a few days before, were being trained to take out none other than Blade himself. With new weapons, new tactics, and new allies, chief among them vampire princess Nyssa (Leonor Varela) and vindictive Bloodpack leader Reinhardt (Ron Perlman), Blade takes the fight to the Reapers' doorstep, uncovers a plot in the vampire ranks, and struggles to come to terms with his dual natures. Blade II is so much more accomplished than the original that it almost makes me want to revisit my Blade review, rip back the shades of nostalgia, and let the light pour in. Gone are the anemic visual effects, gone are the bloodless supporting performances, gone are the draining subplots, gone are the toothless vamps and hideous aberations (I'm looking at you, Pearl). Del Toro sets Blade II apart in every way. The vampires -- both old and new -- are pure del Toro. Drawing upon Mike Mignola's artwork two years before Hellboy barreled into theaters, the Cronos director's creatures are as striking as they are diverse. Nomak and his translucent skin, pale eyes, snaking tongue and cavernous maw of a Lovecraftian mouth; the Nosferatu-esque Damaskinos and his moist, porcelain skin, bulging veins and arthritic hands; Nyssa and her companion Asad (Danny John-Jules), introduced as manga-inspired, UV-shielded ninja in high-tech armor; and the Blood Pack, a battle-hardened band of rough-n-tumble killers, distinct as individuals, each defined by their weapons, tattoos and hair styles, yet cohesive as a literal pack. But it doesn't end there. Whistler in stasis, Reaper embryos, blood fountains, draining stations, vampires turning into Reapers, gravity-defying leaps, pulse-pounding dust-ups, early strides in digital doubling, lairs, labs, sewers and arenas, all weaved together with the same bewitching aesthetic. Del Toro, no stranger to genre-skewing vampires, does what most others wouldn't: chart his own course. He not only dramatically expands upon the first film's established mythos, he delivers a fully functioning sequel and a blistering action/horror film in its own right. It isn't a perfect sequel, mind you, or a perfect film for that matter. It isn't very hard to spot each twist and betrayal coming a mile off, a few minor plot holes reveal themselves on second and third viewings, the lower-tier Reapers aren't nearly as frightening as Nomak, and some of the film's CG effects are looking a bit long in the tooth (the nameless vampire henchman deaths, the digital doubles, and that blasted bladed boomerang). Even so, Goyer's script is a more refined and agile weapon of mass-scale action-oriented storytelling, Snipes' delivery and control is more consistent than before, Kristofferson doesn't disappoint, Reedus is a solid addition, Varela is a more capable and believable lover and fighter than N'Bushe Wright, and Kretschmann, Perlman and, above all, Goss walk away with every prize del Toro has to give thanks to terrific, fiendishly delicious scene-stealing performances. Del Toro cranks up the action too. If Blade is the series' Alien (I'm sorry to have even made the comparison now that I've penned it), Blade II is its Aliens; faster, grittier, bloodier, more visceral and intense. But whereas it's difficult to compare Alien and Aliens since both are undisputed classics, it isn't difficult to compare Blade and its sequel. Blade II is the more electrifying comicbook actioner, the more arresting tale, the scarier creature feature, and the bigger, badder, more beautiful film. No nostalgia required. Blade II shakes up the established Blade formula and comes away with a sequel that not only handily bests the original but stands strong as a terrific actioner, a frightening horror flick and an entertaining comicbook adaptation. And everything is better. The performances, the script, the fight choreography, the action, the scares, the creatures... all of it. So while I'm on a hyperbolic kick: all hail Guillermo del Toro, man of many talents, many unsettling visions and many unforgettable beasts. On that note, Warner's Blu-ray release is a beast in its own right thanks to a solid (albeit flawed) video transfer, a pair of hard-hitting DTS-HD Master Audio tracks, and a slew of extras including three audio commentaries, two recently produced HD special features, and hours upon hours of supplemental content culled from previous releases. If you have any love of the Blade series, add this to your wish list, shopping cart or collection post haste. (Based on Comic Book) Cast Notes: Wesley Snipes (Blade), Kris Kristofferson (Whistler), Ron Perlman (Reinhardt), Leonor Varela (Nyssa), Norman Reedus (Scud), Thomas Kretschmann (Damaskinos), Luke Goss (Nomak), Matt Schulze (Chupa [as Matthew Schulze]), Danny John-Jules (Asad [as Danny John Jules]), Donnie Yen (Snowman), Karel Roden (Kounen), Marit Velle Kile (Verlaine), Tony Curran (Priest), Daz Crawford (Lighthammer), Santiago Segura (Rush). IMDb Rating (02/12/13): 6.6/10 from 95,903 users - Blade II IMDb Rating (02/12/13): 7.0/10 from 117,124 users - Blade IMDb Rating (02/12/13): 5.8/10 from 80,014 users - Blade: Trinity IMDb Rating (07/28/02): 6.9/10 from 5,476 users
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
