A Brilliant Conflict

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Movie Review: "Blade II" (2002)The successor to an ultra-dark "Blade" starring Wesley Snipes as the title-given "Daywalker" directed by Stephen Norrington comes along with highly-motivated 37-year-old director Guillermo del Toro getting presented with plain evolutionary script to "Dark Universe" niche-beginnings of Marvel Studios under contract with Warner Bros. affiliate New Line Cinema, which distributed "The Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of The Ring" (2001) to major success at the international box office."Blade II" targets a faster-received as consumed moviegoer-group with an justified R-rated picture in which the director receives the production values of an Hollywood production for the first time his career to bring stark-composited digital-imagery-compositions to the silver-screen of movie houses around the world, putting his name as visionary director on the map in favor to producers seeking high-end entertainment for a young adult audience.Action scenes are superb with flavors of science-fiction-horror ingredients, which made the director Guillermo del Toro notorious and famous for competent and professional deliverable, even though in the case of "Blade II" the original writing effort of the director is missed, when star-actor and producing partner Wesley Snipes carries this vampire-action movie alongside sidekicking actor Kris Kristofferson as reprising character Whistler.© 2018 Felix Alexander Dausend (Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC)

Though a select few action sequences are all but ruined by entirely too obvious and woefully uncanny CGI body doubles, the majority of this piece is palpably gooey and stylishly slick both in its overall presentation, this time steeped in the slightly Gothic horror of Guillermo del Toro, and its set-pieces, which mostly infuse fantastic choreography with tangibly painful practical effects to coolly cringe-inducing effect. It maintains its confidently laid-back spirit and calmly assured bad-ass protagonist, this time expanding the luscious lore that surrounds both and only making a couple of missteps with the narrative. Its pace and tone are consistent right until its much improved finale, and even the few plot issues don't ruin the effect of a piece with just as much bark as bite. 7/10

This is a great movie. It is very fast past. It also very scary. It has a great story line it also has great acting. It also has great special effects

Finally, a great popcorn flick that's an improvement over the original movie and offers up an often stunning combination of the action and horror genres to great effect. BLADE II, like its predecessor but more so, skilfully combines full-blooded gory horror with some excellent martial arts choreography, here done by Donnie Yen who also appears in a minor role. Although the plot is fairly predictable stuff, sometimes rehashing scenes in the original movie except with different places and characters, and the various plot twists are a little contrived at times, this is never anything less than very entertaining. Sometimes it may be silly but that's part of the charm. Never has there been such a combination of the ultra-cool (the action) with the ultra-cheesy (Snipes posturing wildly, e.g. the hilarious "sunglasses throw"), a combination which makes BLADE II a more satisfying film than the original -which is no mean feat in itself.The director is the acclaimed Mexican Guillermo del Toro, who brings his usual visual artistry (the world in which the film takes place is a dark, Gothic, decaying netherworld of ugliness and filth), plot elements (scary transforming monsters, mechanical devices which attach themselves to people and don't come off) and actors - yep, Ron Perlman is back from CRONOS and used to good effect once more. Starting with a wild action sequence in which Snipes takes on a pack of motorbike-riding vampires, the film rarely slows down, offering up some great set-pieces like the vampire's rave, the sewer hunt and the over-the-top finale. Influences from the likes of ALIENS and PREDATOR are evident but staged differently enough to avoid being too similar or noticeable to ruin the flow of the film.My love of the martial arts is quickly growing and BLADE II offers some fantastically-choreographed fights and swordplay. Incredibly fast moves and hits are seamlessly blended with CGI characters (to do those moves which truly are impossible for human actors to perform) and the result is adrenaline-pumping action highlighted by an appropriately pumping score. I really was on the edge of my seat for the vampire-busting antics and kept on looking forward to the next scene, and the next. The final one-on-one, in particular, is spellbinding stuff. Nice to see that they threw a few wrestling moves in there too to keep things fresh and entertaining (!). Wesley Snipes effortlessly slides back into the character of Blade and it's nice to see he doesn't take things quite so seriously this time around; however, his screen presence and talented handling of the action makes him a hero to be proud of.As for the horror-side of the film, well this is where things start getting really nasty. Forget the vampires from the first film (who now become normal, everyday kind of menaces), the newly-designed Reapers are a horrific bunch of subhuman-looking creatures who have a really disgusting surprise hidden up their sleeves which I don't want to spoil too much (other than to say there are some great shocks in store for the first-time viewer). The gore and violence is played to the hilt and this is a film packed with people being sliced in half, having half of their heads cut off (really sickening bit there), throats torn out and blood spraying all over the shop. Plus plenty of the usual arm-snapping, neck-breaking and bullet-busting everyday kind of film violence. The vampire destruction sequences, showing the creatures burning into skeletons and exploding into ashes, are truly spectacular and a delight to watch. Here's a film where I can 100% recommend the excellent CGI effects used - and I never thought I'd get a chance to say that (not a big fan of computer effects at all, but they work really well here - congrats to all involved).Cast-wise, it's nice to see Kris Kristofferson back in shape (although the movie doesn't do a very good job of explaining his back-from-the-dead presence), although there's another unnecessary and frankly unwanted love interest in Leonor Varela. Norman Reedus makes for a likable accomplice, Scud, despite being a bit of a geek, but the most surprising thing is that the chief nasty vampire (a really evil-looking screen villain) is played well by Luke Goss, also known as one of the members of '80s boy band Bros! A nice mixture of talent is evident in the vampire cast members, with actors ranging from the aforementioned Ron Perlman (as impassive as ever), to Donnie Yen, to Danny John-Jules (another British celebrity turned Hollywood star) to THE STENDHAL SYNDROME's Thomas Kretschmann. Although it never goes any deeper than being a purely visual display of effects and action, BLADE II is a solid and above-average entry in the action/horror genre and even something of a minor classic. Definitely a film that can be enjoyed more than once so a full recommendation to this one.