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rating)
Viewed at Pacific Place Theaters
Rated R; approximate running time of 108 minutes
Genre: Action/Horror
Written by: David S. Goyer
Directed by: Guillermo del Toro
Cast: Wesley Snipes, Kris Kristofferson, Ron Perlman, Leonor Varela, Norman Reedus, Thomas Kretschmann, Donnie Yen, and Danny John Jules.
WARNING - SPOILERS BELOW.
The Digest
Let me give you a little background from the first movie so you'll have a clearer
understanding of what is going on. Blade is a Daywalker. A vampire bit his mother while she was pregnant, thus, Blade has all of the strengths of the vampires and none of their weaknesses. Silver, Sun Light, and Garlic have no effect on him. He has their super human strength; he could even bite someone and make them a vampire if he chooses to. With the help of Whistler - who makes all of his weapons - and an antidote - to help keep his vampiric urges at bay - Blade is able to hunt down and kill the vampires. He hates what he is and hates the vampires for making him one of them.
Now on to the story.
Two years have passed since Blade went up against Deacon Frost (Blade 1999) and he is still in Europe looking for his best friend and mentor, Whistler (Kris Kristofferson). Whistler has survived the visicious attack that ended with Whistler sporting a bite from a vampire. (Please note that the fact that Whistler has survived is in the trailers including those on the official site. I'm not spoiling a plot point in the movie.) While Whistler has been gone, Blade has hooked up with Scud (Norman Reedus), and Scud has been responsible for making all the groovy weapons that Blade needs to fight the vampires.
While Blade is scouring Europe looking for Whistler, a new breed of vampire has arisen called a Reaper. This breed has an unquenchable thirst. Because of this thirst, they do not stop at humans; they are attacking other vampires as well. Attacking them to devour them. If the victim manages to survive, they become a Reaper themselves and they are increasing exponentially.
This has terrified the ruling houses of vampires and they have appealed to Blade for
help. They want Blade to lead an elite tactical unit of vampires whose mission is to hunt the Reapers down and kill them. One problem - this unit called the "Blood Pack" had a
previous assignment. That assignment was to hunt down Blade and kill him. How can he fight off the Reapers and make sure that his own team doesn't try to kill him when he isn't looking?
Whew!
The Dish
Okay, I'll get straight to the point. I've looked at this movie two ways.
1. Blade is a bad motor scooter and if you mess with him, he will 'F 'you up.
Looking at from this standpoint, this movie rocked. Plenty of action, special effects, kick
ass stunts. Blade II had it all and I did not want for more. I was on the edge of
my seat or hiding behind my hands. I was in complete awe of Wesley Snipes, hell all of the actors, and their ability to flip, jump, fight, bounce off of walls... I was a happy camper.
2. Any ole other movie out there.
This is where Blade II failed.
The supporting acting was poor. None of the characters did much for me and for the most part were fairly mediocre. I guess most of the budget went toward effects. You might recognize Asad ( Danny John Jules) as “Cat” from the British Serial Red Dwarf. Scud didn’t add anything to movie as far as I was concerned. Nyssa ( Leonor Varela) while cute, had zero chemistry with Blade even though the screenplay called for there to be some between them. Ron Perlman seemed like a fish out of water, he just doesn’t do menacing well enough (I think I had the same problem with him in Alien 4). Kris Kristofferson, was wonderful again as a grouchy ole Whistler.
The dialogue was uninteresting. David Goyer wrote Blade so one would assume that he is not new to the nuances of the characters, so it was surprising to me that the jokes seemed forced and Blade's classic one-liners were missing or fell flat.
The story was farfetched and there were quite a few plot holes and loose ends. A main character from the first movie just disappeared with no mention of her. The head of the Damaskino vampire house is all of a sudden his archenemy when he has never before been discussed and was absent from the first movie.
Everything that made Blade work for me was gone. Part of the magic of the first Blade, was the first 10 minutes grabbed you and pimp slapped you into attention. After watching him completely and thoroughly kick ass, you couldn't help but be hooked. Also gone was an evil nemesis. Deacon Frost was evil. You wanted Blade to kick the living tar out him. There wasn't one character in Blade II that elicited those feelings from me. And finally, I pretty much wasn't feeling the whole Reaper thing. He just didn't create the chaos that Deacon Frost did. I actually felt sorry for the main Reaper dude.
The Directive
If I based my rating on special effects and kick assness - this movie would clearly get a green light, but given all the problems, I would suggest you go to a matinee. If all you want is to drool in front of the screen (which is what I did for a bit) then see it on opening night.
I think Blade took that little sword of his and tore up the plot.
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Copyright Kamal "The Diva" Larsuel-Ulbricht, 2002
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