Dir: Guillermo del Toro
Cast: Wesley Snipes, Ron Perlman, Kris Kristofferson,
Luke Goss, Leonor Varela, Norman Reedus
Rated R, Approx: 106 minutes
A New Line Cinema DVD release
More Ways Than One...
crafted and twisted package of martial arts, horror, and bloodshed that ups the ante from the first one. With the
development of Blade out of the way, screenwriter David Goyer cuts right to the grisly mayhem, giving Snipes more
room to take charge in the lead role. The villains this time around are increasingly menacing and the direction of del
Toro nails the dread and the gothic look of the first one. I don't think anything else this year will come close to being
as adrenaline-charged or exciting as Blade II.
strength from the blood of humans and vampires. With Nomak (Luke Goss) in command, the Reapers are slowly
ruling the world and killing many in their paths. A vampire ruler (Thomas Kretschmann) decides to seek out help
from Blade (Snipes), the baddest half-human, half-vampire hunter who ever lived. Blade agrees to help, along with
his longtime helper Whistler (Kris Kristofferson), a computer genius (Norman Reedus) and a team of vampires
known as the Bloodpack, who don't take the company of our hero too well. They all set out together to find Nomak
and destroy him, although they soon realize the uncanny power of the Reapers is going to make this a much
rougher job than what was planned.
providing a little bit of backbone in between the frequent and brilliantly
choreographed action sequences. There's even a few little twists and turns that
come your way as we keep wondering who Blade is able to trust or not. The best
scripted moments are written for both Snipes and Ron Perlman, playing the leader
of the Bloodpack who takes a strong disliking to Blade. These guys work great off
of each other and their opening scene together had me laughing hard.
Del Toro has been known for his subtle horror films such as Cronos and the
recent Devil's Backbone, takes on the complete opposite here. The camera work
is entirely energetic and del Toro toys around with some great visual tricks
throughout the film. A smart choice was getting international martial arts
star/director Donnie Yen (Legend of the Wolf) to assist on the fight
choreography. The action sequences are simply superb and the use of CGI was
gold, thankfully never becoming a distraction. Wait till you see the secret the
Reapers have in store for us during their attacks. Yen himself pops up as
Snowboy, a member of the Bloodpack who is given minimal screentime, but keep a
lookout for his fight between a Reaper during the rave sequence.
"Reaper", a really nasty
menace to both vampires and
humans alike.
part better than Snipes. He's given little dialogue, but brings in the macho charisma just through facial expressions
alone and has some hilarious one-liners every so often to look out for. He clearly appears to be having a blast on
the film and who can blame him? The rest of the cast add presence behind Snipes, particularly singer-turned-actor
Voss, making Nomak as grueling of an enemy as possible, while injecting some humanity to the character. Leonor
Varela does show promise in an underdeveloped part as a love interest for Blade and like the title character, looks
great fighting in leather. I loved seeing character actor Perlman in here, who worked with del Toro in "Cronos,"
playing the sidekick/nemesis of Blade to a T and nearly steals the spotlight from Snipes. As in the first one,
Kristofferson is likably gruff as Whistler, although he doesn't have much to do here and Reedus gets some amusing
material to work with in the part of Blade's new sidekick Scud.
but I think Blade II delivers exactly what those
wanted from the followup of the first film and
topped it with more action, gore and a sly sense of
humor. Watching Snipes strut his stuff is reason
enough to watch this movie, but del Toro's
direction and some clever touches from Goyer's
screenplay make this a thrilling blend of horror,
martial arts and style that genre fans won't want to
miss out on.
Reapers with a team of cunning vampires called
the "Bloodpack."
* * * * 1/2 out of 5
Reviewed by Adam Eshack 04/08/02
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