Blade II
by Guillermo Del Toro
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Kris Kristofferson, Leonor Varela, Norman Reedus, Ron Perlman, Wesley SnipesDirector: Guillermo Del Toro
Brand: NEW Line Home Video
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: AC-3, Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 117 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-02-03
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: New Line Home Video
Movie Reviews of Blade II
Movie Review: Don't fear the reapers
Summary: 3 Stars
Listen to the director commentary, and you'll hear Guillermo del Toro saying that he wanted the Blade sequel to be a fun, gory, comic-booky experience.
Well, he succeeded. Grotesquely gory and full of rapid-fire violence, "Blade II" is unashamed of its animeish action sequences and tongue-in-cheek humor ("Catch you later!"). Wesley Snipes and del Toro give it a suitably monstrous charm, although David Goyer's leaden dialogue bogs down many promising scenes.
While a monstrous hooded vampire preys on other vampires, Blade (Snipes) manages to track down his vampirized mentor Whistler (Kris Kristofferson) and cures him of his vampirism.
Then a pair of vampire ninjas arrive, bearing a message for Blade: ancient vampire lord Damaskinos (Thomas Kretschmann) wants to meet with him. Turns out there's a monstrous vampiric mutation called the Reapers loose -- highly contagious, really disgusting, and preys on humans and vampires alike. Blade reluctantly agrees to work with the elite vampire assassin squad called the Bloodpack.
Of course, tensions run high between the vampires and the little gang sworn to kill them -- especially when they arrive at the rave club House of Pain and lose some of their number. Blade takes on the Reapers' leader, Jared Nomak (Luke Goss), only to discover that there are some nasty secrets behind the Reapers' origins. And Damaskinos' plans are far nastier and further-reaching than anyone could have guessed.
Those expecting a copy of the first "Blade" movie should leave the building now. Guillermo del Toro's direction gives "Blade II" a very unique flavour all its own -- it's faster, more grotesque, more fantastical, and more infused with quirky humor. The one sour note is the magical return of Whistler at the beginning, where it turns out that whoops, he wasn't QUITE dead and he's getting better. Contrived much?
And del Toro has fun with the action -- lots of grotesque gore (those flip-out Reaper mouths), anime-style action (Blade garrotes a vampire on a motorcycle) and highly destructive gun battles. The first four-fifths of the story are just mindless shoot-'em-up-and-burn-up-to-ashes Reaper-hunts, but it mutates in the last act. Suddenly we're faced with a vampiric tale of betrayal, revenge and Grecian-style tragedy.
The big problem with this movie? Goyer's dialogue is hit or miss. Sometimes it's hilarious ("You're human." "Barely. I'm a lawyer"), and sometimes it sounds like he put it in because it looked cool on paper ("There's an old saying: Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer"). Much of the time, it's the latter.
Wesley Snipes seems to be having a good time here, with lots of wild action and some wry humour ("Now you got an explosive device stuck to the back of your head"), and Leonor Varela provides a hint of possible romance as an autopsy-performing vampire princess. And the whispery-voiced Luke Goss manages to take a truly repulsive character ("so... so sweet!") and give him an air of tragedy.
In fact, most of the acting is pretty good in this movie, although most of the actors don't get a lot to do (Donnie Yen is particularly underused), though Ron Perlman is wonderfully loathsome as a neo-Nazi vampire who gets on Blade's bad side. Norman Reedus is intensely annoying as Scud, though -- you'll spend a lot of time hoping that someone shoots him by accident.
"Blade II" is a very different beast than its predecessor, and del Toro does a great job with some truly mediocre scripting. Worth seeing if you have a strong stomach.
Summary of Blade II
Blade forms an uneasy alliance with the vampire council in order to combat the reapers vapires who feed on vampires. Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 09/27/2005 Starring: Wesley Snipes Ron Perlman Run time: 117 minutes Rating: RAptly described by critic Roger Ebert as "a vomitorium of viscera," Blade II takes the express route to sequel success. So if you enjoyed Blade, you'll probably drool over this monster mash, which is anything but boring. Set (and filmed) in Prague, the plot finds a new crop of "Reaper" vampires threatening to implement a viral breeding program, and they're nearly impervious to attacks by Blade (Wesley Snipes), his now-revived mentor Whistler (Kris Kristofferson), and a small army of "normal" vampires who routinely combust in a constant conflagration of spectacular special effects. It's up to Blade to conquer the über-vamps, and both Snipes and director Guillermo del Toro (Mimic) serve up a nonstop smorgasbord of intensely choreographed action, creepy makeup, and graphic ultraviolence. It's sadistic, juvenile, numbing, and--for those who dig this kind of thing--undeniably impressive. With the ever-imposing Ron Perlman as a vampire villain. --Jeff Shannon
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