Blade 2

Blade kills a lot of vampires while working for some other vampires before fighting a super-vampire. But he does it with style.

Blade (Wesley Snipes)
Whistler (Kris Kristofferson)
Reinhardt (Ron Perlman)
Nyssa aka Vampire Princess Nyssa (Leonor Varela)
Scud (Norman Reedus)
Overlord Eli aka Vampire King (Thomas Kretschmann)
Jared Nomak (Luke Goss, ex-Bros member)

Year: 2002
Censorship Rating: MA (for language, violence, gore and horror themes)

I'm reviewing the sequel before the original because I think its a better film. Plus, with "Hellboy" on the way, I thought it best to have a look at the work of Guillermo Del Toro again.

The film opens in Prague. A man goes into a blood bank and sits next to a sick-looking man. Apparently they are going to sell their blood for some quick bucks [which makes me pity whoever is going to receive it]. Anyway, the sick-looking man is taken to a special room that locks down - apparently vampires run the blood bank and this guy has some rare blood they would like to have. Unfortunately for the vampires, this guy is stronger than he looks and dispatches them all quite easily.

The film then cuts to some backstory about Blade, just so everyone knows what is going on with his character.

Jump to a chase scene, with Blade taking out a number of vampires using a wide array of weapons. [Given the ease with which Blade is dispatching the vamps, it appears that they aren't much stronger than humans (they go to pieces pretty easily). They are so easily to dispatch in fact that Blade can take the time to use a lot of flourishes in his fighting, just to rub it in.]

The point of this opening chase is revealed - Blade has found Whistler, his mentor / gadgets guy / pseudo-father, now turned into a vampire. He brings him back to base. Whistler's replacement in the gadgets department, a Gen-X'er stereotype named Scud, isn't too happy to see Whistler come back, but whether this is because he's a vampire or because Scud might be now out of work isn't made clear.

Blade injects Whistler with some anti-vampire serum to un-vamp him. [Who knew it could be this easy?] Blade then reminisces for a bit, just in case you didn't see the first film. End result: Whistler isn't a vampire any more.

Whistler makes friends with Scud by criticising his work - it's just magic watching these two tech-guys bond. [Two things to note here: 1) Scud is wearing a BPDR t-shirt, which is a Hellboy reference, and 2) it appears that the Powerpuff Girls are the only thing on television in this universe.]

Some intruders interrupt this character moment - equipped in some very slick stealth suits, they take on Blade and the gang. The CGI moments are pretty obvious here, but the fight is well choreographed. At one point one of the suited figures calls for peace - it turns out they are vampires who are seeking Blade's help on behalf of the vampire nation. One of the intruders turns out to be Vampire Princess Nyssa who looks a lot like the love interest for the movie. [Let's see: she's kind of attractive, has a strong dislike for Blade and is in a position of power... yep, she meets some of the main criteria for being a love interest. We'll see.]

Blade is taken to see the King Vampire (well, someone important enough to be called Overlord) who looks like his head has been carved out of marble - it's a nice touch [if you've got out the DVD, have a look at this character when they put hair on him; it was a good call to leave him bald!. Oh, and it turns out even vampires need lawyers.] The Overlord revels the plot: a new strain of the vampire virus has emerged - the Reaper strain. These Reapers are killing vampires and once they finish on vampires, they'll start on humans. We've already met the main Reaper - he was the sick looking man in the blood bank and goes by the name of Jared Nomak.

Blade decides to help out in taking out the Reapers and at the same time learn as much as he can about current vampire operations. Scud warns Blade that Whistler may still be under the influence of the vampires and not to trust him.

Just in case we've forgotten what Nomak looks like, he kills a drug dealer [perhaps as an anti-drug message] and some more Reapers appear - it seems Nomak has got some new friends.

Speaking of new friends, Blade meets a vampire special ops group who had been training to kill him. They are either called the Blood Pack or Blood Pact - I couldn't tell for sure, but I'll stick to Blood Pack. [Either way, they look like a set of Goth Movie Vampire Stereotypes.] Blade makes some friends by implanting an explosive on the back of the head of Reinhardt, the Blood Pack leader.

Out to catch the Reapers, Blade and the Blood Pack stake out a vampire nightclub. We have a few moments reminiscent of James Bond's Q as Whistler and Scud go through all the gadgets that will be used. Blade and the Blood Pack then pose for a bit before letting the movie continue.

[Aside: It's nice to know that in vampire nightclubs the music is kept quiet enough so people can easily talk over it. Also, apparently large and very visible automatic weapons in a vamp nightclub doesn't concern any of the patrons.]

Blade and Reinhardt continue their 'friendship' through a series of 'friendly' quips at each other.

Unsurprisingly, Reapers appear in the same nightclub Blade has staked out [what are the odds?] Early fights show the Reavers are pretty tough suckers, resistant to all the things that would have killed a normal vampire. Plus, they also have a flip-top head that makes feeding easier. However, they are still vulnerable to sunlight which is good news to the cast. Two of the Blood Pack get bitten by Reapers.

Outside, Scud has his own problems with Reapers, while Whistler seems to have disappeared...

Blade and Nomak square off on a bridge. Nomak tries to convince Blade they both have the same goal, but Blade is having none of it. After another decent fight sequence, Nomak shows Blade he's got some moves and manages to escape before Blade can finish him off.

One of the Blood Pack who was bitten turns into a Reaper, just so we can see what happens. Blade dispatches him, leaving us to wonder what will happen when the other Blood Pack member turns... Whistler reappears, having found a trapped Reaper, which means they can explain more of what's happening to the audience.

Shift to the Vampire King and his lawyer talking about the "dangerous game" that is being played. [Could all not be as it seems? Shock!] There is also an indication of a spy in Blade's camp. [Shock again!] The Vampire King indicates he is willing to sacrifice everyone to stop the reapers before taking a bath in jelly. [Mmmm, jelly...]

Cut back to Blade and Vampire Princess Nyssa in a Mulder-and-Scully moment as they dissect the corpse of a Reaper. The audience gets to hear about all the cool extra features Reapers have and perhaps a weakness is mentioned that could be used later. [By the way, the best way to tell if something is a nerve toxin is to put it close to your face and smell it.]

Blade announces they will be hunting the Reapers during the day and how "he doesn't expect everyone to make it back". [Looks like Blade can move into motivational speaking if this vampire-killing thing doesn't work out.] Blade and Vampire Princess Nyssa then share a character moment while Whistler and Scud bond over building a sunlight grenade.

Whistler gets a bit annoyed at Blade for making eyes at Nyssa. Blade tells Whistler that he doesn't quite trust him yet. [It's one big happy family.]

The hunt begins. After a bit of wandering, Blade come across some remains that somehow warns him that its a trap. The Reaper-bitten member of the Blood Pack turns and takes out some of his comrades before getting taken out himself. Some of the other members of the Blood Pack start to beat up Whistler because they are mean, or mooning over a lost love, or something [it seemed a bit dumb to me to pick the Reaper nest as a place to have your revenge.] Reinhardt finds the Reapers and my, there are a lot of them. However, he can't get the super-light grenade to work. Vampire Princess Nyssa escapes getting eaten with Blade's help.

The remaining members of the Blood Pack and Blade are heavily outnumbered, but our hero manages to activate super-light grenade (by breaking it, I think). [Note how the Reaper-killing light is able to travel around corners - I'm sure Scud and Whistler would win some sort of science award for getting this to happen.]

Novak catches up with Whistler so he can tell the old man the plot. He gives Whistler a ring that is sure to be important later on.

Blade finds a dying Nyssa [how did she survive? Perhaps we're not meant to question it...]and gives her some of his blood to keep her alive. [Ahh, romance!] Black suited men suddenly appear and zap Blade - its the King Vampire's lawyer! Blade has been betrayed! [I didn't see that coming at all. Really.] Whistler gets zapped too.

Vampire Princess Nyssa wakes up and draws attention to the ring she is wearing, which I'm sure will be important later on. She worries about Blade.

Blade and Whistler wake up in vamp headquarters. The King Vampire explains the backstory for the audience: he's been attempting to genetically engineer vampires out of their weaknesses, the Reapers were such an experiment, but one that was a failure in his eyes. When Whistler asks about the ring Novak gave him, King Vampire says he gave it to Novak as a father / son thing. Vampire Princess Nyssa looks hurt [obviously because she thought she was the favourite child.]

Blade attempts to detonate the explosive on the back of Reinhardt's head, but it turns out Scud is a traitor and the bomb is a dud. Then it turns out Blade knew that Scud was a traitor and Scud gets blown up. [Don't know why you'd keep a traitor on your team when he looks after your equipment - all he'd have to do is make sure things don't work when you need them most and that'd be the end of that. But anyway...]

Blade gets strapped to a Medical Table of Torture. Whistler knocks Reinhardt out with a punch [huh? And then he doesn't finish the job?] and manages to get Blade off the table. Nomak, having been told by Whistler where the compound is [they must have had quite a chat] shows up and cuts a bloody swathe through the guards in an attempt to get to King Vampire. Despite doing an excellent job, Nomak isn't able to catch up to Daddy just yet.

Whistler manages to get Blade into a pool of red jelly, but it looks like Reinhardt may have finished Blade off. But wait! Blade emerges fully healed and ready to kick butt. [I need to get me some of that jelly!]

What follows is a fight scene that is a little sloppy in places but still quite good. However, it has two of the most funktastic moments in the entire movie - the suplex and the catch of the sunglasses. Plus Reinhardt just stands there and doesn't finish Blade off while he has the chance.

Cut to King Vampire making his escape. He's almost out when Vampire Princess Nyssa throws a hissy fit about no longer being an only child and locks Dad in. Nomak catches up and makes short work of Dad before biting Nyssa in order to turn her into a Reaper. [By the way, over time your blood will turn green. The things you learn from movies!]

Blade shows up to fight Nomak. This is another pretty good (but brutal) knockdown fight. Again the CGI is mostly obvious but the choreography is very good and more than makes up for those weaknesses. After the pitched battle, it looks like Nomak is going to win, but Blade exploits a weakness we found out about in the autopsy scene and wins - Nomak dies a semi-noble death.

Blade then takes Nyssa outside to see a sunrise so she can die before turning into a Reaper. They share a moment [but no kiss, which surpised me] before she peacefully turns to ash and floats away.

The final scene in "Blade 2" is in London and rounds out a joke set up in Blade's opening scene.

Overall, "Blade 2" does a good job for what it is - a B-grade action film. Sure, there are holes in the plot you can drive buses through and the acting is a bit patchy, but what's important is how good the action is. With "Blade 2", the action is pretty good indeed.

All of the fights are well choreographed and it is great to see Japanese martial arts (rather than kung fu) being used for a change. Wesley Snipes, holder of many black belts and veteran of many action films, does a fantastic job in making Blade look like a well-accomplished fighter and someone who would be a threat to the vampires.

Luke Goss (as Nomak) gives a surprisingly good performance. He takes what could be a very one-dimensional character and does a great job of injecting some sympathetic elements into him. Plus he also goes toe-to-toe with Snipes twice and doesn't look too bad at all doing it - the fights look mostly natural rather than staged.

The Reapers are also worthy of praise - they are truly an original and scary take on vampires. It's nice to see the grotesque put back into the vampire mythos, given the amount of romaticising it has seen since the early 90's.

Of course, "Blade 2" has some flaws. The acting varies in quality (especially from Snipes - he just doesn't deliver some of those lines well). It could be argued there are too many characters in this film, which ends up distracting from the narrative a bit as Blood Pack members are screen given time in place of Blade. It could also be complained that the plot itself is a bit forced. However, "Blade 2" is an action film that keeps moving along fast enough that you generally don't have time to stop and wonder about its mistakes. For this Guillermo Del Toro deserves full credit and it makes "Blade 2" quite watchable.

On the DVD there is a little bit on the original comic and how much they changed the character for the movie. From the couple of pictures of the comic Blade, it looks like they did a good job in changing from "Soul Brother" Blade into "Black Leather" Blade for the movie.

An entertaining action film that sports a few original ideas. It has its flaws though.

A character named Scud, the Blood Pack Goth Variety set, the suplex and the moment where Blade catches his sunglasses - all these moments and more add up.

Date of review: 3 May 2004