Review of Blade II (2002) by Dov D — 05 Aug 2013

The second installment of the Blade franchise is significantly better than the first in just about every way, and we have director Guillermo del Toro to thank for that. His fingerprints are all over this film, most noticeably in the significantly improved special effects.

Del Toro's tendency to create a world in which his story takes place is also very evident Unlike the first Blade, this film explores different places and introduces more unique and creative characters.

Stephen Norrington's film focused more on the history of vampires and on mindless action sequences, whereas this film concentrates on the characters development and interactions with each other. Even during the ridiculous fight scenes, the focus is still on the relationships.

The acting and direction are both better than the first. With all of that said, Blade II is only an alright film with multiple problems, many of which have to do with the script. Bottom line, while it may be the best of the Blade series, that doesn't make it any better of a stand alone film.

I'd recommend this to genre fans and fans of del Toro's directing style. Outside of that, you probably want to stay away.