Review of Blade II (2002) by Lindsay Elizabeth M — 21 Aug 2010

Vampires... I hate vampires...

The second film in the Blade trilogy takes us even deeper into the vampire underworld. When Blade's (Snipes) partner and father figure Whistler (Kristofferson) is turned into a vampire and kidnapped (this is a continuation of events from the first film), Blade stops at nothing to find him. He eventually comes across Whistler in the Czech Republic and takes him back to a hideout, where he gives Whistler a shot that brings Whistler back to his human form. In the same city, trouble is brewing within the vampire community. Jared Nomak (Goss) is a mutated vampire with an armor-like ribcage and a mouth reminiscent of a Predator. Everytime he feeds he creates another being like him, and these creatures are threatening to extinguish the vampires in the city. Desperate, the leader of the vampires, Eli Damaskinos (Kretschmann) sends his daughter, Nyssa (Varala) and Asad (John-Jules) to seek Blade's help. Blade meets with the Bloodpack, a group of vampires who have been trained to kill him. The group is led by Reinhardt (Perlman), another sunglasses-loving vampire (unlike Blade, he never takes his sunglasses off during the film). Blade must now join forces with the very beings he has been hunting all of his life in order to stop Nomak and his army of mutated vampires, which have been dubbed the Reapers.

This film lacks the glory of the first film, but it is still good nevertheless. The dialogue is wittier, and Kristofferson is given the chance to go on a mission instead of being holed up in the hideout. The final battle between Nomak and Blade seemed to be too short for my taste; I had hoped that it would go on a bit longer. Oh well, it was still a good piece of action. Go see this one if you're a fan of Guillermo del Toro, or if you want to see Hellboy in sunglasses. ;).