Review of Blade II (2002) by Craig T — 17 Nov 2011

If Blade 2 were a comic book, it would be the kind that children would have to hide from their parents and read during the middle of the night, maybe under a blanket, using a flashlight. Put simply, it's a smorgasbord of splashing blood, vampire pieces, grotesque mutations, and martial arts bedlam.

Blade is an intriguing character. He's dark as hell but with reason. The Vampires whom he devotes himself to destroying are, in a way, his kin. Yes, he is only half breed, but the other half is human, which means he has a conscience.

The plot continues years after the story in Blade 1. After rescuing Whistler from a pack of vampires, he is approached by their emissaries to negotiate a truce in order to fight together against a more lethal opponent. This is where the imagination escalates.

These abominable beings, known as reapers, feed on vampires and humans, and are stronger than both. They look sickly and have a mouth that flowers open, producing tentacles, and a tube that thrusts and sucks on the blood of its victims. The genesis of their leader makes this film more involving than the first movie.

I like to think of Blade 2 as Del Toro's playtime project - a gothic vision with an understanding of comic book pacing, fight mechanics , and the motivations of a lone slayer, who runs around in the dead of the night on a quest to rid himself of who he truly is-Nosferatu.