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538 reviews in total

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45 out of 54 people found the following review useful:
breaking rules, 19 September 2002

Author: SILV3R from London, England

Other than the explanation of where he came from, who he and everyone else is, at the beginning, this film stands nicely on its own. for those of you that know the first one, then this opening explanation will be a little irritating (and a tad confusing, but it becomes clear later). The opening does smell strongly of franchise potential, being repeated in all the inevitable sequels still to come. Once past this though, we are lead through a massive fight and action scene that sets up the whole movie. and warns anyone who can't stand Hong Kong action scenes that they are probably watching the wrong screen.

The movie is essentially a platform for Snipes to have fun with his most renowned character. And he does so with very entertaining results. The movie has reasonably well rounded characters, suspicion piled on top of everyone, some amazing set pieces and a good sense of humour. The impact of all the blood and guts is reduced by the obvious fantasy of the fights (wires and SFX a lot of the time), but its still pretty powerful.

The lead performances are all very good, although some of the peripheral characters are a little too hammer horror. Luke Goss demonstrates great potential, although you would need to see him without the make up, body doubles, and special effects to really judge. and there is occasionally that urge to shout "when will I be famous." and the pure blood female vampire who takes a shine to blade is well worth being bitten by.

Overall it feels less like a sequel and more like a stand alone movie. with this in mind, I think its in fact better than the original (a rare example of the exception that proves the rule).

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44 out of 57 people found the following review useful:
A sequel that does everything in it's power to top the original and it comes to being as good., 22 March 2002
Author: MisterWhiplash from United States

Blade 2 takes what made the first Blade film good and transforms it into a different country with different characters (outside of Blade and Whistler) and a possibly deeper feel, and it works without going into the bad sequel range.

This time, the vampires Blade (Wesley Snipes) has been hunting down for so many years want to make a truce so that he can help them kill a new breed of monsters called reapers, which if you want a brief description are creatures that look like half vampires half zombies and half, whatever, with a chin that opens up a big damn mouth that before attacking it's prey could resemble a mini-sarlac pit (star wars reference). Blade reluctantly agrees, knowing full well that the vampires could turn on him and Whistler if things go wrong.

Overall, Blade 2, for the fans of the first one, will not dissapoint them. It contains enough imaginativeness and gore effects to brighten the most down of horror film and comic book enthusiasts. The film also contains some of the best makeup I've seen in a while in a horror movie. A-

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37 out of 50 people found the following review useful:
Ahhh, MUCH better!!, 11 April 2002

Author: Michael DeZubiria (miked32@hotmail.com) from Luoyang, China

Blade II is an exciting action film that takes the tired vampire story and adds a new twist by introducing an entirely new villain. Sure, there is sure to be some controversy (at least among film fans and fans of the genre) about whether or not it is right to introduce new characters in this way. Vampires are a tired theme at the movies, but it is a time-honored genre in itself that deserves respect just from the fact that it has been around for so long in literature before the movies. The question of whether or not the writers were justified in introducing these new characters is, in my opinion, satisfied by the fact that they made such quality villains that fit so well into the genre.

I am thrilled to see that they didn't just make another dumb Blade film that was exactly the same as the original except for the possibility of some new special effects, because these new characters, called Reapers, are exactly what the film series, as well as, potentially, the genre as a whole, needed. Reapers are blood-feeders, just like vampires, except they feed on humans as well as vampires, effectively making them an enemy of both, and their thirst is much stronger than the traditional vampire. And to make matters worse (or better, depending on whether you are an enemy of the Reapers of a member of the audience), they are identified by a scar which runs down their chin. This scar is where the lower jaw splits open when the Reaper is feeding, creating a frighteningly massive mouth like a vampire version of the Predator, and which has things inside it reminiscent of the horrifying and strangely unique Tremors.

There are some amazing make-up effects here as well, although I can see the film being automatically overlooked at the Oscars in 2003 simply because it is the successor of such a low class action/horror film, as well as because this is just not the kind of movie that wins Academy Awards. I'm not sure that there is anything in this film that is likely to catch the Academy's attention, but the make-up was very impressive to say the least. Wesley Snipes returns to the role of Blade, the half-human/half-vampire creature dubbed the `Daywalker' because of his ability to withstand sunlight. This is in itself one of the better parts of the movie, because even though I was enormously unimpressed with the original film, there is no one that could play this character as well as Snipes does. There is also an interesting conflict introduced as Blade is forced to team up with the vampires, his mortal enemies who we are to assume could turn on him at any time, in order to fight the Reapers (by far the more dangerous enemy), who ‘reproduce,' you might say, at an astonishing rate.

It's too bad, though, that the existence of the Reapers was introduced by vampires in a rather impressive although entirely unnecessary fight scene between a couple of vampires and Blade himself. Blade is attacked one night by two vampires wearing body suits (and some goggles that probably retain the coolest effect of the entire film), they fight violently for several minutes at full speed without rest, until one of them suddenly kneels before Blade and asks for a truce, informing him that there is now something on the streets that is even worse than him. If they were going to ask for a truce, you would think that they would approach him at least a little differently. One of these vampires (the better fighter, as it were) turns out to be Nyssa Damaskinos, a sexy brunette vampire who's lipstick was not smeared in the least even by all of those flying kicks that she took to the face from Blade about 15 feet in the air. Remarkable.

There seems to be a growing trend of having honest fight scenes replaced at an ever-increasing amount by special effects. Consider how vastly the role of special effects increased in Jet Li's fight scenes in Lethal Weapon 4 (relatively few special effects), Romeo Must Die (massive amounts of special effects), and The One (relatively few movements that were NOT special effects). This same trend is clearly influencing other films that are not made to be primarily fighting films, such as Blade and Blade II. The weapons that Blade carries around are still cool (think of them as a dark version of the toys that James Bond was sometimes given to take on his missions), and while the fight scenes in Blade and especially Blade II are undeniably thrilling and fun to watch, it's impossible to ignore the fact that most of what we are watching is computer generated.

As a whole, Blade II succeeds in reviving the story of Blade, which was not done justice by the original film. The Reapers were a much-needed and very impressive addition to the story, and the resulting conflict between the vampires and Blade himself as they are forced to take sides together provides such an interesting conflict that it almost overshadows the one created by the Reapers, who are by far the more dangerous villains. There is, of course, some stuff here that was thrown in without apparent reason and therefore without beneficial affect (such as the unnecessary, however impressive, fight scene between Blade and the two vampires early in the film), but as a whole the film rises high above its predecessor. The fact that the original film ends with Blade becoming a worldly vampire-hunter is mostly ignored in this film, although this one does end with a similar bit of comic relief and may even leave room for a second sequel. And as much as I disliked the original film, after watching Blade II I can't say that I would be too disappointed to see a Blade III come out in a few years.

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26 out of 34 people found the following review useful:
Enjoyable dark style with solid action, OK plot and good cast, 16 May 2004
Author: bob the moo

Having rescued Whistler from the grasp of the vampires and acted quickly enough to combat the vampire virus in his blood, Blade reforms his team. When his base is infiltrated by two vampires, he is offered a temporary truce that Blade accepts. He meets with the vampire council who ask for his help to track and kill a new strain of the vampire virus called the Reaper. The Reapers feed on vampires and humans, are immune to garlic and silver and threaten to rapidly multiple. Blade agrees to join forces but fighting alongside those he would hunt puts him very ill at ease.

Opening with the same style that made Blade enjoyable, it is immediately apparent that, if you liked the first film then you should enjoy this one just as much. The plot has quite a few major holes but I can't help eel it's a little unfair to attack a vampire horror movie for being a little illogical at times! What remains is a series of fast and stylish action scenes, held together by a reasonable plot and a nice few little twists and turns to keep it engaging. While the plot may only be average it is probably the dark action that you came for and it is as enjoyable as in the first film. The wirework was pretty good, mainly because the cast members involved could actually do it without looking like they had become members of Thunderbirds! The CGI stuff is not very good and the computerised characters, despite looking good, don't look or move real and thus take away from the energy and impact of the fights. Director del Toro handles the action well and also brings the same dark feel that he brought to Cronos and Mimic.

However generally the fights are good – good moves but still rather rough. Snipes has certainly worked on his body to the degree that he can perform these moves with a natural feel, only the WWF style moves came across as being rather silly or ill fitting. As a leading man he has really come on since reinventing himself as an action hero, and Blade is his best character in that regard. This film scales back on the complexities of his character and it damages the film a little bit but chances are that isn't what you came here for! Kristofferson is good but his character isn't really used well here. Perlman uses his screen presence well and he holds his own with Snipes. Varela is quite sexy but again the script doesn't use her relationship with Blade as well as it could do. Goss is very good in this role and it bodes well but I'd need to see him play a character (as opposed to a monster) to be able to judge if he has real ability as an actor – all the makeup also helped forget his Bros personae too. Jules is a very strange find but he looks good. Donnie Yen was, as he often is, poorly used – he has one small fight scene but considering the amount of martial arts action in this movie it would have been better to have actually used him in more of the action; wisely the film uses him better as the main fight choreographer.

Overall this is an enjoyable action movie with a horror twist. The plot is OK and has enough to it to be engaging despite having several themes that it should have done more with. The action is solid and enjoyable and not too hurt by the odd bit of poorly used CGI. A good cast helps and the action flows reasonably consistently to produce an enjoyable two hours of dark style.

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21 out of 25 people found the following review useful:
Really Solid Sequel, 24 December 2006

Author: mjw2305 from England

He's back, and this time he's teaming up with his arch enemies to hunt a new threat; reapers. They hunt down vampires and turn them into their own kind, plus they are almost as invulnerable as Blade himself.

Blade has to lead the blood pack, a group of vampires trained to hunt him; they are the best the vampires have, but without blade they are no match for the reapers.

More action, better special effects and a truly awesome performance by Luke Goss as the reaper, Blade 2 is sheer entertainment that is at least as good as the original, maybe even slightly better.

8/10

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19 out of 23 people found the following review useful:
Now Blade has a Soul..., 28 August 2002

Author: auberus from Lomé

Blade I was what I call a good rental for "popcorn eater": good action scenes, descent acting but nothing more. Blade II is what I call a true motion picture, a cinematic experience. How many sequels (in the horror genre) are better than the original movie? Moreover how many good comics adaptation do we know of? "Few" is the answer for both questions and Blade II might be among those "few". It is a multi-layers movie where the action/horror fanatic will have what they're looking for, a Vampire/Kung Fu flick (and that's fine) however those of us who are asking for more than just another Blade sequel might discover a very thought through movie blend in a myriad of details with extraordinary fight sequences (thanks to Donnie Yen) and a "design" feel to it. Obviously the main critic against Blade II is a very "simplistic" scenario when you know from the beginning what is going to happen: the story is about Blade (Wesley Snipes) who is half vampire, half human and refuses his vampire nature trying to fight the "bloodlust" he suffers. His hatred for the vampire and therefore half of himself is unlimited. In this sequel Blade forms an uneasy alliance with the vampire nation in order to face an even greater enemy: the reapers who feed on vampires as well as on human (who are luckily to us close to Blade's heart). The scenario is simple but not simplistic and Guillermo del Toro "tour de force" is to give volume to this scenario by blending it in a very design atmosphere exploring the notion of "Duality". Blade's duality is obvious: he is fighting half of himself like a metaphoric evil within each and every one of us. The secret of his redemption does not lie in what he is but in what he does and what he feels. His quest for humanity ends at the same time as his hatred for the vampires but moreover for himself. On the opposite the reapers are bodies/corpses, their reasons for being are purely physical, basics (they live to feed) their appearance pushes the limits of horror (reaching the borders of gore) in order to demonstrate how unhuman they really are, in other words how "Essence" (where you come from) in that case human or vampire is not what matters. This gap between the beauty of Blade (Wesley Snipes) or Nyssa Damaskinos (Leonor Varela) and the reapers (Luke Goss etc...) emphasis the gab between "Soul" and "Soulless". Guillermo del Toro delivers his best movie (after Mimic in 1997). Unlike Mimic which was a well directed but average horror movie Blade II is an exceptional horror movie supported by terrific actors (Kris Kristofferson, Ron Perlam etc...). Witnessing on screen the birth of a Soul is not a usual thing. Guillermo del Toro managed to do it in a paradoxical beautiful manner.

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19 out of 26 people found the following review useful:
Entertaining, 18 January 2005

Author: Mattias Petersson from Stockholm, Sweden

I have a weak spot for comic-book action. Something about the mix between today and the supernatural has always drawn me to it. And i found the first "Blade" to be one of the more entertaining in the genre.

Blade (Wesley Snipes) has been looking for his old-time companion Whistler (Kris Kristofferson) for a long time. Whistler was taken captive by vampires and Blade has slaughtered his way through the vampire clans of several countries to find him. Now though there is another threat to the human race that also affects the vampires themselves. Soon Blade is given an offer he can't refuse, resulting in a unholy alliance between the vampires and their greatest enemy.

Guillermo del Toro is a man with what the Germans would term "fingerspitzengefühl". He's got that special feeling for what works on screen, especially when it comes to movies like this one. Blade 2 refines most of the elements seen in the first Blade movie. This is a violent and action-filled journey into a comic-book world and del Toro is not taking any prisoners. Wesley Snipes seems to enjoy himself as Blade and most of the other actors also seem to blend in nicely in the mood of the film.

There were only a few minor flaws that bothered me. Most of all the sometimes shaky CGI-work. Some of the special effects look cheap to say the least. Especially the use of digital "stand-ins" for the actors that are used in some action scenes to spice them up a bit. All in all though this is an entertaining ride in it's overblown testosterone-rich way. I rate it 6/10.

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13 out of 17 people found the following review useful:
Great, 27 March 2002

Author: Brandon from Pittsburgh, PA

There are some types of movies that you walk into expecting a lot of killing,a lot of swearing and snappy dialogue. Blade II is this kind of movie, and it is great. The plot is great, (albeit a little predictable)and some of the computer graphics are extremely noticeable, but altogether this is a great action movie. So many people die a body count would be impossible. The second to last fight scene is unbelievable. Blade puts the icing on the cake when he vertical suplexes the last security guard through a plate glass floor. The music lines up perfectly with the fighting, and I was very impressed with the way the Reaper looks and feeds. A GREAT SEQUEL TO A GREAT MOVIE!!! Looking forward to a trilogy!!!

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14 out of 19 people found the following review useful:
Vampires Make Horrible Parents!, 6 April 2003
Author: BaronBl00d (baronbl00d@aol.com) from NC

Blade and his alter ego Wesley Snipes are back yet again to battle the vampiric scourge terrifying the world of the humans. But this time he helps...that's right, you heard me...helps the vampires fight a mutant vampire that prefers feeding on vampires over humans. Well, to spin a long (actually not that long or terribly complicated) story, Blade is...Sorry I cannot say anymore or I might give away too much of the plot - and you know movies like this are plot-driven. This film is exactly what you would expect. Gobs of blood, tons(maybe even more!) of CGI's kicking heads in, bashing heads in, splitting bodies, turning into sparkling dust, and so on and so on and so on, cute one liners with Wesley twisting his neck a lot, and lots of techo-weapons designed to do everything and anything to the body. Is it a great film? Get real. Is it entertaining? Yes, somewhat of a guilty pleasure for me I must confess. Snipes never seems to take his role or what is going on too seriously with his low-key, stoic acting. Kris Kristofferson is back as Whistler. You might remember he died in the first Blade movie, but through some plot contrivance that was designed for us not to really understand - he is back and much older and somewhat wiser for wear. The rest of the cast is acceptable EXCEPT for Reedus who is annoying. Ron Pearlman seems to be having the most fun hamming it up as a villainous vampire out to get Snipes. All in all not a bad way to spend an hour or two.

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7 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
Better Than the First Film!, 26 October 2006

Author: titan-28 from United States

"Blade II" is by far the best in the trilogy. With loads of non-stop great action, and an awesome supporting cast, "Blade II" quickly became one of my favorite action films of all time. I can watch it over and over and over and never get sick of it. Wesley Snipes is even better than he was in the first film, and Norman Reedus (The Boondock Saints) does a great job as Blade's sidekick. The movie is about a new breed of monsters, who feed on vampires instead of humans. The vampire community who fear for their own lives team up with Blade to take on these new baddies. The vampire team may be one of the coolest groups ever. Led by Ron Pearlman, you also have Matt Schulze, Donnie Yen, and Tony Curran to name a few in the "Blood Pack". There is so much action it is hard to even pick a favorite moment. If you liked the first movie you'll love this one. If you like vampire movies, or action packed movies you'll love this one too. This is definitely better than you average action/horror film. I didn't expect it to be even better than the first Blade but it was much more. It has a good story with a new twist instead of your average vampire thriller. There are even quite a few good plot twist that I wasn't expecting in the movie either. With all the great action it is easy to overlook the story and acting, but I thought each character did a great job with their roles and there was a lot of good dialogue. Every seen had a reason and a purpose and you never get bored once. I can go on and on about it, but I think you guys get the point. The point being this movie will not disappoint!

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