Highly enjoyable if slightly flawed

Rating: 9/10 (19 July 2011)

While engaged in a destructive battle with vampires, half-human/half-vampire Blade teams up with a doctor to stop a renegade from unleashing a powerful creature from vampire lore.
This one could quite possibly be one of the better additions to the vampire saga to come around in a long time, and definitely has a lot going for it due to that. Much of the positives here is on the continuing focus on action gives this one a rather fun feel with a lot of great confrontations, starting out with the spectacular assault on the nightclub as he wipes out dozens of vampires by gunshot, slashing and other weaponry as it starts the film off with such a bang that the mixture of action into the proceedings makes for some entertaining moments right off the bat. As this leads into the shoot-outs in the hospital attempting to take out the charred vampire left in that initial attack, the pace is set-up here for some really thrilling moments here from the shoot-out in their book-room following his capture and eventual escape into the train-station which has some brutal action with his dealings with them, as well as their hideout in the garage which gets some fine brutality mixed amongst the action. Still, the best parts here is the lead-up to the final showcase battle at the ceremonial chamber, from the collection of the council and their set-up along the statues and undertaking his draining for the start of the actual ceremony where the appearance of demon skeletons from their mouths is where this really picks up considerably. Even the action is fun here with fine brawls amongst the guards and the kung-fu battle in the pit before getting to a stylish sword-fight that finishes with a great final death for the group, all of which means this one has a ton of great action scenes that make for a really fun time. What grants this one so much action-packed fun is the main story here, which is a rather novel idea and is carried across wonderfully here, from the concept of the vampires as a society, complete with a hierarchy, rules and guidelines for living undetected. This makes for a stellar universe here as it gives it a big sense of history that's richly deserved here, while other little things that come up here, like the relationship of their helpers or the underground feeding nightclub, one of the film's action highlights, has a novel ring that provides for a clever way to continue on with their heritage but mixed up with a contemporary feel that is frighteningly sensible as well as logical. These here are the film's most enjoyable aspects, though it does have one main problem. The film's only real misstep is tied to the explanation of how he survived the initial attack and how he's the way he is, handled in a very back-handed way that's just thrown into the proceedings without any real attempt or effort, making his back-story all the more confusing and off-putting. Though some of the kills here end up providing a lot of rather fake-looking CGI gore in the process, this is a minor flaw in an otherwise entertaining effort.
Rated R: Extreme Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Brief Nudity, a mild sexual act and drug use