Fab sequel....but not like the first....

Rating: 8/10 (4 November 2006)

This is Blade's second outing (nothing like stating the obvious, I suppose). And really rather good, considering it's lack of similarities to the first movie. Blade once again, continues to fight the good fight against creatures of darkness. Only this time, it's not the vampires he's hunting. This movie brings forth an idea about a strain of vampires being 'created'. These 'reapers' aren't what you would call normal vampires, although there are a couple of similarities between the two. They still feed on fresh human blood, sunlight fries them to a crisp, and they have the customary supernatural strength that vampires have. However, they're a little harder to kill than ordinary vampires. And they're spreading at an alarming rate. The vampire nation, disconcerted by this new breed of bloodsuckers need help to eliminate them before they infect and turn the entire human race. So they call in Blade to help them. But can the two races put aside old grudges and unite to destroy this frightening new evil? This film was made almost 4 years after the first movie, and with a different director at the helm so the look of the whole thing is entirely different. Not a bad thing though. I think with sequels a lot of people expect the subsequent films to look and feel exactly like the first one. This doesn't always work. With Blade II, there's an entirely new set of characters, a new race of vampires, new weapons and Whistler undergoes some interesting changes between this movie and the first one too. It all adds up for another serving of deliciously dark action adventure.
So we have Blade teaming up with the Bloodpack  an elite group of vampire warriors going after the reapers to destroy them. (Interestingly enough, the bloodpack was supposedly put together to try and take Blade out.) Some of the Bloodpack are a bit laughable though. Priest is just a bad-tempered git with an Irish accent. Lighthammer was obviously cast for his build and not his acting. Verlaine does little other than pout and look worried, and Chupa spends the entire movie having a go at Whistler whilst clad in some kind of weird chain-mail vest. Snowman and Reinhardt more than compensate for the rest of the gang's mediocrity though. Donnie Yen, who is one of the coolest martial artists alive, plays Snowman (and earns his paycheque choreographing the movie's fight scenes), and Ron Perlman (a Del Torro favourite) gives an excellent performance as Blade's nemesis-esquire Bloodpack heavy, Reinhardt. Leonor Varela is quite good as Blade's number two, Nyssa. She's another black leather catsuit-wearing hottie of the vampire-movie universe, and like Selene in Underworld, she looks rather good. Although I'll never understand why women in action films feel the need to spend two hours constantly frowning. Maybe it's the universally accepted symbol of 'hardass female'. Hmm Luke Goss plays Nomak, the lead reaper, and is amazingly good in this film. Even though his accent seems to falter somewhat. He sounds like a cockneyfied Czech which is pretty remarkable. His overall portrayal is outstanding though, he looks dark, grim and murderous  he even gives Blade a run for his money in the fight scene stakes.
All in all, the plot line, characters, gore, action and soundtracks are sufficiently entertaining (keep an eye out for an echo of the infamous clubscene from the first Blade movie), and although not as good as some have said, it's enjoyable enough for what it is  an action/vampire movie.