A knockout and the best of the Blade films

Rating: 10/10 (3 July 2015)

Guillermo's Blade 2 is like Blade, except injected with a syringe containing 50cc's of adrenaline, an intricate blast of Del Toro's imaginative creature design, and a bit of red colored cocaine just for kicks (the vampires in the film snort that stuff like candy). There are few franchises where the sequel surpasses the original (terminator comes to mind), but this is definitely one. Don't get me wrong, I love the first Blade. It's just.. this one leaves it in the dust. Wesley Snipes returns as the original dark knight, hunting blood suckers and tossing one liners faster than he tosses UV light bombs. He's and wonder to behold in the fight scenes, all virile menace and energetic badass. He's forced to join forces with his vampire enemies to take on the terrifying reapers, led by Nomak (Luke Goss). There's so many characters, effects and set pieces happening it almost demands a rewatch or ten. Leonor Varela makes a sultry female vamp, Kris Kristofferson returns as the ever grouchy Whistler, Norman Reedus has a ball as Blade's stoner sidekick and Ron Perlman gets all the best lines ("like my daddy said right before he killed my mom.. you want anything right ya gotta do it yourself"), and there's a whole excellent supporting rogues gallery including Tony Curran, Karel Roden, Donnie Yen and Thomas Kretschmann. Del Toro works wonders with the action aesthetic and special effects, making us feel like we're really there watching these creatures of the night pound the ever loving hell out of each other in one fantastical, bloody, stylistic scene after the next. He never ceases to amaze me with his creativity and vision, and in my mind the Blade comics are a perfect outlet for that talent. This is my favourite of his films, equalled only by Pan's Labyrinth.