The kick ass movie of the year!!!

Rating: 8/10 (29 March 2002)

I have always thought that Blade was an underrated action classic and one of the coolest, most stylish action flicks ever and so the sequel filled me with excitement. I knew it would be bigger, badder and bloodier but my god it surpassed my expectations. Wesley is lightning in this film, even more than in Blade 1. He has more one-liners and opportunities for some humour and he delivers his lines with his usual charismatic class. Del Torro has basically taken the sort of style that Stephan Norrington used in the first film and charged it up to even more super cool levels, the soundtrack is also excellent and the vast array of weaponry on offer puts the first film in the shadows. Del Torros history of directing horro flicks plays well in this film, and also the visuals are suitably dank and lurid. The cinematography in this film is pure excellence. The fight sequences are brilliant. They are extremely well choreographed, frequent and suitably violent and gore filled. Also the new super Vampires known as Reapers really give the film a fresh edge it needed to have after the first film. Not since I saw Brotherhood of the Wolf have I come out of the cinema wanting a repeat viewing so badly. Its pure adrenaline, clapping of the hands, excellence from start to finish. Us Brits are not usually known to show are appreciation for a film too outwardly during its presentation but the whole audience were cheerin, laughing and applauding in ore at the movie. The few minor quibbles would be that despite the excellent special effects there was one scene, when Blade first encounters the bloodpack in a fight, which had a completely computer generated Wesley for a few moves which did not look to realistic but the rest of the effects were first rate and the action in the rest of the film made up for it. Its entertaining, mindlessly cheesy fun. Overall this gets a 7/10