A live-action comic book

Rating: 10/10 (14 April 2004)

Of all the DVDs in my collection, there is only a very small handfull that I've watched more often than Blade II. I can explain my love of the movie very simply. It's a huge, over-the-top, indulgent, immature comic-book/cartoon brought into live action, packed onto a rollercoaster that careens along wildly from start to finish.
What a ride.
The action is the first thing anyone will notice. Mainly because once it starts, it pretty much doesn't stop. Everything is slightly exaggerated, everyone pulls off moves that should be impossible. But the cast pull it off with such style, that you barely need to suspend your disbelief. Snipes is excellent as a physical actor, Perlman has a classy Lee Marvin style to him. Goss, who I'll forever remember as a "teen heartthrob" back when I was a kid, surprised the hell out of me with some extremely competent fighting. His brutal, straight-to-the-point streetfighting style impresses, turning the UK's version of Justin Timberlake of the early 90's into one of the most physically threatening antagonists I've seen in the past decade of movies. Even Kris Kristofferson gives someone a good head-stomping. If you're worried this will consist of a couple of vampires standing 10 feet apart and firing at each other, a la Underworld, have no fear. This is far more ferocious and much more entertaining.
The special effects are integral to this. For the most part, they hold up. The action looks stylized and unique, not only due to the massive mix of unconventional styles used (listen to Snipes' commentary on the DVD as he reels out a list of 9 or 10 styles he uses in a single fight sequence as they happen), but also due to the "L-Cam", which lets the camera woosh around the battleground in a way never before seen (but seen since in Spider-Man, the effect used to follow his webswinging through the streets). The CGI holds up for the most part. In combat, it enables the crazy cartoony action del Toro was looking for, and it really works. It's not QUITE over the top, but pushes it. Monster effects are top-notch though. The Reapers in particular were enough to unsettle even me, a hardened veteran of the worst Video Nasties the 70's had to offer. Many subtle uses of CGI are dotted throughout, and the movie makes no attempt to showcase them, which makes them very effective. There's only one real duff moment, which is a fight scene taking place in front of a wall of lights, a horrible decision, as lighting is one of the main reasons CGI often looks unrealistic.
But it's not all fighting. There's a nice dollop of humour, which director Guillermo del Toro understood perfectly, and Snipes pulled off without a hitch. The characters in this movie are "cool", they're calm, collected, never have a hair out of place. So when they throw out a witty one-liner at the most unexpected of moments, it plays off the "straight guys" perfectly. Yet this doesn't undercut the drama. Admittedly, it's due to the physical nature of most of the drama, but that's a matter of semantics. It doesn't change the fact that the undercurrent of humour fails to lessen the severity of the situation, or three brilliant, emotional deaths (including what is presently my favourite villain death ever).
The plot is nice and tight, for the most part. There are definately moments where the more observant will stop to wonder, but there's no time for that, the movie just moves too fast. And that's perhaps the one thing that will turn many people off this movie. If you don't like action, and you don't like fast-paced movies, you'll be in a nightmare of rushed-over plot points and blurred secondary characters whizzing by in the background. For people who just want some fun though, who cares about the backstory of a character who accomplishes little and dies after 30 minutes of screentime? Many characters are there solely to die and further the plot. You don't notice, the rest of the characters are too damned cool to take your eyes off of.
Unless you like your movies grounded firmly in reality (if you thought The Matrix was a bunch of sillyness, stay away), or hate action movies in general, hunt this one down. I'd strongly recommend picking it up on DVD in fact, as the two audio commentary tracks are both utterly hilarious, yet highly informative at the same time, a rare thing.