Not as good as the first, but still a decent flick

Rating: 6/10 (10 December 2004)

As Scud (Norman Reedus), an armory expert who Blade has employed since we last saw him in the original "Blade" says, "Lock up your daughters boys and girls, the dark knight returns." Blade (Wesley Snipes) is back, and this time, he is forced to form an uneasy alliance with the Shadow Council, the elite group of vampires he normally is fighting to eliminate. The reason is that there is a new mutation of vampire in the population that is spreading rapidly, vampires called "Reapers" who feed on other vampires. Blade is talked into helping the Shadow Council find and kill the Reapers because once they run out of vampires, the logical progression would be to move on to humans. Blade is assisted in this endeavor by The Bloodpack, a group of highly trained vampires employed by the Shadow Council who have ironically been training the last two years solely in the art of killing Blade himself. We also see the return of Whistler, (Kris Kristofferson) and the introduction of the aforementioned Scud.
In terms of story, "Blade II" is pretty good. The constant tension between The Bloodpack and Blade provide both dramatic and hilarious moments alike, particularly between Blade and Reinhardt (Ron Perlman). There seemed to be more humor overall in this film, and it was done well. Director Guillermo del Toro ("Hellboy") gives us a film that is full of style and some pretty cool monsters, (and great makeup) but some of the special effects used during the fight scenes in particular were mediocre at best. Perhaps, being a film fan who doesn't put action films at the forefront of her film preferences, I am being a little simplistic in my views, but I often question why, if something just doesn't look good on the screen, an alternate method of presenting that scene isn't used. I'm referring mainly to the fight scene between Blade and one of the Shadow Council messengers that takes place in front of a wall of lights where the CGI figures looked ridiculously cartoonish. Again, I am merely an observer of action films, not a lover of them, so perhaps my view is too plebeian.
"Blade II" was another enjoyable popcorn flick that falls into the usual sequel category  not as good as the original, but in this case, it is at least an enjoyable, fun movie to watch. 6/10 --Shelly