Surprisingly Exhilarating

Rating: 9/10 (6 April 2002)

What can I say about this movie, other than...stunned silence. I loved the first Blade movie, the cast, the effects, and the way the characters was brought to life. Luke Gross was my favorite suprise. From the trailers I believed that the lead villain in this would be more of a monster physically with no psychological twists.(Stephen 'Dwarf' made up for dimminutiveness in performance) The character of Nomak starts as an unlabeled creature and at times becomes the one you find yourself cheering for. His character is special effects laden but is performance is great fun to watch, and he seems to really enjoy being bad and exacting his revenge. I liked the bloodpack but something was a bit neo-stereotypical about the mouthy skinhead leader (played devilishly by Ron Pearlman, this guy owns the screen when he's present.)and the clan of hardly spoken warriors, they reinvent the stereotype that we have all seen. The individual look for each member was very defining and added a zest to the screen, especially the character of Lighthammer, who's face is highly detailed with hentai-style tattoos.($5 he has or will be a Vin Diesel stunt double) Now lets move on the the reason this movie isn't called the adventures of Whistler & Scud...Wesley Snipes. I gaurantee he had fun making this because it oozes out of his performance. His one-liners are heard more often and spoken with more enthusiasm, and his action sequences are jacked up through the roof. One thing I liked is he smiled a lot more. Not in a cheesy way, but he is an emotionally damaged character with eyes that could burn through you like UV, when he's not wearing his glasses, but when he smiles or riffs on somebody his exhuberance is very humanizing and brings this tragedy-ridden superhero down to earth for a moment. I thought the movie was excellent, it had humor, eye candy, and suprisingly a plot that came together nicely in the end. I will not compare it to the original because they are both a hell of a ride, Blade's continuing quest stays entertaining throughout both movies, so I say watch 'em both, don't compare them to each other, just enjoy, cause that's why they were made.