Much better than the original film

Rating: 5/10 (23 December 2011)

For some strange reason this was much better, and much more enjoyable than the first film. It had less clichés, had a few twists, some of which I didn't anticipate, and has Blade teaming up with the vampires to fight a third enemy, though whether this third enemy is an enemy of blade is a little unclear, however it does become evident that he does becomes Blade's enemy by the end of this film. Also, the movie was filmed on location in Prague, and not only have I been to Prague (though not for so long that I could say that I recognised some of the places) but it adds a bit more of the exotic feel to it.
However, before I continue, we must remember that while vampires have existed throughout human history in one form or another (though I would not agree with those who say that vampires are one of those legends that appear to turn up in multiple cultures) Bram Stoker had his original vampire, Dracula, arise from this corner of Europe, though Transylvania happens to be in Romania and not the Czech Republic. So, while the first movie is set in Los Angeles (and I found it a but odd that a major vampire temple would be located in Los Angeles) this film goes back to where the vampire legend began (sort of).
Basically the vampire world has been rocked by the appearance of a mutant vampire. The mutant, which the call the Reapers, feed on vampires, and turn vampires into Reapers. This, obviously, concerns the vampires as the Reapers have all of the strengths of the vampires, but their only weakness is a vulnerability to sunlight. Further, reapers that have been turned tend to be a lot more violent and a lot more dangerous. Further, the vampires use the threat that the Reapers have on humanity as a way of bringing Blade to assist them.
In this film, Blade is tracking Whistler. It turns out that he was not killed in the last film, but rather has been turned into vampire. However, he is not running around like a vampire, but rather being constantly tortured. As vampires regenerate and age a lot slower than humans, it is easy to torture him to the point of death, and then come back a few days later for a bit more.
Despite this film being substantially better than the previous film, Blade II is still not much of a film. I did enjoy it more, and getting rid of some hot shot young vampire and trading it with an ancient vampire as the bad guy made it a lot more enjoyable for me. Still, it is not exactly a film that I am going to be watching again anytime soon.