Critically divisive, but successful sequel

Rating: 6/10 (1 December 2014)

Blade II is a difficult film to rate. Firstly it comes closer to capturing the look and feel of a comic book than the original, which is a good start. A familiarity with the characters is also helpful.
There are more than a few issues with the plot. Whistler is bought back, his death rather unconvincingly retconned and the stakes are upped to try and make everything super dooper Bladey, and there seems to be something missing.
Blade gets some Vampire slaying groupies, the bad guys are super scary looking with multiple jaws and the stakes are ludicrously high. I'm being deliberately vague here because a lot of the plot and contrivances are things will either work for you or they won't and you really have to see the film to know which camp you fall in.
Snipes and Kristofferson are on top form reprising their roles, but neither major villain in this one stacks up to Dorff in the original. While Blade II certainly isn't a bad film, and has its share of admirers, (for the atmosphere and feel mainly, but many liked the plot, which expands the Blade universe and the vampire mythos) it left many viewers feeling like a lot of elements could have been done better. Specifically the antagonists really could have been built up more and the script could have flowed better.
I don't know of anyone who hated this, and a hell of a lot of people went to see it, and quite a few loved it. Average film. Works as a companion piece to the original, but something of a missed opportunity, it left me with the idea that there was a better film waiting to get out.