It's very shiny

Rating: Null/10 (29 April 2002)

With the addition of a small clip at the end of Blade I, Blade II was already on the cards. Thankfully, Wesley Snipes has been retained as the eponymous daywalker bloke along with Kris Kristofferson, but much around them has changed, including the setting. Now set in Eastern Europe somewhere, the vampires are meaner, the streets are darker and hopefully the action will be better. For the record, Blade I was an excellent film, and in the return, Blade has gone to Eastern Europe with his trusty Whistler in search of newer, more ghoulish vampires - the ante has been upped significantly - but some of the features from Blade I have been kept. We still see glimpses of the seedy vampire underworld suffused with lots of leather and shiny things, which worked wonderfully in Blade I, but here it's overdone. Particularly in the early scenes (which are as confusing as hell), it's almost nauseatingly post-Matrix and post-modern, with the frames being `CGI-ed' to death. Superficially it's very flashy, almost conventionally experimental, with great emphasis on close-ups, movement and darkness as a major player. But it fails to capture any kind of cheap thrill or enjoyment. Part of the blame has to lie with highly rated director Guillermo del Toro. While Stephen Norrington's Blade I was simple yet eerily dark, and stylish in a controlled sort of way, del Toro's attempts to create a supercharged atmosphere fail miserably. Everything about this film is tastelessly lathered on, and the dark tones that are so enthusiastically employed in the film are never really given a chance to develop. A clear example of this film's immaturity is in the kind of vampires seen. Here they are gaunt, emaciated figures who hiss and snarl like the Orcs in 'Lord Of The Rings', and while their appearance and the Gothic setting seems to be a winning combination, a high-speed battle between Nosferatu-style goons just can't hold our attention. The only saving grace of this film comes when the action slows down a bit and Wes is allowed to let his character come out, but such instances are frustratingly brief. Instead, he merely handles some weak subplots (dealing with Blade's, em, emotional issues) while the main plot is played out by the supporting cast. However, the script manages to hold itself together just when it threatens to fall apart, probably because of 2 excellent performances from Snipes & Kristofferson, who keep us half-interested even though they have been reduced to smirking presences in the background. Two stars.