Delivers fast and gory atmospheric action.

Rating: 9/10 (29 March 2002)

I don't know what's gotten into vampires lately. They use to be such a genteel and refined bunch. Well dressed. Intelligent conversationalists. All in all, a satanic monster you could bring home to Mom. Nowadays, vampires dress like bikers, swear like dock workers and take a chunk out of your neck without so much as a by-your-leave. Dracula would be rolling in his grave if it weren't for the stake. As the vampires get rougher, so do the vampire hunters. The ascetic, professorial Van Helsing type wouldn't last a second in today's undead environment. We need a shotgun welding, sword fighting, tattooed warrior of the night. Enter Mr. Blade. After the fine Blade I, he returns in the superior  if unimaginably titled  sequel, Blade II. It's crammed with style, action, flamboyant acting and twocount em, two kinds of vampires! Let me tell you, you get your moneys worth with this movie. There is a new kind of vampire in Budapest called The Reapers. They are so unmitigatedly evil that even Anne Rice would be repulsed. Normal means of vampiric elimination won't work with them. They laugh at garlic, gargle holy water and use wooden stakes for toothpicks. Their Achilles heal is that blood is more than sustenance for them; it is a crack-like drug that they must constantly imbibe or die. To defeat this menace, the old guard vampires reluctantly join forces with their scourge Blade. Of course, bloody mayhem ensues. In fact, there are times when Blade II resembles a baroque anatomy class. Gore this extreme is usually a mistake as it has a tendency to anesthetize the audience. The director, however, knows what he's doing. Guillermo del Toro shoots the bloody business with all the attention to mood and atmosphere that a Val Lewton or a James Whale would bring to a classic Universal horror movie. Blade II is never too campy or so strait as to be depressing. The action is fast, furious and genuinely exciting. There were a few problems here and there, though. Blade and company have obvious computer doppelgangers for some of the more unlikely stunts. Also the fights were interspersed with professional wrestling moves that struck me as clownish. The rest of the audience, however, cheered every flying knee drop that cropped up. The cast is pretty high rent for a movie like this. You'll have as much fun watching the actors do their thing as you will with the action and special effects. Wesley Snipes does Blade perfectly. He plays the part dryer than a martini, yet with just enough swagger that we know he isn't going for a serious character study. Kris Kristofferson's Whistler is the best cantankerous old coot since Star Trek's Doctor McCoy. Ron Perlman is excellent as Reinhardt, a really hard-case vampire none to pleased to be working with Blade. Luke Goss is completely repulsive as Nomak, the lead Reaper. Great work all around. Blade II is not a movie for the faint of heart. The violence is bloody, extreme and graphic and all that gore is there simply for your morbid pleasure. No social relevance. No comments on the human condition. Blade II is an old-fashioned exploitation flick dressed up with all the wiz-bang bells and whistles of modern movie making. It's grand fun while you are watching but you may hate yourself for enjoying it.