| Buff guy the vampire slayer
REVIEW
BLADE 2
Starring Wesley Snipes, Kris Kristofferson and Luke Goss
Directed by Guillermo Del Toro
Opens Friday, March 22
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Blade II is every bit as stupid and fun as Blade. Director Guillermo Del Toro preserves the original's comic book framing, video game-style martial arts, gruesome violence and elaborate psuedo-science – and he even brings back Blade's presumed-dead sidekick, Whistler. To repair the bits of Blade that grew tiresome or looked shabby, Del Toro fills the sequel with extra characters, tighter action, more and better special effects, and villains who could literally eat that effete yuppie, Deacon Frost, for breakfast.
This time, Blade (Wesley Snipes) is compelled to form an alliance with a group of superfighter vampires in order to destroy a new übervampire strain called "Reapers." Led by Nomak (Luke Goss), the Reapers are horrible beasties who feed on vampires as well as humans, look like Orcs and smile like the Predator. To make things exciting, they're immune to garlic and silver, and have the ability to climb walls. Blade goes forth with a host of new weaponry and kicks all manner of bloodsucker ass. The end.
Blade II is as slick as a slug in grease, borrowing unapologetically from The Matrix for costumes, characters and fight choreography. The shadowy atmosphere of the original Blade is compromised somewhat by the music video sheen of the sequel, and Blade's part-vampirism – so central to the first movie – is glossed over in the second. Without his tragic flaw, Blade isn't much of a character.
It's a shameless, derivative, silly movie – and thoroughly entertaining. |
