Starring:
 Wesley Snipes
 Kris Kristofferson
 Leonor Varela
 Ron Perlman

Directed by:
 Guillermo Del Toro

Overall Crave Factor

The movie opens with a creepy sequence where a dirty and diseased looking man is trying to give blood in a blood bank in Prague. After a nice little set-up where he is turned on by Vampires who run the blood bank, the man reveals himself to be some kind of super-beast that hates Vampires, but just loves to eat em’ for lunch. Then into the standard creepy/cool New Line horror credits we’ve seen on a hundred other films.

In the original Blade, we get the origin story, we meet Blades’ friend and keeper Whistler (Kristofferson) and we find out all about the Vampire Nation. The first film ends with Whistler attacked by Vampires and left for dead and Blade fighting the bloodsucking menace in Moscow. The sequel picks up almost right on top of that, but two years later. In a nice little voice over we get a recap of the first movie and an update…. Whistler had turned into one of the enemy before he died. The vampires have kept him alive but in hibernation, hidden in a safe house in Prague. Coincidence? Maybe. Blade is out to find him and kill him before he can jeopardize Blades’ mission to eradicate the Vampires. That is all the exposition you need before the movie kicks into nitro-boosted over burn.

Eventually the plot unfolds amid more fighting and we find out that the Vampires have come to Blade to ask for his help in chasing down and destroying a new breed of super-vampire that feeds, not only on humans, but on Vampires as well, turning them all into these crazy monsters known as “Reapers”. Blade reluctantly agrees and the hunt is on. The only question is how much can he trust the elite Vampire soldiers that he has to lead? Especially considering they have been trained to hunt and kill him?

Overall, the movie was top shelf action/horror hybrid. This is the movie that John Carpenters Vampires, The Lost Boys, Queen of the Damned, even the first Blade, wished they could be. The action is intense, the gore and violence are extreme, and the effects are jaw dropping. When these Vampires die, they don’t just crumble or explode, they spontaneously combust so fast that you don’t see the flames, just floating clouds of smoldering ash. There is an autopsy scene rivaling anything seen on the Discovery Channel. And the Reapers? The Reapers are freaking’ SCARY. They are probably the first really frightening movie monsters since Aliens. They are unstoppable, feral animals and they are an absolutely fantastic creation.

Guillermo Del Toro has done Vampires before, in his Mexican feature Cronos, which was also a creepy film, if much less action packed. Del Toro is renowned the world over for his creepy and effective horror movies. From Cronos to Mimic to last summers eerie ghost story The Devils Backbone, Del Toro is a new master, and here he is at his best. There are actually times in this movie where you cannot breathe from the visceral tension and suspense built up by Del Toro’s’ subtly unnerving direction. There is one particular scene, in a Vampire nightclub, where Blade and his new posse first try to hunt down some of the Reapers. The scene is booming with loud techno music and people dancing and yelling, there is movement in every square inch of the screen. Yet, somehow, the Reapers still manage to creep into the scene and stalk Blade and friends with as much menace and suspense as any scene with a young girl alone in the woods. It is hair raising, disturbing and fun, beyond anything in recent memory.

The cast is fairly standard for this kind of genre film. Besides Blade and Whistler, there is a motley collection of the usual genre stereotypes. Think the Space Marines of Aliens crossed with a few characters from Predator. There’s also a dirty little punk that works for Blade (Norman Reedus), a hot Vampire princess (Leonor Varela), and a conflicted Frankenstein’s monster of a Reaper (Luke Goss). The one big standout is Ron Perlman. Probably best know for the sappy 80’s TV drama Beauty and the Beast, Perlman plays the head jerk of the Vampire assassin crew, a real bad-ass dude by the name of Reinhardt. They had to give Blade an adversary to play off of who was secondary to the real villain, and Perlman sinks his teeth in and won’t let go. As the ultimate character foil he is at once hilariously over the top, and subdued to the point of blending in to the scenery. You’d almost think you were watching the ghost of Lee Marvin. Some day someone is going to put Ron Perlman in a real meat and potatoes villain role, then watch out! No more ‘Beauty and the Beast’ guy then.

Wesley Snipes kicks out the jams big time, and completely owns every second he’s on screen. He’s been recently underrated as an actor, and been found in lesser fare like Boiling Point and The Art of War. Cut-rate action fare that doesn’t take advantage of his acting skills, just his fighting prowess. Snipes also acts as fight choreographer here, but his real triumph is injecting the character of Blade with just enough compassion and humor that he comes off as likeable without giving up his hardcore image. A smile here, a verbal barb there… It all adds to the acceptance of Blade as more than just another action figure.

There were only a few problems here, mainly effects stuff. There are a few CGI enhanced fight sequences and in a couple of them, the effects detract from the scene by looking a little too cartoony with the movements. The second beef is that at the end of the movie, after seeing Vampire after Vampire spurting RED blood, the Vampire overlord is apparently pumping GREEN. It’s a small complaint, but again, one that draws you out of the experience and back into your seat.

All in all, this is another triumph for New Line and Del Toro, and I don’t imagine we’ll be waiting another five years for the next installment.