Blade II (Blade II (DVD))

Member Name: dyllymoo

Product:	Blade II (DVD)
Date:	26/10/09 (17 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great cast and special effects

Disadvantages: Sometimes a few too many special effects

At the Parizska Blood Bank in Prague, Czech Republic, Jared Nomak [Luke Goss] has come to donate blood. As he is being led into the donation room, he is informed that his blood is of a rare phenotype. Bad news for Jared; good news for the blood bank, the phlebotomist says and bares his vampire fangs. Jared laughs hysterically. Suddenly, his chin opens revealing something definitely "rare" and a slaughter ensues.

Blade II takes place two years after the first instalment, after his friend and father figure Whistler shot himself due to being bitten by a vampire. In the time that has passed Blade has taken an assistant called Scud. Blade (Wesley Snipes) has never given up on Whistler (Kris Kristofferson) and we find out that the vampires have been keeping him inbetween death and life in a vat of blood. Blade rescues him and detox's him causing him to not be a vampire anymore (this is skirted over in the film, to give way to the "bigger" plot line). Things between Scud and Whistler are strained to say the least, with lots of finger pointing along the way.

The slight twist in the film is that The High Council of Vampires sends its team that have trained for years (the Bloodpack) to kill Blade to ask for his help. Apparantly they seem to have a mutual enemy in something they have called the Reaper virus. Jared Nomak is the vampire carrier of the virus, and he has a strong disliking for vampires, closely followed by humans. The Reaper strain is a very strong virus causing each of its victims to not die, but turn. The carriers find themselves needing to feed almost hourly causing the infection to spread rapidly.

An uneasy truce between the Bloodpack and Blade ensues, with both fighting together to try and eradicate the Reaper virus whilst not turning on each other.

Blade II is my favourite of the Blade triology. It is a bit more gorier than the other two, with quite a lot of special effects, but what makes it for me is Luke Goss. He is fantastic as the lead Reaper carrier, and plays up the camera very well.

Some people feel that the special effects take over the whole film, but I feel that they are well added where the Reaper victims are concerned. I do feel that Blade tends to look a bit too much like a bendy toy in some of the scenes but all in all I think it has a brilliant look to it.

The director Guillermo del Toro is well known for his "odd" special effects and creatures (Pans Labyrinth, Hellboy 2) and he doesn't disappoint in this film.

I can watch this one over and over again, in fact I have since I bought it.

Summary: Brilliant film