Blade 2 review by The Grim Ringler

BLADE

A sequel that works? Perish the thought. Ah, but not yet, not before you see Blade 2, a movie that really is twice the fun of the original and shows us once and for all that there’s a new horror sheriff in town and his name is Guillermo Del Toro.

So what makes Blade 2 so good, it’s still Snipes busting moves on vamps and striking more poses than a wrestling superstar. Well, it’s the energy in the film. This doesn’t FEEL like a sequel, it feels like a continuation. Or a re-birth. Everything is faster, darker, nastier, and really, deeper. And this one actually tries (and accomplishes to a great degree) to be scary. And to me, all of this is thanks to director Del Toro, a man that’s just now showing how good a director he can be.

This time around Blade is on the hunt for Whistler, his father-figure and mentor that, it turns out, didn’t die in the first film but was captured by the vampires and ‘turned’. In finding Whistler though Blade forges a shaky alliance with the very enemies he has hunted for so long – the vampires – both deciding its in their mutual interests if a new cross-breed of vampire is eliminated before it can breed Blade, the vamps, and the human race off the earth. The new creatures, the ghastly Reapers, add more than a touch of horror into what was once an action movie with a horror movie aftertaste, and it’s thanks to the Reapers that this is so good. The Reapers add a new level to everything and are far more formidable foes for Blade than the vamps had become.

The acting is decent, though Snipe’s Blade will win no awards for startling character growth, and the action and horror are well done, but really, the movie is Del Toro’s through and through. Instead of being content to shoot a rote sequel with the same stuff as the first movie, but more, he brings an energy and life to the film that is felt from beginning to end, making it a perfect popcorn horror film. Which is what he wanted to make.

As for the disc, the best thing on it by far is the wonderful documentary on the making of the film, which is so detailed, and branches off onto so many paths that it becomes like a mini-filmmaking tutorial by Del Toro. Smart, honest, and very funny, Del Toro is a blast to listen to because this is a horror movie fan making a movie for horror movie fans. The doc takes you through the entire process of making the movie and is one of the best I have seen on a disc. There are also a few deleted and alternate scenes and two audio commentaries (the best being with the director and writer), as well as as some other ephemera. But man alive there is a lot to this disc. Most you can take or leave, but that they put this much material on it for us to look through if we wanted to, well, that’s just further testament to how dedicated New Line is to pleasing its fans.

A very good, very fun movie, I cannot recommend it enough if you liked the first. And hell, if you didn’t, I would still give this one a go, because it’s just so well made and fun. …c…


9 out of 10 Jackasses

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