Blood Brother
Blade II
Review by Ross Anthony

"Blade II" opens with fire and fangs. I'd not seen "Blade," though I recall wanting to see it. Knowing little else about the sequel other than it was a Wesley Snipes action flick ... I strolled into the screening. Well, there's certainly no shortage of violent combat, mutant death, and computer-assisted flips and twists.

Blade is half human, half vampire (I didn't know that). He still has the craving for blood, but injects a serum to keep him civilized, though his work schedule has, but one Blade IItask: kill a whole lot of vampires. Anyway, there's a bit more plot, like the vamps inviting him (the enemy) into their lair in order to fight a "common enemy" which is some horrible tough-to-kill mutant that eats both humans and vamps. But, the scheming is only an excuse to give Blade and others a different reason to kill and that's perfectly fine because it's pretty cool to watch the action. There's almost a moment there where Blade contemplates his condition along with a pretty little vamp ... but it's fleeting.

Nicely done: Bullfighting motorcycles, Blade indulges in an aerial double back flip (which the camera miraculously 360's over and under) landing on the back of the motorbike, slicing its bloodsucking driver with a silver blade then reaching through the carbon burnt remains to the handlebars. Yet another sweetly choreographed and set bout swings into the film via ceiling rafters. Infer-red-eyed vamps flip and trapeze "Cirque du Soleil" style into the Blade-Cave and spar with him in front of a wall of lights. Very sweet and artfully produced.

The mutants have jaws that split at the chin, cheekbones flapping to the sides like batwings, a fleshy second mouth reaches out to bite the victim. The biology of that design and realization on screen are both excellent. And in fact, the sliced-up, burning-carbon-ember, dropping-bone method in which the vamps die - that's pretty darned cool too.

But, an hour and a half of slashing gets to be a bit much (I was exhausted after the film). Nothing to write home about in the in-betweens, the structure and emotive arc of the film play a bit discontinuous. And Blade's entire dialogue could be consolidated to a single paragraph (though Whistler had a few good lines). Still, if you love carnage, gooey flesh, and dead vamps ... you'll have a fine time.



  • Blade II. Copyright © 2002. Rated R.
  • Starring Wesley Snipes, Kris Kristofferson, Norman Reedus, Leonor Varela, Luke Goss, Ron Perlman, Matt Schulze.
  • Directed by Guillermo del Toro.
  • Screenplay by David S. Goyer.
  • Produced by Peter Frankfurt, Wesley Snipes, Patrick Palmer at New Line Cinema. An Amen Ra Films/Imaginary Forces.



Grade..........................B



Copyright © 2001. Ross Anthony, currently based in Los Angeles, has scripted and shot documentaries, music videos, and shorts in 35 countries across North America, Europe, Africa and Asia. For more reviews visit: RossAnthony.com


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Last Modified: Saturday, 16-Sep-2006 08:19:13 PDT