Review: Blade II - Electric Boogaloo

I took some time to go and see the sequel to the 1998 film Blade and I thought I'd post a review about the movie and see what other slashdotters thought. In general it was like watching someone else play a really pretty beta quality video game. Read on if you'd like to know more. I don't spoil much of anything, I assure you. Well, the mystery for me is over. I know who made all that money during the dot-com bubble. It was Blade. Remember in the first Blade movie, he had to hock the watches and things that he took off the vampires he killed for working capital? I found it sort of grounding that he had to pay for his silver and garlic. In this movie, he's been able to pick up gobs of silver bullets and weaponry, shipped his muscle car, machinery and support guy to Prague to find his friend Whistler. Whistler is played by the unshowered, unshaven, crotchety Kris Kristofferson, who was supposed to have died in the last movie.

He finds him, of course. Mind you, Whistler's now a vampire who is in some kind of hastily unexplained "stasis" for the last few years, so that Blade can inoculate him against the vampire virus and make him human again. The science in this movie, by the way, is insultingly bad, and exceptionally inconsistent. It seems to me if you are going to offer some kind of crappy vampire virus you might as well make it somewhat consistent. It's airborne! It's blood borne! It turns out it's script borne, infecting those who it's convienient to infect and missing, strangely, Blade and his pals.

The story (which I urge you to ignore) is that Blade must team up with the "BloodPack" to defeat a new, powerful and virulent strain of vampires known as the "Reaper" strain which poses a threat to the Vampire Nation and to Humanity alike.

I don't want to dwell on the story too much since, well, the producers of Blade II didn't, so why should I? But the stupid names they chose for everything. "Whistler," "Scud" and "Blade" must defeat the "Reapers" with the help of the "Bloodpack" of the "Vampire Nation." This clearly points to their actual audience. Immature 13-year-old boys up late watching bad cable when Cinemax after dark just isn't doing it for them.

And me, I guess, I mean, I did go and watch this tripe. Perhaps the only redeeming features of Blade II are the fight scenes, a number of which were even filmed such that you could see what was going on. The ones you could make out were fantastic, full of groovy moves and excellent gymnastics and flashing leather, steel, vampire flavored flash bangs and flying silver bullets. So that was fun, but watching Blade II makes you realize how well Blade I's fights were filmed. And don't get me into the numerous continuity errors that whap you on the forehead every ten minutes.

As far as Wesley Snipes' performance, it was energetic. I'd place this movie somewhere between Drop Zone and Passenger 57 in the Snipes oeuvre.

So , if you really really really like playing Mortal Kombat-style fighting games, go see Blade II. Also, if you want to see the trailer for the upcoming Friday the 13th movie, Jason X, Jason in Space, go see Blade II. Yes, I'm serious, Jason X. 10! In Space! Starring lots of Canadian sci-fi actors on break from Andromeda ! I weep for action cinema. Thank God I've got Hard Boiled on DVD.

Comments

Well seriously what were you expecting?

[psxndc]

I saw blade II. Did I love it? Nah. Did I hate it? Nah. Did I seriously expect character development and a sense of being moved at the end. Puh-lease. Blade II is a summer flick, 3 months too early. You expect fights, cool gadgets, and an occasional betrayal. Blade II delivers. It succeeds in its mission. Should you go see it? I dunno. It depends on what you're looking for in a summer flick released in the spring.

PS I think JasonX looks like Grade A, B movie goodnes.

psxndc

you were expecting something else?

[abolith]

I didn't think it was THAT bad, geez. Ya it had some problems but this isn't the kind if movie you go and see for a plot, you see it for some good FX and lots-o-vampire-Asswhoopin. That is what the movie had, technology and science be damned. It wasn't made to be on the plot line level of say brotherhood of the wolf, or Braveheart, it was made to be as it was. The next time you go to see a movie, try to have a realistic expectaion of what it will have, and it will have what you are expecting.
Plain and simple...

Okay, that article title made me laugh.

[AFCArchvile]

I'm suddenly having mental images of breakdancers in front of a man writing a $50,000 check (warning: my memory is fuzzy).

I'm not going to watch this for the storyline (that's why I'm reading Catch-22 and The Grapes of Wrath right now). This movie is pure action. Personally, I'm sick of all the schlock appearing on the silver screen lately: nauseating horror-dramas, "historical" movies with an emphasis on artistic license and a lack of fact checking (just how did your character get to London from Grand Central, Ben?), and asinine comedies catering to the lowest common denominator.

Thank you, Blade II, for breaking the trend. I shall spend my $9.50 (or hopefully less; I can see a matinee if I want) to watch you on the silver screen as I should have the original.

BEST MOVIE EVER

[Anonymous Coward]

Why do people ALWAYS base movie quality on plot, character development, love, and all that other crap? How can you honestly say you didn't stand up wooting like a monkey every time Blade did something awesome? I know I didn't, but it sure pumped me up enough to smile continuously for 5 days.

I for one think, nay, KNOW Blade 2 is the best movie ever. It was just 2 hours of non-stop killing vampires. Like remember the scene when Blade did that totally radical thing with his weapon before killing the vamps? Oh wait, that was EVERY time he killed something. Blade was so badass it wasn't even FUNNY. What was funny is how much he 0wned all the vamps. Also, they didn't squander precious movie time on "romance". THis is truely a movie for guys. They spent merely 2 minutes total on just establishing the fact that Blade and that vampire girl were kind of attracted to each other. They left it at that and let Blade get back to shooting, stabbing, and flipping.

Finally, if you want to get technical about movie science, why not bring up the fact that Blade can't exist in the first place? If vampires evolved from Humans, wouldn't that make them different species? How would a vampire male mate with a human female and produce offspring? I dunno, maybe Blade is sterile. Whatever.

I'm gonna go see it again.

I liked it

[Com2Kid]

I liked it.

Decent use of surround sound in what was not even a THX theater (rare!).

I thought that the story was pretty good too, nothing revolutionary, but it got the point done (reason to go around beating the sh*t out of things.)

Not as many things were killed in Blade II as in the original Blade, but it defintly made me keep on saying to myself "Man they hired one hell of a fight scene choragrapher."

Did some scenes of the fights (specificaly the parts up in the air) seems almost like they used clay animation or something? No I am serious, it almost looks like free form computer deformation based animation effects of some sort. In other words, very 'clay' like. During one scene the characters even took on a distiguishable NON-REAL apperance. I am VERY surprised that that scene made it past QA in its current form. :(

Sunlight

[aridhol]

What I want to know is why the BloodPack is afraid of sunlight. I mean, why didn't they get the same sunscreen that Deacon Frost used in the first one? This time, the sun burned right through the guy's leather glove!

Re:My take

[Com2Kid]

I saw RE on Friday and Blade II yesterday (Monday).

Let me say that the movies are HARDLY alike. The first scene from Blade II MAYBE, but that is it.

Resident Evil has you jumping up in your chair going "Holy shit!" (first time I've actualy been SCARED at a horror movie, LOL. VERY nice job Sony, w00t! Go see RE !NOW!)

Blade has the FIRST ORIGINAL USE OF SLOW MOTION EFFECTS SINCE THE MATRIX that literaly had the ENTIRE audiance cheering out loud. Yes it was THAT good. Well that and I think that all action movie fans by now are sick and f*cking tired of the same old cliche slow'mo effects in movies, hehe. The producers of Blade II got the slow motion thing out of the way right away and that was it. :)

RE has a good deal more story line in it then Blade II, and far less actual butt whooping. (there is hardly any but whooping in RE oddly enough, a lot of dead things being re-killed though.), Blade II had more of the humor that made the original Blade so darn kick ass. :)

try actually watching the movie

[null_session]

Ok first, the virus was covered in the first one, as you'll (oh wait, you didn't) recall, the hemotologist(sp?) discovered the cure in the first one. Second, Blade doesn't get the virus because he already has it. He isn't cured because he chooses not to be (also in the first one). Third, if you had watched this movie you would have realized that Whistler was in stasis because the Vampires were torturing him to the brink of death and healing him repeatedly. If you really want to go on about the movie, try commenting on things like light not going around corners. Or mention how he seems to kill vampires in lots of ways besides hitting the heart. The movie took some genuine liberties, but you missed them by a mile. Or, if you wanted to really talk about the movie, you could talk about the superb rendering of flame by the CG team, or the excellent graphics in general.

You did make a good point about the money though... I sort of figured that Scud was helping him appropriate it myself.

A huge improvement over the original

[Tenken]

Instead of nitpicking my numerous problems with this review, I would just like to point out how much Blade 2 has improved over the original.

Now I don't deny some of the original's fight scenes were done with style, but the choreography was horrible. And remember that CG blood from the end? Possibly the worst CG in a modern movie.

Blade 2's choreography was scripted by Donnie Yen (Iron Monkey), who also had a (small) role in the film as one of the Bloodpack members, the Snowman. Now while Yen didn't have much chance to shine on the screen, his influence is felt throughout the entire movie. Rather than the stiff fight scenes from the first movie, Blade 2 is never satisfied with just wowing the viewer, it instead wants to kick the viewers ass.

The worst fight scene in Blade 2 (after he climbs out of the pool of blood) exposes all of the problems with the original. The enemies seem to grab a ticket and attack Blade in order, while he picks them off one by one with wrestling style moves. Atleast those camera angles from under the glass floor were cool...

The entire movie is basically one long drawn out fight scene, and while this may hurt the story, it remains true to the comic book origins. We didn't need a lengthy prologue about Blade's origins, or his history with Whistler, if you want that go see the first film. Just like Terminator 2, Blade 2 uses the exposition of the first film to make itself a more visceral experience.

Its a comic...

[infra-red]

I don't know what you were expecting, but heres something to give you some better perspective.

Blade Bio

This movie was a real action movie based on a comic book hero, nothing more nothing less. I personally found it to be quite entertaining, but I wasn't expecting something that would move my soul. If you want to pick on something to complain about, why not some of the "wrestling moves" used in a few of the fight scenes.

I found the plot to be sufficient to move from one fight to the next. They make a decent effort to explain things like Whistler still being alive, and they had already established the nature of the virus in the first movie. It had more action then the Blade, but was exactly what I was expecting to see. I wasn't disappointed in it at all and intend on seeing it again with a friend.

My Blade II Review

[Obiwan Kenobi]

There is nothing, I repeat, nothing in theaters right now that is more fun than Blade II.

It's big. It's brawny. It's darker, it's scarier, it's downright vicious compared to the kicked dog that is now the original "Blade."

Sure the names are simple and the action is over-energetic. This is a living comic book folks, and anybody who's ever read a comic book will easily see the connection. We have the "cool" shots of him putting on his sunglasses, the "slow-mo-coming-out-of-the-water-with-big-guns" shot, etc. The framing is specific and easy to follow. The story for "Blade 2," like any well-plotted comic book, is driven by action. Unlike other superhero films (*cough*TombRaider*cough*) that rely on "stopping points" to explain plot, "Blade 2" just throws it all at you and expects you to keep up. The new Reapers are easily the most frightening thing I've seen on the big screen in the past few years, I don't know about you.

The plot of course is that Blade helps the vampires destroy the vampire-eaters. But, and this is going to sound a bit strange, it still manages to convey the importance of loyalty, tells a love story, and captures betrayal in a non-cringing and original way. This is especially important for a film such as this, where such melodrama is encouraged, but normally goes too far to remain serious. And now that we've moved past the "origin story" film, scribe David Goyas finally breathes life into a character who desperately needs it.

And you have to give a hand to director Guillermo Del Toro. Look at a few of his past few films: The first brilliant 1/2 hour of "Mimic" and the exceptional ghost story "The Devil's Backbone". Del Toro takes a gritty sense of realism and blends it with a stylish take that the original "Blade" was painfully missing. The editing is the true defintion of "The Fast and the Furious," with jump-jump cuts and brutal slow-down that was tried in "Moulin Rouge" but is brought to perfection here.

Let's face it folks, it's a popcorn film. It's meant to be seen with friends so they, just like yourself, can spout Blade's one-liners for the next few weeks and groan in unison at the most gruesome spots.

Del Toro's amazing direction and Goyer's much-better-than-the-first-Blade script make this a solid hit. See it loud and proud on the big screen in a dark room with strangers. This one's a true crowd pleaser.

Evan (blog); I write for here and here.

Re:Plot? Plot? We don't need no steeenking plot!

[Mr. Flibble]

Funny, I thought Snipes studied Capoiera (Brazilian street fighting a la Eddy Gordo in Tekken)
I believe you are correct. However the moves he is coreographed using are from various styles in all his movies. I have seen him use Kenpo techniques and Tae Kwon Do as well.

The thing is, in a movie an actor rarely sticks to one individual style (unless you are someone like Segal).

Snipes was not exclusively using the Cheung Wing Chun style (there was much in there that was not from that style, like the WWF moves...) but this is the first place I have seen so much of it. The fight scene after he gets out of the pool of blood has the most Wing Chun (the bear hug defense/takedown) and he uses some Biu Gee eye jabs in a very apparent Wing Chun form in this scene, as well as various basic Wing Chun techniques (applicable to all Wing Chun styles, not just Cheungs) and probably common to many other styles as well.

(And if you want to get picky the way the "Ninjas" used the swords, and Blade used his sword is more of a Chinese Wushu style more applicable to a "Dan Dao" Chinese sword. And not a katana (Japanese) style weapon. Those who practice Kendo or Iado probably cringe at those scenes.)

Still, none of this matters. It looked cool, and there were some real techniques in there that I noticed. Things that really work in the real world. Sure, most of the stuff was the "flowery" stuff. But every now and then there was a "gritty" no-nonsense technique that is simple and effective. The combination of all that really made me enjoy the film overall.

Bottom line, if you are a martial artist, you will probably enjoy the fight scenes. (Just remember that you are supposed to laugh at the really silly stuff.)

Blade III .. potential storyline

[NeoCode]

Well, Del Toro and David Goyer (writer/producer) want to make a third movie where the premise is what the vampires have actually won and the humans are their food/slave etc.
Personally, I'd like this team to come back for a third movie but not sure if I like the plot. But it'll sure as hell give them a chance to take the movie to a new level of gore and violence.