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Review: Blade II - Electric Boogaloo
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.
Roger Ebert (don't laugh until you've read his column- the TV show DOESN'T COUNT):k p-news-bl ade22f.html
http://www.sun-times.com/output/ebert1/w
Excerpts:
The movie is an improvement on "Blade" (1998), which was pretty good.
[...]
This news is conveyed by a vampire leader whose brain can be dimly seen through a light blue translucent plastic shell, more evidence of the design influence of the original iMac.
[...]
You can sense the difference between a movie that's a technical exercise ("Resident Evil") and one steamed in the dread cauldrons of the filmmaker's imagination.
"Sometimes a woman is a kind of religion, she can save your soul & set you free from all your sins" - Bad Examples
PS I think JasonX looks like Grade A, B movie goodnes.
psxndc
The emacs religion: to be saved, control excess.
Jon Katz didn't write this review.
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...
if you want "No More Hiroshimas" then I say "You First. No More Pearl Harbors."
...although it would be hard to suck as much as that did.
...But I'll wait for the DVD release and pop my own popcorn.
----- "A people that would sacrifice rights and freedom for a bit of safety deserve neither freedom nor safety."
Blade II reminded me a lot of Resident Evil. Mostly in regard to the "creatures". The plot was decent, I suppose. There was a lot of action, as to be expected. And I thought that Wesley Snipes does a great job of acting. The special effects were definately better than in Blade I. I too saw the trailer of Jason X, it appears that on every deep space exploration mission, some evil being appears... 2 Andromeda women are in the Jason X movie, Lexa Doig, and someone who's name eludes me at the moment.
They were like beavers! The new strain of vampires lived underwater in a damn made from bones. Did the people working on the script have writers block and decide, "Hey lets make them like beavers".
My verdict:
A movie with entertaining fight scenes and some funny lines. The plot: Snipes beats up and kills all his enemies (I bet you weren't expecting that).
If you are squeamish you may not like it. It's definitely more gruesome than the first movie.
Do not spread "09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0" over the internet, thank you.
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.
"Ancillary does not mean you get to rule the world." --U.S. Circuit Judge Harry Edwards, speaking to the FCC's lawyer
I particularly liked the fact that the vampire virus wasn't just referred to as a virus, but an arbovirus, an actual viral group that includes the agents of yellow fever and dengue. Somebody actually must have cracked open a virology textbook! Then again, arboviruses are transmitted by insects, a fact that wasn't used at all in the movie, so maybe they just liked the name.
Who honestly went to this movie to look for a storyline comparable to Lord of the Rings? Like come on, you went into it expecting WAY too much.
It's based on a comicbook, every comicbook movie sequel has been cheese. Why would you expect any different of Blade II? Did anyone else notice the appearance of Danny John Jules aka "The Cat" from Red Dwarf? He probably just used his same cat teeth from Red Dwarf heh. Anyway, the movie is meant to be entertainment just like the WWF and that's all it is plain & simple. The fight scenes were well done, it had some gore, some corny lines and a chick in leather.
It was entertaining, all in all an okay show to see. =)
I actually downloaded this movie since I highly doubted it was going to be worth $10 price tag. I turned it on and watch it with a friend of mine, and just watched the suckage happen before our eyes. The intro was lame, foreshadowing the rest of the movie. Once you see that they actually brought Whistler back, at that point I questioned whether the writer had even seen the original movie. Due to the ambigously-gay squadron of 'badasses' a lot of the fight scenes just seemed to be cheesy as all hell. Oh, and the second half of the movie was busted due to a corrupted vcd, but to tell you the truth, I didn't care all that much. Perhaps I am being judgemental, only having seen the first half of the movie, but somehow I doubt all of a sudden the movie would kickass. I'm still wondering how they managed to screw this up. Anyone?
"What can a thoughtful man hope for mankind on Earth, given the experience of the past million years? Nothing." -Bokonon
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.
:(
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.
Need help treating your acne? Come here!
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!
I can't say that I don't give a fuck. I've just run out of fuck to give.
... because one of the secondary actresses is Leonor Varela, Chilean.
The TV news programs are hyping the movie because of that and that alone: "The chilean actress that's becoming a star in Hollywood!", "Leonor Varela stars among the great actor Wesley Snipes", and more hollow phrases like that.
Unsurprisingly, other than stating this is a "horror" movie, they have mentioned pretty much nothing about the film itself.
This proves once again what an unimportant remote little country Chile is... and the worst thing this happened less than four months ago, when _Driven_ (with Cristián De la fuente, another "great" chilean actor) was premiered in USA... fortunately, around here it was a total flop.
"Trust me - I know what I'm doing."
- Sledge Hammer
Ack, don't listen to him, this guy obviously has no place in a theater. Just another angry, bitter movie goer who won't be happy with anything because they forgot that they went to watch a MOVIE and not a documentary. Too cynical to just go and relax and enjoy the movie. Save your review for SW Ep. II. Ack!
"The saddest words of mice and men, are not those which were, but should have been."
What about Star Wars? A whole planet was decimated. Anyone remember that asinine argument brought up sometime last year?
.smell my feet.
"Oh yeah. Nah, I didn't die. What, you didn't know that? The vampires got me. Jeez pay attention kid."
slashdot: where everyone yells sarcastic metaphors to themselves to understand the issue
Sorry, but most violent (or gory at least) goes to Brain Dead, aka Dead Alive here in the US.
you might say that the movie was somewhat inconsistent, but at least there was a twist in the story and not the standart hollywood crap where the bad ones wear black and the good ones white all the way to the end! in addition [warning: spoiler] the ending is not the usual hollywood romantica where the heroes live happy ever after at the end. finally: whoever goes to see blade II expecting an elaborate plot should be doomed to see the jason X trailer for 3 consecutive hours... blade II is what you watch a sunday afternoon (matinee -- it's not worth full price) when you need to relax from work.
Why do these monster slayers insist on lugging 15 tons of weapons and ammo into the sewers, and then use them to repetively, and innefectively, shoot the monsters?
Many scenes looked like technology tests for spiderman special effects.
The reapers anus-like heart is more than worth the price of admission. Now we can effectivly classify the goatse guy.
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.
Politics, Culture, Food?
Had the author of this "review" payed attention they'd know that the reason why Whistler was in that chamber was because they would periodically toture him and harvest his blood, then put him back in there to let him heal before doing it again. I don't think they should let people like chrisd into movie theaters. Because a movie is not generally what they are looking for. They want something that presents the holy impossible with unimpeachable evidence that it can be done. They want something that is so utterly believable, but they want it to be about something unbelievable. They don't bother to waste their time relaxing and, god forbid, enjoying the movie. They sit there on the edge of their seat waiting for the next thing they can't point out as incorrect. I dunno where you got that the virus was "airborne", but had you spent more time actually watching the movie and less time typing up your review in your head you might have had a better time.
"The saddest words of mice and men, are not those which were, but should have been."
i liked it when BLADE turned into that cartoon fighter, when he was fighting the two cyborg vampires, and he did MAD FLIPS and A FULL OLLIE off a TELEVISION. Then he BUSTED some HEADS with the POWER OF THE SUN. Blade is the all american hero, he's like a half dead GI JOE with better gear than BATMAN and cooler sunglasses than the freakin TERMINATOR. If I were BLADE I would open my own diner and call it Blade's Diner and I wouldn't serve vampires, either.
slashdot: where everyone yells sarcastic metaphors to themselves to understand the issue
I was thinking about that one actually, my evaluation was based on sort of a combination of body count and graphic gore. I mean one of the only dialog scenes in this movies is over an autopsy.
From the review:
:-)
"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."
So exactly what is that you expected from this...a REALISTIC Vampire movie!!! Isn't that a bit of an oxymoron???
I am all for realism in film, but to complain about the "science" in a movie whose plot revolves around vampires, even for a self-respecting geek such as myself, may be a bit much!!!
Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. -- Benjamin Franklin
Five Iron Frenzy is the only true Electric Boogaloo.
What would you rather have? One of the last remaining ska bands stealing the name or chrisd? =)
Don't worry, no spoilers in this review. (Not that there CAN be any spoilers for this movie, but perhaps that is a spoiler in and of itself.)
I saw Blade 2 on Sunday, and normally I cringe at plotless movies. In some ways Blade 2 has more of a plot than the first movie.
Are there plot holes? Oh sure, you can drive a few trucks through most of them.
However, I found myself not caring a whit.
If you want to see a pure unmitigated action fest, Blade 2 is it.
Personally I loved the movie because I have studied Martial Arts for 11 years, and I loved seeing some techniques that I have not seen in movies before. (Mostly the Cheung Style Wing Chun - Specifically the Biu Gee techniques Snipes uses.)
However, the movie is so campy that when the fight scenes start to incorporate WWF moves (no really, I am not joking!) instead of groaning I found myself howling with laughter.
If you go to see it, go to see it for pointless action, and no other reason. (Unless you would like to see Danny John-Jules, The "Cat" from Red Dwarf in a new role.)
This is not a "plot" movie.
Try to hack my 31337 firewall!
No not for the movie, not even to see the corny JasonX trailer... but it is the Star Wars Trailer (which I assume has been in other movies, yet I have not seen it in any others).
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.
The original Blade was the essence of cool. By the time they got to the hospital and the cops tried to arrest him, it was on the all-time list.
[Cops fire, bullets bounce off]
"Are you out of your #%&@$ mind?!?!?"
[Cops run]
ROFL!
There were some genuinely great scenes in the first movie. The "he moved" line when they fry the fat vampire, the music starting when Blade catches the sunglasses at the end, the sword flourish in the final battle, Whistler's "catch you fellas at a bad time?" the car (any movie with a big block engine anywhere in it automatically gets a minimum of 5 on the 10 scale), etc.
Just a really cool movie. I might just go see the sequel. If Ebert liked it, it can't be all bad, right?
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.
Quick narrative introduction.
Lots of fighting.
Blade meets the vampires and hooks up with the blood pack.
Lots of fighting.
Decend into the sewer.
Lots of fighting and ultraviolet explosions.
Betrayal
Double Betrayal
More fighting.
Even more fighting.
Collection of reaper fetus' get shot up.
More fighting.
All the bad guys die.
Mildly (not) Touching end scene where the girl vaporizes in the morning light.
Credits.
I'm sorry if I spoiled the plot for anyone. That's just about all of it.
-Restil
Play with my webcams and lights here
Someone should make a movie out of it someday ...
Sig: What Happened To The Censorware Project (censorware.org)
The movie is... campy. There are lots of great one-liners and a ton of overacting.
It's kind of the Matrix meets Evil Dead. If you're into cheesy, campy horror/action flicks (like I am) you'll love it!
In Soviet Russia, sig types you!
Snipes is much more comfortable in the role this time around. In the first movie, he was the typical cold hero. Director Guillermo del Toro actually allows Blade to smile in this movie!
And despite the overemphasis on coolness factor (namely the shades), del Toro does a good thing by allowing us to see Blade without his shades. He hid behind them too much in the first movie...
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!
Jason X?
Wow. Microsoft's been really busy on that new operating system. They showed we can fly with Windows XP, and now, with Jason X, we can fly, see blood spill, and die along with our computer systems.
Neato. Hope it comes with some popcorn and a bladder-buster cola.
Vos teneo officium eram periculosus ut vos recipero is.
"It's open season on all suck-heads."
"Some mutha-fucka's always gotta ice skate uphill."
Crappy, ultra-campy action-movie lines from the original - lines that *made* the movie.
I went to Blade II to watch a bad ass kick ass and say corny lines. To have a plot-line would be superfluous. The dialogue was just space between fight scenes, as far as I'm concerned - and they interspersed it with humour!
I got what I came for, plus. Honestly - the "BloodPack" just *screamed* Vampire the Masquerade campaign! complete with faux-political intrigue! honestly - we aren't *supposed* to take it seriously!
If you want a lot of *wonderful* action, complete with bad-ass dialogue/one-liners, Blade II is the movie. It has raised my standards for that "genre". It's just fun, fun, fun.
They even manage to throw Blade his shades just before the real action begins! rock!!!
der_m
Hm, I'd prolly say Bad Taste was the most violent movie I've seen. ;)
Also the funniest
Life is what you make of it.
The upshot is that the fight scenes (which is what you should be seeing this movie for, not the plot), are incredible. Donnie Yen himself is a minor character in this movie, but fans will be dissapointed to discover that he has only one noteable fight scene, which is very breif, and no dialog whatsoever. However, as dedicated fans know, Donnie Yen's trying to steer his career away from acting and more towards direction and choreography, both of which he excells at.
I'd recommend anyone interested in Donnie Yen to pick up Iron Monkey, of course, but moreover the movies he himself directed, such as Legend of the Wolf and Ballistic Kiss.
***JUMP PAD ACTIVATION INITIATION START***
***TRANSPORT WHEN READY***
First off, I loved Blade 1, it was a romp full of vampire fu goodness.
Blade 2 was like that, but way overdone. I couldn't help but laugh at Snipes every time he over-flaired his sword moves or what should have been smaller movements.
Blade 2 just added to the long list of action movies that suck as they try to use some sort of "group". The only exception that I've seen is Executive Decision, Steven Segal's best film to date.
Correct. Directed by (guess who???) Peter Jackson of LOTR fame!
***JUMP PAD ACTIVATION INITIATION START***
***TRANSPORT WHEN READY***
made that film good. Any similar stuff in the second?
Hell yeah! One of my favourite flicks of all time. It's hard to believe he went on to make a little film known as Lord of The Rings.
Never fight naked, unless you're in prison...
(The subject says it all).
Video Game cheats, hints a
Something about the satanic connections with vampires, and things of that nature that will keep this guy away from such films.
http://www.geocities.com/lilmacumd/escape.html
If I wanted to think whenever I went to a movie, I wouldn't go. It's *entertainment*. I go for fun. Yeah some movies suck, others are great, but do I analyze them from opening credits till the end. . . no. I'm there to relax and be *entertained*, not educated.
-Al
P.S. Yes, I liked Blade 2.
I can't wait to see it.
Nothing like seeing a bunch of blood sucking beavers! Sounds like we're nearing the quality of Night of the Lepus!
The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. - Benjamin Franklin
Yessir, I think that after watchin' all them cool wwf-type moves on that there Blade 2, I'm a-gonna git me some backyard rasslin' action. Oh man, did you see the preview for The Rock's new movie? He's gonna git him one a them oscar things for best badass of the year. Yeah, and then maybe I'll catch one of them NASCAR races...Saint Dale would have wanted it that way. Lucky number 3!
-h-
One of the worst part of the movie was the detonation of the UV bombs in the suit case.. Like many cinematic effects, it is grossly wrong from physical standpoint.
By combining alot of those small UV (light) bombs, they were able to produce a very bright light, and it BENDS across the winding tunnel!! I thought it'll be a little more convincing if the suitcase will blast the little UV bombs across the tunnel and then detonate each of them.. but boy, they bend light!
It's just too funny for me at that point.
geek page at KY speaks
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.
First off, anyone that uses "oeuvre" in a review of an action film based on a comic deserves a wedgie, wet noogie, and generally laughed at for being such a poser.
I was expecting a lot from Blade II. I wasn't expecting a story, I wasn't expecting great acting, and I definitely wasn't expecting scientific validity/consistency. I was expecting to see lots of fights, special effects, and comic book fun.
I would say that it delivered on all counts. Besides, whom needs to have a scientifically valid action comic flick (not movie, not cinema, it's a flick)? I want just enough story to get from fight to fight. If it isn't a decent story (which Blade did have in the original) then don't let it interfere with the reason I paid to see Wesley Snipes do his action groove thang. Besides, he helped in fight coordination in both films and did well.
'Nuff said.
A movie review NOT by Jon Katz? That is like, weird and I think he'll be upset about that.
I will be seeing Blade 2 this Friday and I hope it is as good as some people are saying.
I don't remember the title, but it involves the Ninja's spirit taking over some 20ish woman (insert ObNudity scenes).
I found it rather funny in a "yeah, right" sort of way.
You could've hired me.
first, i don't remember the movie ever claiming the "vampire virus" (a popular theme in vampire literature and movies since bacteria and virii were discovered) was airborne. in that, you must get your facts straight, chris. in fact, there are a lot of points where i have to honestly question if you payed attention, or saw the movie at all. yes, we all remember how Blade had to hock stolen goods to pay for his operation. yes, he eventually ends up with some serious weaponry and gobs of silver bullets. what you forgot to realize is that this is *after* he's teamed up with the Vampire Nation. would it have been beyond your comprehension to see a link there? as for shipping his car: it's not that hard, nor unimaginably expensive to do that. shipping his support guy? where did they say this? his origin is explained EXTREMELY vaguely and we're never given his origin. the names used in this film are typical comic book naming conventions. simple to understand, descriptive, and appealing. that you don't mention anywhere that this entire movie franchise is based off a comic book character leaves me thinking you didn't even know. in that case, i forgive you, but your analysis can only be shallow without investigation. chris, your entire review was flamebait and better posted on a yahoochat messageboard. you didn't discuss anything but shallow detail, and you managed to be incorrect at least twice. next time, you might want to think a little harder before posting a movie review. you're not very good at it.
and i'm the idiot who chose "html formatting" accidentally. damnit...
For god's sakes people, Blade did a WWF-style suplex as one of his fighting moves!! And the the other guy did a flying elbow..OFF THE CEILING!!
Even the gay ass Anne Rice vampires are better than this WWF-Smackdown version. Blade II is an insult to good vampire movies. And good action movies.
Oh, and Kris Kristopherson should try finding roles that have less gratuitous use of the word "cunt-hair", it doesn't suit him.
The plot time is before blade I therefore is Wisthler still alive. It is as simpel as that!
beside blade I has the best movie "lets-make-a-super-exiting-mood" for the viewer. The action scene in the klub is great! Still bad reviews can keep me away from this film!
What rimes on recursion What rimes on recursion What rimes on recursion What rimes on recursion
Thanks for throwing cash at the likes of Jack Valenti, everyone!
--
Don't like it? Respond with words, not karma.
How BII is enigmatic of the post Enron collapse when viewed thru the vampire genre of hollywood. Enron execs feeding on the blood of staffers while extolling the new world that they and they alone will create....
You should rent the DVD (Support the MPAA!! ;) and check out the special features. You should see what the blood god was originally, and how the movie ended before they came up with the present ending to Blade I.
The blood god really was a god, but the audience did not identify with it, and became disenchanted with the movie at that point, so they changed it.
(And the effects are *BAD* for the blood god there, but then, that is because they are just the test shots.)
Try to hack my 31337 firewall!
This movie blew some serious goat testicles.
Seriously - this movie was bad. Real bad. The plot was nonexistent, the storyline jumped all over, and the morons behind the movie seemed to realize the fight scenes were the best part - much of the movie was devoted to jumping from fight scene to fight scene. So much so, in fact, that I nearly fell asleep DURING several of the (many) fight scenes - they couldn't even hold my attention.
This movie ranks second in my book of 'Movies To Avoid Like The Plague', behind Mars Attacks.
The first one oozed style, flair, pinache....whatever word you want to use for it. It was amazing. This one tried to capture the same sense. Didn't work.
This one had a better plot, IMO. Sure, they both require suspension of disbelief, but c'mon, it's a movie based on a comic book. I can suspend my disbelief.
The first one had a mild love interest that was believable, as Blade drew parallels between the doctor in the movie and his mother. This movie had an apparently much more important love interest for Blade. Why? Damned if I know. That wasn't explained or developed. Maybe it's those damn phermones.
The fight scenes were done quite poorly, IMO. They were shot all close in with lots of fast cuts. I haven't been this disappointed with action sequences since Romeo Must Die. C'mon, some of these people can do martial arts (Snipes is a 5th degree black belt, if I remember correctly), so why weren't they allowed to do their stuff. This whole 5 cuts a second crap is ridiculous. It's genuinely hard to watch and make sense of.
Overall, I was disappointed. The first one was more enjoyable...
Yes, it's a comic-book-to-movie. Most people didn't expect to go and find a fine piece of cinematic history. They went to see a vampire flick. For what they went to see, this movie was pretty decent. At least you could remember who the major characters were, unlike, say, Resident Evil. You cheer for Blade while he hacks up the undead, while you wait for what's-her'name to run away from the shuffling corpses. I liked RE when it first came out, but seeing Blade II reminded me of what Resident Evil could have been. Now I bide my time until the next foray into survival horror...(sarcasm) Scooby Doo! (/sarcasm)
This
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"I've been using the beta of Jason X for awhile now, and I can say it truly rocks!" - Johnny Depp
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Not everyone agrees:
"I still prefer Windows, especially since they killed Netscape." - Jamie Lee Curtis
"They think Jason X will be the next big thing? Ha! IN YOUR DREAMS!!" - Robert Englund
Stay tuned kids!
-- thinkyhead software and media
And I got just that! The vampire safe house club scene was great. They one-upped the opening club sequence of the first movie with this club scene. The people standing around with their skin peeled back and vamps pickin away at it was both amazingly gross and kinda like watching a car wreck, don't car buy you gotta stare.
Blade was always one step in front of the guys.
The big dude from 'Beauty and the Beast' played an excellent bad guy. Do you Blush? Of course we must use that line in his finale. Once again quite the shot.
The Bad Girl gone Good was hot in her sexy leather outfit. Not to mention her death sequence. It was very cool CGI.
The co-horts of the blood gang were a bunch of idiots.
The reaper autopsy was wild. Not to mention the way they go for blood.
Chopping the guys head in half with a sword and the eye stares at you and blinks. That was great!
This was a VAMPIRE movie people. Not only that but a VAMPIRE tha walks during the day not sucking people's blood and killing other vampires! You expected a plot? Come on. The first one didn't have much of a plot.
As a rock-in-roll Physicist once said, No matter where you go, there you are.
Breakin' II. A movie about breakdancing. A pretty good movie, if I remember correctly.
I'm determined to reclaim my karma. Now, if I can only find a groundbreaking article and something witty to say....
Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo
hinderfreude ('hin-dur-"froi-d&), n. The feeling of joy derived from being in the way.
there were fewer spoilers in that than in the supposedly spoiler-less review
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
Not as violent as the MPAA raping American citizens with laws they passed using your dollars.
I saw the trailer for that. It looked pretty stupid, but I bet it'll make a lot of money anyway. I hear they're releasing it along with a new trailer for Episode 2! I'm saving up my popcorn money starting today!
The enemies of Democracy are
What got to me about the movie, is I kept asking myself if I was really seeing Blade II or if we accidently went into a theater showing some sort of WWF movie.
A couple of my friends swear they were able to find a Star Wars parallel in the movie, but they couldn't really explain that afterwards. --Go figure, eh?
-Tal
If you follow the dialogue he actually explains it while he is hobbling around surveying the new digs. He states that they would repeatedly torture him till he was close to death, just to put him in the blood stasis thing to heal back up and do it again. He even makes a comment that he wishes they had fixed his leg while they were at it. This might even explain your statement about continuity... If you missed that what else did you slip up on.
I wrote a review of Blade II for my school paper, and I gave it a stellar review. I did mention the fact that it wasn't for physics buffs, but it was a very good action film that deserves quite a bit of credit.
The special effects were incredible and truly designed for those of us who are able to understand just why such effects are used. I personally think that this movie was targetted at college students and young people. It was designed for people who enjoy movies simply for the action and the effects, not at serious movie-goers who want a deep plot and extreme character development. The effects made this movie, and I think it was worth my $19.00 (I took a fried) plus popcorn.
In order to be immortal you must be organize
Did you possibly misunderstand arbovirus to be airborne? See this comment for another reference to it being the type of virus not them describing it's transport method. Quick search on google would make that not such a far fetched idea, the fact that it was a vampire instead of an insect is a bit off but... well we are talking about vampires here:
"God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh." - Voltaire
"Eat right, Exercise daily, Die anyways."
http://www.10angrygamers.com Where purple monkeys attack!!
I went twice this weekend. I went in Edwards Cinema in Santa Maria, California. If any of you guys know the little kid that was snoring behind me in the 7th row back on the friday 5pm show, or the guy that was snoring two seats over on the sunday show, please smack them for me.
I liked it. Like others mentioned, you went for the name, and stayed for the vampire ass-whoopin'. It got rather obnoxious (between the little kid crying on the side in the sunday showing, and some high school assholes that caught up with me. ) that *EVERYONE* double-crossed someone.
And one more thing. Why for the love of cthulu would someone bring an infant to this movie? 30 seconds into it, it started crying! They didn't leave until they were escorted out, half an hour into the show, *argh!*
Sorry, I'm sick, and wanted to vent on something.. Feel free to disregard this post
/ex
I still don't agree with Katz' reviews, even when he uses a pseudonym.
blade is based off a comic book. this would support the writers' use of these names.
-=tonyt=-
...I was extremely pleased. /atmosphere/.
Blade 2 was not meant to be an Oscar-caliber movie. Blade, the original, had plenty of plot holes and iffy science and all the rest, and you know what? I don't give a damn about that, it was a marvel of effects and
Blade 2 improved on the original in all those ways. The plotline wasn't as intriguing, but the choreography was jaw-dropping.
Note that I didn't say 'good'. I said 'jaw-dropping'. As in, during the first serious fight scene, I could barely breathe. Hats off to Donnie Yen--who should have been given more chance to shine himself, but sadly we can't have everything. It was visual poetry, as smooth and elegant as anything you could hope for. Snipes happens to have a fifth-degree black belt and also practices capoeira, the spelling of which I know I'm slaughtering, and all of that really shows; martial artistry is not limited to Asians!
The plot was imperfect. I'd go back to see it again, though, just to watch them move.
It's called Ninja III: The Domination
I enjoyed watching Blade 2. I think trying to pick apart the science, etc is missing the point. I regarded watching Blade 2 as being somewhat akin to watching a fun anime. I get pissy when movies try and take themselves seriously and have glaring plot/science/etc errors. I don't get pissy when I have similar experiences in comics, anime, etc. I suppose it is just a matter of expectation.
I found a few things a bit cheezy (the suplex -- please!) -- but the fighting was a lot of fun, the music was good, and I enjoyed watching it.
Evolution: love it or leave it
Since when do people care about the science? This movie was based on the comic book. Everything in that movie was like the comic book.
Who gives a shit about the science and gang names? All we want to see is Blade kicking some Vampire's ass.
The acting was even better than in Blade 1. So what other names would you choose for the Reapers and the Bloodpack?.........Thats what I thought.
So that was fun, but watching Blade II makes you realize how well Blade I's fights were filmed.
Dude, go get some glasses or new glasses if you already wear them. The fighting scenes in Blade 1 were good. But Blade 2 fighting scenes are much better. There is better style and better moves than there was in Blade 1. I've never seen any real kung fu action in the cities of the U.S . You know, like in hong kong where they fly around buildings and stuff kicking ass all over the damn place. Blade brings all the heat wherever he goes.
Blade wins.
If Mr. Edison had thought smarter he wouldn't sweat as much. --Nikola Tesla
The new strain of vampires lived underwater in a damn made from bones.
Dam, damn... hey, works either way.
I don't think blade can be turned into a vamp. I think that was his original power from the comic. The name Whistler is also from the comics. As for Blade's new-found wealth, well, that's just cuz he hasn't been supporting Whistler's drinking habbits the past 2 years!
When the ninja vampires were swinging on the roof of Blade's hide-out, the whole audience started laughing because it looked so cartoony. Most of the fights looked really cartoony, however the movie was ok overall.
Turn on Showtime and see 'Supernova'. It's the same damn thing. I, for one, hate seeing movies that have a cool premise, but then fail to deliver. (Pitch Black) It coould have been so much better... I just wanted to go read 'Nightfall' by Issac Asimov.
What's with the big HP ad in the middle of the article? Did I miss something here?
I never been so broke that I couldn't leave town.
Who would'a guessed Blade 2 to be a bad flick? ;)
Perhaps someone will fund Battlefield Earth 2, I imagine that might turn out better.
"Things are more moderner than before- bigger, and yet smaller- it's computers-- San Dimas High School football RULES!"
Before I raise the ire of too many people I'd like to say here and now that if you don't care for realism then I see your point of view. I simply wish to put across my point of view about why realism does matter to me.
First and foremost, a lot of good fiction tries to be consistent. Why is consistency important? Because it gives you a grasp on the world being portrayed in the book/film. Without this grasp of the "rules" of the reality, I tend to find myself becoming distant from the characters, simply because I know they'll be able to do whatever the need to be able to do to advance the story.
Just what is it about a film, say based on a true story that really makes us resonate with the character? I would hazard the opinion that it is because we know how hard the real world can be and just how difficult it must have been for that character to overcome whatever hardship they did.
Perhaps another reason that people like to throw out realism (I prefer to call it "inner consistency") in movies is because there is a perception that realistic films won't appeal as much. This is patently false. I went to see Black Hawk Down recently and I can tell you that that film got my pulse running like few films I have ever seen before. Why? Because the main characters truly were in danger. Obviously if I go to see Blade 2, I know that Wesly Snipes is in no danger whatsoever at any stage in the film, and consequently the film is just not going to get my pulse running AS MUCH AS (note the careful choice of words) it would while watching Black Hawk Down.
Science fiction films (yes, I realise Blade 2 is not SF technically - more horror) often lose out on inner consistency. This is strange considering that some of the earliest SF was what I would called "hard" science fiction (i.e SF that attempts to attain inner consistency to the highest degree.)
Consider for a moment "War of the Worlds" or "The First Men in the Moon". True, these books have their fantastic elements. But if a new concept is introduced its implications are fully investigated. (Just think of the gravity shielding material that existed in "The First Men in the Moon". The idea of the shutters on the windows of the craft was a COOL idea.)
I respect that there is place in this world for trashy inconsistent films and ones which are internally consistent. I hope to see more of the latter. It's harder to do, and it produces a MUCH nicer result in my opinion.
Sean
Watching this movie, I got the feeling that the Budget rent-a-car marketing people got in a room and thought up the story for this...
"Ok. Let's stick Blade in some foreign country, where everyone looks like they could possibly be a vampire hybrid mistake anyway. Then, we gotta make sure he has all his gear, including his muscle car. We should probably stick in some young rebel/hacker type assistant, in order for the audience to identify with somebody. "
"What's that you say? Kris Kristofferson still works cheap? Not many movie deals coming his way? OK, let's bring him back then, too. We can make 'em believe that after he lost all his blood and shot himself, and after Blade spent all day making silver bullets in the same warehouse, that Deacon Frost's guys came and picked him up, even though they were all waiting at headquarters to be mowed down by Blade."
"We have to make it look like there is a reason he came back, though. Alright, let's have him test out that cure that the hematologist thought up, then, we'll keep the audience in suspense as to whether it worked or not... throughout the entire movie...never to be revealed."
"Then, let's make a team for Blade to be involved with, just like in Predator! Identifiable people getting killed is always more interesting. Hey, it's worked for the first nine Friday the 13ths... We have to make them the weakest vampires ever though, and kill them off quickly, or else there will be too many loose ends at the close of the movie."
"Hey, Snipes is on the phone. He says he wants another million... Why don't we lose the well-timed quality techno music, and just blow our wad on CGI. We'll stick it everywhere! People liked the Street Fighter arcade game, we'll make the movie look like it!"
"Dammit, since we hired the 'team', now we've gotta pay all those character actors. Guess we'll have to skip the continuity check. Maybe we can add some cool posturing (like the fist-pump after nailing Donal Logue to the wall, or the pre-fight sword circle motion in Blade I)."
"Nah, that's not a good idea. Let's just spend more on some weak-ass CGI. Oh, and fire the cinematographer."
This movie is watchable, but the things that made the original great are missing.
for the 'Best use of a Crystal Method Song in an Action Sequence' for next year's oscar's =D...
seriously though, kids - the movie shouldn't be taken tootoo seriously after all it's based on a COMIC BOOK.
If you can't sit back and just enjoy a movie you really shouldn't be reviewing it for others.
Balde II was one of the best sequels I ever seen. I was glued throught the entire movie. The audience was cheering sporadically.
Do you like martial arts flicks? Did you like "Big Trouble in Little China"? Did you like Spawn? Do you like horror movies? If you answered "yes to any of these then Blade II is the best thing playing this week.
"God fights on the side with the best artillery." - Napoleon, Marshal of France - speaking truth to power
It's funny that Hard Boiled was mentioned in the review - that was the most violent film I'd ever seen when I came across it. Might still be, it was banned in Sweden and Finland.
A battered Blade falling through a rain of bullets into a swiming pool of blood-- a vampire commando with automatic weapons in each hand running down a sewer pipe lined with super-vampires-- a hero with a Katana, pump shotgun, bioweapons, vampire fangs, and leather trenchcoat-- this really captures the essence of "what the hell, it looks cool."
I thought the level of gross-out, horror movie violence/video game was a little insane. There are scenes where people open up with automatic weapons in night clubs, characters heads cut in half (I mean, you see inside the brain), and the super-vampire bad guys gave me nightmares. "It's ok to kill everyone in the movie because they're all just vampires" was a little too easy. You can't just weasel out of the ethics of showing hundreds of people eviscerated by saying that they were vampires so it's ok. There are a few scenes where actors seem to stand around in a fight waiting for someone to hit them-- this isn't Jackie Chan action but a string of one-on-one battles even in mass fight scenes.
If you liked Blade I and the Matrix, I think you'll like Blade II. It gets more stylish in some places than the original and has relatively good writing for its genre. The actors all pull off their respective characters well. The Whistler plot-line is a little poorly thought out and it is not clear why all of the super-vampires hunt vampires instead of humans. Mordoc's revenge motivation shouldn't extend to his progeny. I think the star-crossed lover bit and the "do you trust Whistler" could have been emphasized a lot more and actually made this a really good movie plot-wise if they were pulled off.
-m
do i get my prize now?
Where is bob?... He stoled my pencil, so i killed him.. Oh, was it this pencil?, why are you looking at me like that... oh, ya the killing.."
"Eat right, Exercise daily, Die anyways."
http://www.10angrygamers.com Where purple monkeys attack!!
Was there any hard pumpin' bass boosted techno music in it?
...I suppose Jon Katz loved it.
digitalhallucination... now phosphate free!!
Lets face it, Blade II will never live up to Mach III. It just can't compete with the triple blade action.
Brain Dead?? not bad, but the best Peter Jackson movie off all time must be Bad Taste, starring Mr Jackson himself, loosing abit of his brain and replacing it with alien brain instead... oh what a movie
Funny thing about Brain Dead, went completely uncut through the censors in Swededn when it came out since they though it was so cartoonish and cheeky
if (!signature) { throw std::runtime_error("No sig!"); }
Oh God, Not Again
Cheers
Cool! Amazing Toys.
will probably compare this movie to the enjoyable experience of having a glass rod shoved up your urethra and then shattered.
Funny, but not when it costs you 8.25. Save this one for the home theather...
Cool! Amazing Toys.
I expected Blade II to be a bunch of fight scenes strung together by a loose plot and lots of reeky junior-high testosterone. And that's pretty much what I got, except it churned me more than I anticipated. They could have created fight scenes to display the art of a fighting human body, but instead they opted for the neato flashing spheres of UV light and the shock value of mandibleless jaw-and-neck openings. They could have created a somewhat engaging plot, but instead they freely twist it back and forth--creating awkward and contradictory characters--just to add one-liners and artifical O-Henry surprises.
To be honest, I can see what's cool about Blade's image, but it bothers me that some people (including the friend I saw the movie with) don't see the impovershment of that image. At least Queen of the Damned found something other than mindless violence to dwell on (namely, a sense of danger sensousness and tragic passion... echoed by Blade only during the closing sunrise scene).
-1, Too Many Layers Of Abstraction
I'm no editing genius or anything, but disjointed, rapid fire editing techniques are only effective if used in balance with longer shots to provide contrast and tension. I guess the guy who edited the thing was either smoking crack, or thought it would be a nice experiment to make it totally impossible to follow the moves (as in he's so fast you can't possibly see what he's doing). Sure they probably didn't want to it to look like CTHD, RH2, Matrix or Face Off, but the editor sure as heck failed to achieve a "new look" or any look.
The only decently edited shot was the long fight sequence with the ninja, but the transition between live action and CGI felt totally forced and un-natural. The lighting for the CG pieces look like they were rushed and the lighting setup compromized. They probably cheesed the whole CG scene infront of the wall of flood lights and didn't do any lighting studies of the stage.
I haven't seen it, so I can't give an opinion, but I find it interesting that Blade II rates much higher than Blade on IMDB. I tend to find that IMDB ratings, on average, agree with my opinion (though LotR may be great, I'm not sure it qualifies as #3 movie of all time).
I'll probably wait to see it on cable. I just ordered the first one a few days ago, which I really enjoyed. I hope this review is a fluke, though the way it was written leads me to believe I'll probably agree with the author.
yeah, just the idea: Aliens land on earth to start a fast food franchise serving human flesh and brain... remember that 'milk-shake'??? :-)
Only one thing I feel bad about, all the killed seagulls on which p. jackson lands after falling of the cliff... poor little creatures...*grin*
if (!signature) { throw std::runtime_error("No sig!"); }
I sure did, It was hard not to watch him kick some vampire butt and then start going "oowwwww!, Am i good or what!" while strutting his stuff, or complaining how red blood really doesn't go with the white of his fangs ;)
Now that was a *really* bad movie. So bad that I kept thinking about getting up and leaving but couldn't because I wanted to see how bad it got.
Deleted
I went to see Blade 2 this weekend with 3 friends. I never saw the first one, but I thought, hey, this is a dumb action flick, I should be able to get the idea of their vampire mythology pretty quick. I was right.
This movie is so undenialibly bad I don't know where to start. The fight scenes are probably one of the most ricidulous I have ever seen in a action movie, except for the Jackie Chan one's, but thuse are made to be funny. It uses repetedly stupid wrestling move that are just plain dumb to see ***** SPOILER, well, not much of one ***** like the time at the end of the movie when Blade is on it's back, and the bad guy, instead of going up to him and beat the shit out of him, crawls up the wall and just leaps from the top and lands with this elbow on Blade's chest, like The Rock would do from the third cable in a wrestling ring. Puuuuuuuuhhhlease! Stupid moves like this happen all the time in this movie. Also, the vampires are so dumb. One of the first scene where we are introduced to the vampire who'll recruit Blade, they have these kind of power armor or something that protects them from UV lights. Later on, they go for a special mission in the sewer in day light, and these f***king morrons don't even bring they UV suits!! (light kinda gets in small doses in the sewer. Plus they have some sort of UV bomb, so the suit would come handy) Come on!!! I guess they didn't have so the writers could add a little more action. Bad bad bad bad bad!!! It's pretty much like the use of sun screen to protect a vampires from the sun in the first movie. So why didn't they at least apply some when they went in the sewer. ******* SPOILER FINISHED *******
This movie has no head and no tail.
It's totally a disgrace to vampire movies, and a disgrace to action movies. It's just dumb, and not entertaining dumb, no sir. Just plain Dumb.
I spoke with Gene Colan 2 weeks ago, and asked
him about the movies. He has not gotten a dime
from either one. He said that he "let it go", but
that Marv Wolfman had been trying (unsuccessfully)
to sue for royalties. Gene has a website where
some of his original art is available for sale.
Gene and Marv are also credited at the end of
Blade II, as original creators.
I went not expecting any plot / character development / continuity and wasn't disappointed.
Yeah, there were huge gaps.
Couple of things I wondered about...
Weren't all the clans leaders dragged out to that vampire church in the last movie and their blood drained into the Mr. Frost who then became the Blood God? Apparently someone doesn't open their mail, or slept in after dusk on accident...
Was it just me or as soon as you saw that huge pool of blood you thought: "Yup, blades gonna fall into that and they'll have a blade rising out of the blood ready to whoop some ass scene"
If vampirism is a viral infection, how can you have a pure blood vampire?
Just thoughts. Though the weapons were whoop-ass. Too bad blade didn't have those flash bang grenades in the last movie, they could have cut about 25 minutes off the first movie.
Just thoughts.
Yes Francis, the world has gone crazy.
I watched the Star Wars Episode 2 trailer, and quite frankly, I wasn't impressed. They have a LONG way to go to de-evolve that galaxy from the technologically-prevelant egotistical society that exists there now. I was discussing this in class with one of my friends, and we agreed that the original Star Wars episodes were superb, and the others that Lucas is now building are just to cash in on the Star Wars HYPE and due to that, they suck. Plain words, but they suck. Was Episode One cool? Absolutely. Should Jar Jar have been among the fishy guys that died? ABSOLUTELY! I recognize the fact that Lucas wanted to play with the CG, but building an entire race out of it? Come on now. Call me a purist, but I like characters that really could exist. How do you even define that race of Jar Jar's? Frogs? Amphibians? I mean the lobster admiral in the original 3 was really cool, and he took me for a mind trip the first time I saw him.
Back to Blade II. For those who don't know, this was an ACTION movie. I personally think that the author of this review (not tutal but the root review here) would rather go watch some touchy-feely girly-girl movie that has a developed plotline and a romance and artistic development and etc. etc. etc. That was not the point of Blade, and was definitely not the point of Blade II. This was a movie about the Daywalker kicking the crap out of a bunch of suckheads, and they just happened to add a new breed of GENETICALLY ENGINEERED vampires to the mix to attempt to liven it up a little, and not bore the audience. I thought the new vamps were really cool, and personally, I wouldn't want to run into them in a dark alley myself. And I thought that there was more then enough information given to the audience about the new species, and while the Whistler bit was a tad far-fetched, and I thought Skud was a fu*khead, all of the elements worked together, and came out to form an excellent ACTION movie.
Did I like the movie? H3lls yes! Am I going to buy the DVD as soon as it hits the shelves? ABSOLUTELY! Do I already have Blade on DVD? Of course! Am I tired of people writing reviews about movies and expecting the kind of plotline development you end up with a weekly television series to be crammed into a 2 hour movie? EVEN MORE THEN I LIKED BLADE II! C'mon folks, get real. If you want plot development, set your VCR or computer to record one of those daytime soap operas every day for a couple of weeks and get some popcorn and watch that crap. If you want to go see a movie that parts of the script had to be removed so that another 3-hour Titanic-waste-of-time wasn't created, go to the movie theater.
Big Erik
My opinions, my post.
-------- -Shdowwar And you thought that life was easy.
The review here was poorly done. The virus wasn't "script borne." The movie explains that the virus was injected during the bite. The fight scenes were obfuscated by loose clothing and stroboscopic effects. Don't expect to see experienced fight choreography of the same order of the matrix or Jackie Chan. It's a little under it. A bit fewer wrestling moves would really help raise the quality. Blade needs to see a chiropracter. He just can't stop crikking his neck. This is a gag that is dead, stop beating it. The whole thing was over the top. The original blade was understated compared to this. rating (***) of five. -V
Let me preface this by saying my wife and I watched Blade the next evening for therapy. So
these comparisons are pretty fresh in my mind.
The review does get some things wrong - the virus is transmitted by the bites, of course - they're vampires. It's not clear from the first movie that Blade does have the virus. It's clear that his DNA was changed by his exposure to the virus, and that a retrovirus treatment will cure him, but not that he's infected.
The "Vampire Nation" is also clearly a construct from the first movie, not something made up to attract 13 year-olds. It's a parallel government that rules the Vampires.
Wesley Snipes was not at all energetic - he really wasn't into the role, and the CG fight-scenes were terrible. Yeah, they might be good compared to Playstation, but not that much better. The fighting characters were all skinny and rubbery, they didn't bend naturally.
But the bigger problem is the direction. Watching the original again, the cinematography is simply brilliant. Be it the framing of the hands under the strobes in the bloodbath club or when the camera is chasing the Blademobile through the city, and pans off to a Vamp having a snack on the corner, Blade *looks* like a comic book, perhaps the finest adaptation I've seen. And the way the music is tied to the action, the editing was brilliant. When my wife and I were watching it the other night, there's the scene where Blade has been drained of his blood, then he takes some from the lovely costar, and goes to rejoin the fray. He comes flying down the temple shaft, and lands in his very cool one-hand-down pose. Frost's henchman gets attitude, starts at Blade, saying, "Man, I'm gonna fuck you up this time." Blade nearly effortlessly cleaves him in half, the vamp disintegrates, leaving only Blade's stolen shades to come flying through the air back to him. Just then, the music starts to come up, but it's just a driving bass beat; the camera comes in on Blade, he puts on his sunglasses, and they hold the shot for longer than you'd expect. I never really noticed how long the shot was but I looked over at my wife and she was staring at the screen, bobbing back and forth with the beat. I know if I could look in her mind she was saying, "Oh, he's gonna kick some ass, Oh, he's gonna kick some ass." It was a really clever sort of suspense they were building, reinforced by the music. Of course, just then, the rest of the techno track comes on and he proceeds to moidelate scores of vampires. Well, there's none of that in the second movie. They have techno music, but it's a soundtrack, not an integral part of the work.
The first movie was a comic book brilliantly translated to the screen. The second one looks like Quake translated to the screen. They even used yellow lens filters when the scenes were boring.
To add insult to injury, Blade 2 was mostly ideas and scenes from Blade cut and paste all over the place, painted with the "genetic engineering is bad" brush. When they did the scenes in Blade they were fun and original. When they did them in Blade 2 they weren't.
In Blade, the story starts in a slaughterhouse, where they're storing humans for food. They later mention there's a bloodbank in every city that's run by vamps. In Blade 2, the story starts in a boodbank that's run by vamps.
In Blade, there's a scene in a vampire nightclub, which introduces to the vampire culture and with the bloodbath and the treatment of the human provides us with literary justification for what Blade's about to do. It's a techno club and Blade's fight is choreographed with the music.
In Blade 2, there's a much larger club scene, but it has no significance, except to make the radio headsets hard for their users to understand.
In Blade, when Blade is captured by the vampires, they drain his blood and are about to win because he's weakened. He gets some fresh blood from his lovely costar and saves the day. In Blade 2, when Blade is captured by the vampires, they drain his blood and are about to win because he's weakened. He gets some fresh blood from a giant pool of blood they have there for some reason. Just in case anyone was wondering, blood goes bad very quickly. That pool of blood probably costs several thousand dollars per hour to maintain.
In Blade, Blade can spot a familiar a mile away. In Blade 2, he has a familiar infiltrate his organization. He claims to have known all along, In Blade, we learn familiars are marked by their masters so that if another vamp tries to drain him they know who they'll have to answer to. That's why they're marked on the back of the neck. In Blade 2, familiars are marked on their hands, on the inside of their lips, etc., apparently so the coroner can find it.
In Blade, when Dragoneddi(sp?) is exposed to the sun, he falls apart in pain, then explodes like someone put a stick of dynamite where the moon don't shine. In Blade 2, when Blade's not-quite-love-interest is exposed to the sun, she blissfully melts away.
The inconsistencies go on. It's not that they make the movie unenjoyable, rather they're symptomatic of the mediocre plat and general lack of creative effort that went into this film. The first movie was a triumph, this one is a Hollywood formula piece.
And Whistler was annoying, for heaven's sake. That took some serious work.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Maybe they're fans of Lucasarts adventure games ;)
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.
I found the movie entertaining, mostly for the fight scenes. The special effects were okay, but not original. The Reapers were obviously influenced by the movies "Predator" and "Alien". If you've seen Blade II you will know what I mean. :-)
Magius_AR
Rat-a-tat-tat, yo!
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken.
Jeez... if the producers obviously ignored several aspects of a film, there must have been a reason for that. They weren't important. Many good artists ignore or deliberatly avoid certain aspects of their art, in order to emphasise or put work into other areas. Obviously, the director doesn't want you to judge him on this point.
The strong points of the movie are:
Special effetcts. (They kick ass.) This takes art and skill. Fight scenes and vampires were really well done.
Ambience: This movie creates a feel like no other movie. That in itself is an achievement. I didn't like any of the batman movies, but I so thouroughly enjoyed the architecture and art in the movie. The interior design and the dark eye candy of the movie was extremely well done, on par with Lord of the Rings, but in a dark, evil,
industrial sort of way. The attention to detail, like the cool weapons, outfits and sets was out of this world.
The plot: It all depends what you are expecting... It's fast paced, it's fun, it's full of twists and turns, and a few overturned cliches. The plot went on like a fast-paced RPG session where everyone is just having a great time and not nit-picking every scene. For this reason, I liked it. Good entertainment. Definately not shakespeare or a technically accurate vampire documetary, but then again, I didn't expect it to be. Apparently the reviewer expected these things... so of course he didn't really like it. Compared to movies like "Ghosts of Mars", this action movie's plot kicked total ass. It's an action movie.
So yea... I loved the movie, and this was why.
Bork!
Was a sequel to BLADE.
I agree with you, that in the context of the origial, it was very good. Blade sees his vampire part in a slightly different light, because of that vampire chick who had the hot ass. Character development.
There was a bit of discontinuity between the original and the sequel, but that's easy to dismiss with a bit of suspension of disbelief. Blade's partner shot himself but Blade didn't see. Or did a vampire sneak out of the shadows, take the gun away, and just shoot it in the air? The area WAS crawling with vampires after all.
Blade suddenly being rich... he DID kick the ass of some seriously rich vampires in the previous movie. We can only assume that his scrounging really paid off. Not a far-off assumption, all things considered.
This was just an example. There were a few other similar scenes.
FORGET THAT. Get to the ass-whoopin' already.
Blade 2 fixed that. Less plot. Less dialogs. A couple good lines ("You ... do not ... KNOW ... who you ARE ... MESSING WITH !@(#") ("..OOOoooohh"). And more action. This was the whole reason why i went to see the movie. I wanted to see Snipes kick ass.
Oh yeah and also they introduced a hot vampire chick. Dark, mysterious, tight-fitted outfit, just like Trinity in the Matrix. mm-mmMM. Add some subtle erotism with blood-sucking action between Blade and Nisa. Most definetly gratifying. The first movie had no good lookin' chick whatsoever.
What I did like about the story, was Blade getting in closer touch with his vampire-side, partly thru unspoken romance/understanding with the vampire chick. I found this to be far more effective to show conflicts within Blade, than long-strung dialogs from the first movie. Blade is a man of action. not words. Whose ass he kicks and the manner in which he does it defines his relationship or attachment to other characters.
Anyway. I'm a happy camper. Go Blade :)
Extraordinary Vacations. Exceptional Prices
Plus, let's not forget that this movie (and the first) were also based on a very good comic book (one of the last good ones Marvel had, IMHO, some ten years ago) as well as some funky 70s ones... So let's cut it some slack and see how true it comes to the original books.
First of all, as far is I can recall Whistler was a vampire in the original book (at least, if he wasn't, there was some other dude helping Blade out who was). Second of all, there was something like the BloodPack in the original series (there were even other things like the "Midnight Sons" and the "League of Darkness" and stuff like that).
I guess what I'm trying to say is, the most important thing (IMHO) is to be true to the comic book that spawned it (like Batman Forever, but not like Batman Returns). If the movie-maker can do that, who cares what some dork who never read the comic and never cared about it before thinks.
The story was weaker than the original Blade, the fight scenes were poorly coreographed and shot, the use of CG in the fight scenes was so glaringly obvious that it was jarring and painful to see. I mean, c'mon, we get some decent moves from Snipes and others only to have a CG move thrown in where the character looks too think, moves at 1.5-2x the speed of the rest of the fight and pathetic pathing to boot! Also the fights were shot poorly. I know Snipes practices martial arts. He can hold his own in a coreographed fight. So pull back and let the audience see what is going on instead of having poor in close or back shots. On top of all that can anyone take any fight scene which tries to seriously incorporate moves from the WWF? We get a full suplex from Blade, Nomak doing an elbow drop from the "corner of the ring" and other such cliche'd moves. Don't even get me started on the pathetic attempt on a bait 'n switch on who was the snitch. Came out of the blue, they set up what could be an interesting situation, then close that loop of 2 minutes later! They could have left it out and changed absolutely nothing. Of course it should have been expected when they wiped away the events of the first movie as an inconvenience.
The only good parts of the movie, really, are the interactions between Whistler (Kris Kristoffersen) and Reinhardt (Ron Perlman). In fact I was delighed to see Ron Perlman get a prominant role after he was pidgeon-holed as the Beast.
Is it worth seeing? Only if you're a huge fan of the comic or the first movie. Is it worth seeing again? No. Is it close to the original at all? Not at all. Hopefully the mistakes this movie has will be learned from.
A lot of people have been comparing this to Resident Evil because of the similar target audience and the fact they were released a week apart. I saw Resident Evil two days before seeing Blade II. So here's my pocket review. Resident Evil had a stronger plot, stronger story, stronger direction, was scarier, far more entertaining and the action sequences were well done and well shot. Of the two I'd tell people to see Resident Evil in the theater as they'd miss something not seeing it in a crowd of people.
-- Grey d'Miyu, not just another pretty color.
Better link.
Funny, that's how I'd act towards rednecks if I were just as stupid as you.
First if you expect a really coherent and sensible plot from a comic book based movie, go watch the first Micheal Keaton Batman movie or Superman 2. Those are the only ones yet that really ahd one at least as far as I'm concerned. Second: did you even watch the movie or the first one? Blade became what he is because his mother was bitten WHILE she was pregnant with him! He got the vampire "virus" at the genetic level and thus is a dunpeal, half man half vampire. IT's also not out of hte question that Blade hauled his gear and sidekick across the ocean. Blade also began getting his weapons in abundance after he joined the vampire nation to hunt the Reapers. Whistler's return...ah nothing like comic book resurrections. While I'm glad he was back, he should have been left dead. Overall if you want to see a good action flick go see Blade 2. If you are expecting a solid plot, go watch somethign else. As to the UV bombs that bend light when they explode....well that's sci-fi for you, anything goes in sci-fi!
The opening club sequence from the first movie was far more artistic and gory than the safe house club sequence. In the first movie you don't know what's going on and all of a sudden blood start spraying from the sprinklers, the vampire start going nuts, and then Blade shows up. In that opening sequence alone he killed more people than in all of Blade II. That scene rocked, and will always rock. The safe house was a good plot development, but it didn't rock.
-no broken link
I think Alot about this movie seemed...oh i dunno rushed ? However I dont think the story was that bad i mean sure there were a whole hell of a lot of corny names ( skud ) but other than that i dont think it was so horrible.
~ I can smell the color Blue...
Interesting to note is the concept art and storyboarding for Blade II, some of which is available at the Blade 2 website. A lot of work was done by Mike Mignola (best known for his Hellboy comics, but also one of the big concept artists behind Disney's animated Atlantis), some creature design was done by Wayne Barlow, and characters such as Reinhart and Lighthammer were done by Tim Bradstreet.
Blade II had a lot of very interested potential that, unfortunately, wasn't realized (in favor of some way-over-the-top computer-enhanced fight scenes). Sad to see this concept work go to waste - I'd almost be interested in an "Art Of" book, based on some of the sketchs and artwork available on the website.
-- Niherlas
Peter tries to have at least a cameo in each of his movies. He had a cameo in Brain Dead, as the coroner's assistant, and was one of the people in the Prancing Pony in FotR.
Yes, Bad Taste was pretty awesome (sheep + rocket launcher should have won an Oscar) but by sheer body count I think Brain dead has it beat IMHO. Been a while since I've seen both of them so I could be mistaken.
Unfortunately here in the states its hard to find a completely uncut version. The DVD they released is closer than previous versions, but is still shorter by 3 minutes than the complete version.