NEW REVIEWS!!! ........................................ The Butterfly Effect The Cooler Ella Enchanted Eternal Sunshine Hellboy Mean Girls 13 Going on 30 Used Cars The Whole Ten Yards

by pat

Blade was a surprise hit which got a sequel fairly quick (okay, a few years), and decided to "up the ante" this go around. Seems every time that happens, the movie winds up being a dismal failure or a poor parody of the original, and then we get a third chapter which "goes back to its roots" and sucks even harder. It's just a pattern. Well this one breaks that pattern much like the first "Blade" broke the pattern of movies based on Marvel comics sucking hardcore. The rare sequel better than the original, this one takes the original, smacks it around, puts it in an embarrassing outfit, like a sundress, and leaves it in a bad part of town late at night. This is everything the first one hinted at being, only with the benefit of not being a risk to the studio and getting free reign. No film is for everyone, and there was an older couple next to me complaining about how stupid it was, but they don't exactly fall into the "Blade" demographic, and even with their loudly discussed opinions, they laughed, clapped, and said "Wow" more than I'm sure they'd admit to their bridge club. Also, the guy used to review locally, and we've disagreed since "Monster Squad," where I learned of his distaste for genre films. But I digress.

The plot picks up the plot from the first film, a few years down the road. Blade is searching for Whistler, who we learn early on had not actually died in the first film, but been taken by vampires and held captive. They tie everything up quickly and easily enough, then get going on the new plot. Oh, the first twenty minutes or so are action packed mayhem as he finds Whistler and rescues him. While Blade has his signature blades, Whistler doesn't actually whistle, not even when motorcycles are flipping over, people are jumping off walls, and Blade jumps into it all from five floors up while spinning plates, blindfolded. I'd whistle, but Whistler doesn't. Maybe it's an ironic nickname, like Fatboy Slim. Whistler meets the kid who's been helping Blade in his absence and immediately doesn't like him, like I'll bet Karl Malden feels about Robert Stack after replacing him in both the American Express ads and as the host of "Unsolved Mysteries." Damn you, Stack!!!

The main story begins when two vampires break into Blade's hideout, fight him for a bit, then ask for his help, as is customary when approaching your arch-enemy for assistance. One of the vampires was the Cat from "Red Dwarf," which further confuses the continuity of that show, since his fangs were supposed to be from being an evolved cat, not a bloodsucker. Also, he never killed the only human on board the spaceship, and as far as I know didn't drink blood. The other vampire was a hot lady. She had an easier time convincing Blade to help, because vampire hunters usually aren't exactly pushing away the ladies with a stick, unless the stick is a wooden stake, which kills them, but still no action. They inform him that there's a new breed of vampire, faster, more deadly, so deadly it's deadly to vampires, which are undead, making them pretty deadly indeed. These new bloodsuckers, called The Ropers, have mouths that open up to look like a body part I haven't seen in some time, only with extra bits that KILL! These Ropers feed on the blood of vampires, infect the vampires and turn them into Ropers themselves, and don't know that Jack Tripper isn't really gay, just pretending so he can stay in the apartment.

Blade helps, because once the Ropers convert all of the vampires, they'll come after humans, and Blade has a soft spot for humans, because humans themselves are soft. A group of vampires that call themselves "The Blood Pack," because the name "Power Pack" brought up too many bad cancelled Marvel book memories, help Blade on his mission, despite having trained to kill Blade. The rest of the movie has twists, turns, and lots and lots of crazy cool violence and one liners. If seeing "Blade 2" is of any interest to you whatsoever, you're going to love it. If you look at the ads and say, "Nah, not my thing, I have no interest in action, horror, comedy, comics, sci-fi, pro wrestling, vampires, swordfights, kung fu, or anything like that," maybe you won't like it that much, but then, what do you like? How do you have fun? Do people ever talk to you? How? Maybe you should see this just to get out of the basement of the science building for two hours, you poor miserable bastitch.

STAKING WITH THE ENEMY

by jim

BLADE II is a mixture of cool special effects, non-stop action sequences and missed opportunities. Four years after the original, we find our half-vampire, half-human hero, Blade (Wesley Snipes), on the hunt for his lost partner, Whistler (Kris Kristofferson). It seems that Whistler, Blade's surrogate father and mentor, is being kept alive by the vampires that turned him at the end of the last film. Blade is under the assumption that Whistler is now leading the resurgent vampire cult, until he tracks him down and finds him, suspended in a vat of blood, Han Solo-like, and rescues him. With the original's loose ends neatly tied up, we can now move on to BLADE II...

This second installment of the BLADE franchise has a heavy STAR WARS feels to it, from Whistler's rescue to the Emperoresque vampire overlord. Even Blade's tech whiz Whistler replacement had a distinct Jar Jar Binks aura about him (although Scud, as played by Norman Reedus, is far more irritating). Blade and his compound are infiltrated by ninjas and they fight. You, by law, have to automatically like any movie that has vampires fighting ninjas. This ninjas aren't just here to fight, they have a message for Blade, an invitation to the big Vampire Headquarters! So, Blade and crew enter the corporate front of the Vampire Union and there learn about all sorts of genetic engineering and how their latest science fair project has gone awry. They accidentally created the ultimate crack addict of vamps, one who is feeding off of bloodsuckers and humans alike and is threatening to spread through the population like cancer. This new breed is impervious to silver and no one knows how to kill it. That's why they must enlist the supreme vampire hunter to help them. Blade joins forces with a unit of highly trained vamps, embarrassingly called "The Bloodpack", who were initially trained to kill him. Can the nightwalkers be trusted? Will the undead try to kill Blade? Of course they will. We know this as soon as we see Ron Perlman, with a skinhead haircut and a shitty attitude, as the deposed leader of The Bloodpack (hee hee, Bloodpack). So, the unlikely teammates venture off to find and destroy the new breed, The Reapers.

Wesley Snipes and Kris Kristofferson muddle through their roles with the same somberness and gritted teeth as they did initially. They don't strike any new ground and the characters remained a little one-dimensional, especially in light of the great mythos being built up around them. For the sequel, writer David S. Goyer, who wrote the original, continued to deepen a multi-layered world and society that doesn't merely play on the standard vampire traditions. He expounds on them and enhances them. It's shame however, that some of the coolest weapons and ideas we get are not utilized to their fullest potential, and therefore are a bit of a letdown in an otherwise very satisfying film. Goyer creates some really great characters, also, who are not fully explored and are knocked off, when they could easily have been kept around and enriched the inevitable BLADE III. Instead of taking advantage of these openings, the book is closed on them and BLADE III will have to start from scratch. For all the STAR WARS leanings BLADE II had, it could have taken one more valuable lesson from George Lucas. Keeping enticing loose ends is the way to successfully keep your series alive. It separates the episodic sequels from the cliffhanging sagas. No film series has ever been as profitable and beloved as Lucas's and it is because of that confidence and forward thinking. BLADE had the chance to, in a smaller way, duplicate that vision, but for some reason didn't have the balls to go for it.

Director Guillermo del Toro, who has lent his spooky vision to MIMIC and CRONOS, is like a Mexican Tim Burton, with his love of dark themes and distinct visual stylizing. He keeps the action quick, without sacrificing story (something his snail-paced CRONOS could have benefited from) and always gave you something to look at. The special effects, when done by traditional methods were top-notch throughout, well designed and strikingly original. The CGI's, though, were hit-and-miss. When we see digital renderings of Blade, or other actors, the action becomes laughable. Fortunately, this isn't attempted often and the good tend to outweigh the bad.

Despite the missed opportunities for creating a Lucasesque epic adventure, BLADE II is a damn fine sequel that, in many ways, surpasses it's original. I will await BLADE III (what the hell else do Snipes and Kristofferson have to do?) and hope that del Toro is once again enlisted as director. Maybe Goyer, if he too, returns, can find a way to write a story even more intriguing than a continuation of the Vampire Union family drama that was prevalent here. It will be tricky to avoid taking a step backwards or a ridiculous leap forward, but based on the quality of work in BLADE II, I believe it is possible.