BladeII

Blade II (2002)

When a new strain of vampires that feed on other vampires show up, the Vampire Nation turns to it's most hated enemy, Blade, for help. Blade agrees to help them since the new strain of vampires is likely to turn on humans after they turn all the old vamps into the upgraded version. Blade, the newly rescued Whistler (who had been kidnapped and kept in stasis by the vampires after the first movie) and Scud (a new techie that Blade picked up while Whistler was gone) all head out to the Vampire Nations headquarters with Nyssa and Asad, the emissaries sent by the Vampire Nation to deliver the treaty offer. Once there they meet up with members of The Blood Pack, a group of highly trained vampires that was put together for the purpose of hunting down and killing Blade, but who's new mission is now to work with Blade in eliminating the threat of the new strain of vampires. The Blood Pack includes an assortment of bad asses including Reinhardt (Ron Perlman! Wooo!), Snowman (sword master vampire), Lighthammer (vampire with big friggin' hammer), Verlaine (Lighthammer's groupie vampire), Priest (Doomed to die first vampire) and Chupa (Vampire with big gun). After a bit of posturing and working out a pecking order (during which Reinhard gets an explosive device embedded in his skull by Blade) they all head out for their first mission. They head to a secret vampire club, which is promptly attacked by the new strain vampires. During the fight they find out the new strain vampires are impervious to silver, stronger and tougher than the old vamps, but are even more sensitive to sunlight, exploding into blue flaming bits whenever they come into contact with it. The Blood Pack looses one of it's members during this fight (Guess who) and there is a neat little scene where they cut off part of his head then blow up the body with sunlight, the piece of his head that was cut off still has an eyeball in it that's looking around. After the club scene they find out more about the new strain of vamps and continue to try to hunt down and destroy them. Another big mission follows, more of the Blood Pack meet bad ends, Nyssa and Blade get closer and some nasty secrets about the Vampire Nation's involvement in the creation of the new strain of vampires is revealed. Eventually Blade is pitted against both the Vampire Nations forces and the new strain of vampires.

This is another good Blade movie. It still relies heavily on CGI effects and some of the practical ones weren't so good this time around, but for the most part the effects are good. Lots of great fight scenes. Blade still has little personality, but the members of the Bloodpack and other side characters make up for it. The storyline is fun and new and all comes together nicely.

I'd recommend watching this flick. There's a lot happening in it and it's one of the better vampire movies around. If you liked the first Blade movie you'll like this one just as much.

3 out of 4

reviewed by Scott Schwarzwalder