Blade II-Bloody Good for a $50-$60 Million Dollar Budget
Blade begins with our vampire slaying hero looking for his mentor Whistler, who is missing. The originality of the first film is still alive and well in the second film as there is a virus sweeping through the vampires and transforming them into even more fearsome creatures. Blade is forced to team up with elements from the vampire world in order to hunt down the source of the outbreak. Why is this outbreak such a big deal, the Reapers, as these new beast are known, feed on other vampires, now that is pretty original. Seriously, I am not being sarcastic.
The mutated vampires called Reapers, really steal the show as some exceptional visual effects are incorporated to give them rather horrible and horrifying physical capabilities which alone make the film worth watching. In terms of visual effects director del Toro really shows some superb talent in some of the wild and complex fight sequences that are among some of the best I have ever seen. Crazy virtual camera angles and shots that obviously took enormous time both to conceptualize and execute. These accomplishments are made all the more impressive by the roughly $50-$60 million dollar price tag. The film feels and looks much more expensive and del Toro deserves some appreciation for what he and his team has accomplished.
Once again the production values are top-notch for the budget, as every aspect of the production is solid and strong. With good set design, sound design, cinematography and visual and special effects, Blade should serve as a good example for similarity budgeted action/sci-fi and horror films of how to get the job done. Above all else, Blade II is a solid sequel to the original because it at times so very, very creepy.
Story A-
Acting B
Visuals A
Originality/Innovation A- (Definitely original, but I couldn’t help but feel that there were more veins–to the Reapers that could have been explored.)
Enjoyability Grade B+
Home Theater/HD Factor A- (This is a fun one to potentially see in HD, but only if you are not squeamish. The entire Blade trilogy will be fun stuff in next-generation DVD.)
Overall Grade A- (A nice follow-up to the strong original.)
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