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Blade II
***
Cinema Releases - March 29, 2002
Rated on a 4-star scale. Certificate 18. 128
minutes. Directed by Guillermo del Toro. Written by David S. Goyer; based
on characters created by Gene Colan, Marc Wolfman. Starring Wesley Snipes,
Kris Kristofferson, Norman Reedus, Leonor Varela, Ron Perlman, Luke
Goss.
I love it when this happens. "Blade
II" is one of those rare sequels that actually surpass their
predecessors. The original had a great opening and nice touches here and
there, but it wasn't as good as the cultists would lead you to believe, and
it went on a bit too long. This one could do with losing ten or fifteen minutes
itself, but no matter -- even when it drags, we are still forced to reflect
that its visual imagination is breathtaking.
Wesley Snipes returns as Blade, the comic-book
superhero born half-human, half-vampire, who possesses all the strengths
of the undead and (almost) none of their weaknesses. You will remember from
the first movie that Blade is the worst enemy of the vampire race, as he
has dedicated his life to killing it off. In this instalment, however, vampires
and Blade call a temporary truce to defeat a common enemy -- a mutant species
known as 'Reapers' whose creatures are extra-strong, require lots of food
and will feed on humans, vampires and anything else with
blood.
The Reapers are startling creations, with the
gruesome disfigurement and paleness of Max Shreck's Nosferatu, and added
levels of agility and animation that bring home their threat all the more.
"Blade II" does an excellent job of getting under our skin -- it features
gothic darkness, grandly menacing dungeons, tunnels and lairs, and, of course,
masses of blood. The action scenes have technical perfection and balletic
rhythm, mixing the energy and rhythm of Asian martial arts pictures with
Hollywood slickness.
There are some plot inconsistencies -- no hard
and fast rules are offered as to how much sunlight is needed to hurt vampires,
and in a couple of scenes we see one of them die while others in the same
room stand around unharmed. Sunlight only seems to have any kind of effect
when the screenplay finds it convenient. But I'm missing the point. "Blade
II" is aesthetically alive and tremendously exciting. The dialogue is good
too, with Snipes, Kris Kristofferson and Ron Perlman chewing at it with such
toughness that when comic one-liners are needed, all the actors need to do
is push things slightly too far in the direction they've already been moving.
Not many movies could get away with a line as crude as, "Hey, shitkicker,
you're about a cunthair away from hillbilly heaven!", but this one
does.
COPYRIGHT©
2002 Ian Waldron-Mantgani
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