Blade II

Review by Clint Morris

I was never a fan of the first Blade. I felt it was too much gunk and not enough spunk - despite how great the sets and special effects were.

Thankfully, things have improved with Blade II - there's less exposition and more action, but at the same time all that grotesque nonsense which made the first film a little less appealing are still remotely evident.

Blade II picks up a few years after the events of the first one, with our hero in Prague, searching for his old friend Whistler (Kristofferson), who we discover didn't actually die in the first film like we thought, but lives on - possibly as a vampire - but held captive.

After rescuing Whistler, Blade is recruited by the ruler of the vampire world to put aside their running battle and join forces to wipe out a new class of bloodsuckers.

The new threat, a race called the "Reapers", attack vampires as well as humans and threaten to overrun the planet. Blade, Whistler and new whiz-kid tag-on, Skud (Reedus) joins the commando-like group to take on the Reapers, armed with every imaginable weapon possible.

Predictably, not everyone's who he or she seem to be, and even more predictably some of the gang aren't going to walk out from the battle with every limb in tact.

Blade II is much more action packed than the original. It's either due to it's faster plotting or the addition of several interesting new characters. Luke Goss (yep, the drummer of 80's band Bros) is a revelation as the frightening Nomak, Ron Perlman - playing a similar role to the one he played in Alien Resurrection - is the cocky slime ball, Reinhardt, and Norman Reedus (Gossip) is the versatile whiz-kid apprentice, Skud.

There's still plenty of blood, plenty of guts and plenty of slicing and dicing to be found in this latest instalment. Fortunately - and I can't say this for the original - the lourdes of action, stunts and super-FX make up for the film's spots of bluntness.

Those who are a little squeamish even when attending the blood bank should skip this for the latest Sandra Bullock flick. Those who enjoyed the first film will find Blade II is their ultimate sequel - faster, funky and funnier. It's definitely a cut above the expected.

3 out of 5

Blade II
Australian release: Thursday July 11th
Cast: Wesley Snipes, Kris Kristofferson, Luke Goss, Tcheky Karyo, Daz Crawford, Ron Perlman, Norman Reedus.
Director: Guillermo Del Toro.
Website: Click here

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