BLADE II
by Police Officer Lance

Wesley Snipes returns in BLADE II, as The Marvel Comics Half Human/Half Vampire Superhero that he first brought to the big screen in 1997. This time around Blade has aligned himself with the very enemy he has sworn to destroy...Vampires.

The Vampire Nation , Headed by Damaskinos, has summoned Blade to help them exterminate a common problem. A new super breed of Vampire, The Reaper Strain, has evolved preying on humans and vampires a like. Blade joins forces with a commando unit of vampires called The Bloodpack. The Bloodpack has been training two years to kill Blade. Blade must not only find a way to destroy The Reaper Strain, but be aware of The Bloodpack too.

Kris Kristofferson returns to reprise his role as Whistler, Blade's mentor and weapons master. I think most people will be satisfied with Whistler's reintroduction to the storyline. Blade's newest partner is a reefer smoking, mechnical whiz named Scud (Norman Reedus), who also developes the cool weapons that Blade uses to dispatch the vampires.

Normally sequels are money-making vehicles with a lot of action scenes and zero story(ah la Batman and Robin). But Director Quillermo Del Toro( Cronos, Mimic) has crafted a good story with more dynamic action scenes and an excellent cast. Del Toro, with David, S Goyer's script, has created a more relaxed and less brooding Blade. Blade is still a badass, but he is becoming more comfortable with what he is. Blade is learning to enjoy his work and drinks blood on occasion. Blade seems to emit more feeling for people which gives his character some flexibilty , while still retaining the same ferocity from the first movie.

The Bloodpack has a colorful group of characters led by the beautiful Nyssa( Leonor Varela) and Reinhardt(Ron Perlman), Blade's antagonist throughout the film. Luke Goss( Lead Singer of BROS) plays Blade's chief nemesis, the gruesome reaper Nomak and Thomas Kretchmann( Das Boot, U571) plays the creepy Vampire Overlord Damaskinos.

I would also like to single out Actor/Fight Coordinator Donnie Yen, Donnie and Wesley put together some wonderful fight scenes that will blow you away. Donnie Yen is one of my all time favorite Martial Arts Hero's from Movies like IRON MONKEY AND ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA II, along with Jet Li, I am glad he is getting some recogination in Mainstream American Films.

.Rarely is a Sequel better then the original movie, but I believe BLADE II is an exception to this rule. Marvel Comics may have finally figured out how to make their Superhero's credible on the big screen. The Big Screen failure's of The PUNISHER, CAPTAIN AMERICA, and THE FANTASTIC FOUR( Which never came out) are probably over. The success of BLADE, X-MEN, probably SPIDERMAN, and now BLADE II. certainly gives creedence to the above viewpoint. But if anything else, BLADE II gives Marvel Comics the nod over D.C Comics on how to make a succesful comic book superhero transition to film. This movie ROCKS big time and I will have it on DVD, when it comes out.

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