- Title: Blade II
- IMDb: link
Throwback Tuesday take us back to the only Blade movie worth a damn, and, not uncoincidentally, the only one of the trilogy directed by Guillermo del Toro. It’s also the only one that finds a way to make vampires, in this case “Reapers,” legitimately creepy. Blade II isn’t a great film by any means, but it is unquestionably the high-water mark of the franchise.
While playing a bit fast and loose with events of the first film allowing them to bring back Whistler (Kris Kristofferson) in its opening scenes, we also get a montage breaking down the entire first film in a manner of minutes allowing new viewers to ignore it completely, the film quickly moves to the main story involving Blade (Wesley Snipes) teaming up with vampires to take out a new breed of vampire (Luke Goss) who threatens to destroy the delicate balance by turning other vampires in blood-thirsty Reapers at an alarming rate.
The new characters of note are Blade’s tech Scud (Norman Reedus) whose betrayal everyone should see coming and the vampire Bloodpack (originally formed to hunt Blade) led by Nyssa Damaskinos (Leonor Varela) and whose other most notable member Dieter is played by Ron Perlman chewing up scenery in full asshole mode. The rest are mostly just fodder for the Reapers. The uneasy alliance, and potential betrayal, plays a role in the plot while both the Reapers and Nyssa’s father (Thomas Kretschmann) are larger threats which Blade will eventually have to deal with.
Everything here is a step up from the first film which, given his absence in the less original and the dreadful sequel, we can attribute mostly to del Toro. The film looks great without characters needing preen for the camera (something we see all too much of in Blade: Trinity). Nomak (Luke Goss) and his legion of Reapers are a legitimate threat forcing Blade to work with vampires to exterminate them. The design of the Reapers, and the style del Toro brings to all aspects of the movie, infinitely helps sell the world better than the first film. And the later reveal to the evolved vampire’s origins leads to hard choices for Nyssa, the fall of a vampire family, and a meloncholy ending that hits just the right notes.
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