THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Blade was the first Marvel Comics adaptation to get on Hollywood’s radar for the right reasons and once other studios got involved in adapting other characters, New Line Cinema chose to remind audiences who redefined the superhero trend with a bonkers sequel.
PLOT
Blade II follows the daywalker Eric Brooks who has been searching for his mentor Abraham Whistler all over Prague, who has been abducted and turned by other vampires after being presumed dead. He is able to find and cure him of his vampirism, later helping hom settle in to his hideout accompanied by a young technician named Scud. In the midst of this, a pandemic is occurring between vampires that are becoming mutated Reapers which are more infectious. The strain has been caused by Jared Nomak who despises vampires as a whole. Blade is reached out to by vampire overlord Eli Damaskinos to seek a truce in order to defeat all Reapers, knowing they’ll go after humans next. Besides the assistance of his daughter Nysa and his servant Asad, Eli’s group of Bloodwalkers that join the daywalker include: Reinhardt, Chupa (Matt Schulze), Snowman (Donnie Yen), Priest (Tony Curran), Verlaine (Marit Velle Kile) and Lighthammer (Daz Crawford). When Reinhardt openly challenges Blade, the protagonist responds by attaching an explosive on him to keep him in line. When investigating a vampire nightclub, they discover the most severe weakness for the Reapers are UV exposure. Normal tries recruiting Blade to join his cause, but he refuses which leads to an intense fight that the daywalker can’t defeat due to being immune to his weapons and doesn’t retreat until sunlight emerges. When the Bloodwalkers eliminate a few Reapers, Priest gets infected and goes through a mercy kill via sunlight to avoid spreading it. Lighthammer gets bit as well, but doesn’t tell the group about it. With Whistler being part of the group as well, he is able to find the Reaper nest to be in the sewers, inspiring him and Scud to make UV based weapons. As they enter the nest by dawn, Lighthammer’s infection takes over and causes him to kill Snowman. Verlaine sacrifices herself by exposing him & herself to sunlight. When Chupa provokes Whistler, he releases pheromones that lures a Reaper horde to devour him. Asad gets killed in an ambush, but Blade is able to save Nyssa by detonating a UV bomb that kills every Reaper except Nomak. However, Nyssa is injured and has to drink Blade’s blood to recover. Once she does though, Eli’s forces appear and capture the remaining group. He reveals that not only is Nomak his son, but Scud has been a familiar. Eli wants to harvest Blade’s blood to start a new vampire breed that’ll be immune to sunlight like him. Before that even happens, Whistler breaks free from restraints and then frees Blade to face the enemy. He is able to easily defeat Reinhardt in a duel, while also killing Scud with the same explosive. Knowing how careless her father is, Nyssa seals off Eli’s escape route which results in Nomak killing him. He then infects her before Blade stabs through his encased heart. The daywalker then mercy kills Nyssa via sunlight exposure. The film ends with the protagonist continuing his hunting days by pursuing one that escaped him named Rush (Santiago Segura).
THOUGHTS
Hollywood loves making sequels off of whatever makes an unexpected profit which I don’t blame because you’d be crazy to not make a franchise out of a vampire protagonist after its first initial success. This is no exception when it comes to talking about the sequels that exceed expectations. Guillermo Del Toro helms the director’s chair and excelled everything that made the first one work. The visual effects done to express vampires’ agility, as well as their graphic disintegration, is aging well. The production design on each area of Eli’s lair is surreal you’d think you can bump into something like that. The biggest improvement for me has to be the makeup done for the Reapers. These things were hella creepy. Seeing a being that opens its mandible in two to feast on its prey was a haunting thing to see and felt one of a kind throughout. With all the gothic elements that make this sub genre work, I think what this does most better on showing you gotta break through the norm in order to succeed in your goals. Wesley Snipes’ return as the daywalker does a great job embracing this as he has to do the unusual in teaming up with other vampires, that were trained to hunt him, in order to wipe out the Reapers. It was far from his first choice, but he goes with the flow for the greater good and despite the casualties, it was worth it. Even though he is relentless on the job, he still has a heart he proves to have when giving Whistler a fighting chance and respecting Nyssa’s dying wish. And it is moments like that where you can’t help respecting him. Retconning Whistler’s death was a strange choice in my eyes, but I didn’t mind Kris Kristofferson coming back. He's not exactly in the state of mind where he can share much needed wisdom like before, yet he proves his worth when having Blade's back the way he did for him and that's enough for me. As we get deeper into Marvel's vampire mythos, you know things are gonna be more distinctive characters. Norman Reedus may make a coward out of the familiar Scud and Ron Perlman made Reinhardt accurately too arrogant for his own good, but they're nowhere near to the root of the problem. Thomas Krestchmann was definitely a two faced figure as Eli who he used Blade to clean up a mess he created and made a big mistake in not waiting until after his son was dealt with to make his own breed of daywalkers. Had he thought ahead, he would've gotten what he wanted. You definitely feel bad for Nyssa because Leonor Varela showed her to be one who actually grew up humble in her background and valued the life she gained. Once she saw her dad show his disregard, she just wanted to be put of misery rather than live on disappointed, which is what made her death saddening. Even Asad got the short end of the stick since Danny John-Jules presented the guy as loyal as Nyssa was who definitely didn't seem to know what his master was up to before he died as well Although Eli was the reason the Reapers were made, there's no doubt that Nomak was the most formidable. Luke Goss showed him to be most ashamed of what he became and with his dad neglecting him, he wanted the world to feel his pain. Luckily, Blade stops him from getting any close to succeeding. This may have not been the end of vampires as we know it, but it doesn't mean there won't be people who'll do something about it. And as long as Blade is around, order would always be in place. This movie is hella dope, but great stuff like this have their own moments that don’t age well. For instance, why does the blood donor place ask Nomak important health questions only by arrival? They could’ve had this convo on the phone. And how was Blade torturing Rush with a motorcycle when his arm ain’t even close enough to rev the motorcycle’s engine? If he’s got something to hack it, it would’ve been cool to see that. Personally, I think Whistler should’ve told the group where he was going before he made a move. I know he’s not gonna be a traitor, but it wouldn’t hurt if he wants to be on the same page with the Bloodwalkers. And I know I’m not the only one who thought it was dumb for Lighthammer to not tell anyone he got dumb. It even feels dumber when realizing Verlaine didn’t freaking see the blood on his shoulder where he got bit. It was also dumb for Eli’s lawyer to tell Blade the plan of what to do with his blood when he was basically unconscious at that point. He could’ve told him beforehand if he wants to make him feel helpless. Lastly, Eli should’ve closed up his pool of blood to prevent Blade from recovering even if they think he ain’t gonna escape. There’s nothing wrong with being precautious even if you are a villain. This also has me thinking Blade could’ve used the pool for Nyssa if he wanted to save her. I mean that’s a missed opportunity on saving a valuable ally. Ignore this, then you’ll still love this movie as much as I did. In short, Blade II holds up as a bonkers superhero films for topping all the action and insanity that defined it the first time around, setting the standard on how epic sequels should be for the genre. If the first film got you interested in Marvel as a whole, see this now.
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