Blade 2

 Blade 2 is a film which should have been watched much earlier in Reedus Season as the combination of a newly discovered actor and my all time favourite director, Guillermo del Toro, ought to have been given top priority but alas it was not to be.

PLOT:  Blade (Wesley Snipes) together with his team of Scud (Norman Reedus) and the newly humanised Whistler (Kris Kristofferson) join forces with the Bloodpack in order to defeat a new breed of super vampire which has the cheek to feed on both humans and vampires alike.  There is tension between the groups. There is betrayal.  There is the great Ron Perlman as Reinhardt.  There is the knowledge that Blade survives and goes on to star in the awful Blade Trinity.  END PLOT

I am not familiar with the Blade comics therefore I have no idea whether or not Blade 2 follows them accurately or at all.  Blade 2 joins the long list of films based on literature that I have no inclination of ever reading and gets reviewed based on its merits as a film.

The plot was strong and delves into Blades own particular brand of vampire lore very well.  As a general rule vampires are not my genre and I am thankful that Blade 2 refrains from turning them into the high definition whining sex objects such a True Blood or *spit* *spit* Twilight.

I have never been a huge fan of Wesley Snipes but he stars in one of my guilty pleasures - Demolition Man.  As Blade he thankfully is required to do nothing more than utter the odd monosyllabic phrase in between swinging his sword at whosoever he chooses.  The character of Blade is one of the least interesting title characters I can think of but luckily Blade 2 has a ridiculously strong supporting cast.

It is hard to believe that in a career filled with cult classics, indie films and cameos Blade 2 is probably one of the most mainstream films of Norman Reedus’ career.  There is nice story that Guillermo del Toro rang Norman Reedus and offered him the part of Scud as he was fed up with him staring in indie films “that nobody ever fuckin' sees”.  One can only hope that del Toro will pick up the phone more often. 

The scenes between Kris Kristofferson and Norman Reedus are some of the best in the film as we get to see their relationship grow from mistrust to bonding in a relatively short space of time.

Not enough male to male bonding makes me very sad :-(

Ron Perlman, a family favourite and affectingly known as Big Ron by all members of the Bamber household, steals the show as Reinhardt without ever taking off his sunglasses.  It is easy to see why he is one of del Toro’s preferred actors as the man just commands your attention whenever he is on screen. 

You know you live in a special household whenever Ron Perlman is the family favourite.

My love of all things touched by Guillermo del Toro is well known to my friends and Blade 2 has all the earmarks of a traditional del Toro film.

Blade 2 was filmed in Prague and del Toro makes great use of its old Gothic buildings and churches which are themes which pop up regularly in his films.  The section which takes place in the House of Pain is visually stunning.

The film is very drained of colour with black, white and chrome being the main colour scheme which makes the blood really stand out.  There is a lot of blood yet the film never appears overly gruesome. 

The effects are fine and del Toro manages to put his own spin on the dusting of a vampire to the extent that the death of Nyssa is actually quite beautiful to watch.

I think Blade 2 owes it success to its director - David Goyer, the writer of the Blade films, directed Blade Trinity and the dip in quality is blatantly obvious. 

Blade 2 isn’t my favourite Reedus film nor is it my favourite del Toro but it gets an 8/10 which is uncharacteristically high for a vampire film.  If it wasn’t for the excellent supporting cast or the directors talented eye Blade 2 would have been Blade Trinity and quite frankly one of those is more than enough.