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Blade II review
:. Director: Guillermo del Toro
:. Starring: Wesley Snipes, Ron Perlman
:. Running Time: 1:50
:. Year: 2002
:. Country: USA
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An ultra-violent and gothic action film, Blade II surprisingly reveals itself to be closer to cinematic vampire mythology than its predecessor.
Wesley Snipes returns as Blade, vampire destroyer, who this time around makes an alliance with his former enemies in order to annihilate a new, much more dangerous race of predators. Though the scenario shouldn't garner too much intellectual debate among fans of bloody combat, chases and plot twists, the production is far less simplistic than it appears.
Mexican director Guillermo del Toro (Devil's Backbone, Chronos) seems to have completely assimilated the vampire myth to the cinema. Forsaking the glorious American skyscrapers of the first episode, the film instead ventures into the dark and gothic streets of Eastern Europe, displaying a return to the roots of vampirism. More importantly, the new race of vampires is traced on the morphology of Nosferatu. Del Toro pays homage to the Nosferatu of both F.W. Murnau and Werner Herzog. Through the superiority of these new vampires, he offers a discreet metaphor on the superiority of these two films compared to all of the large-fang Draculas that followed in the steps of Bela Lugosi. The references of certain plans to Herzog's Nosferatu only confirm this underlying tribute.
As for the rest, the film nothing more than an Aliens version of vampires, a production carried out briskly and effectively without concessions. Violence and gore, its reason to exist, keep on to the end.
Wesley Snipes is always at ease in this genre of physical prowess. Kris Kristofferson also takes this on again, but he's starting to seem a little too worn for this kind of role, while Leonor Varela brings a certain amount of charm to which our hero is more or less sensitive, creating a certain ambiguity for his inclinations.
Definitely a film for those thirsty for hemoglobin.
Fred Thom
 Movie Reviews: 1998 - 2011
Movie Reviews: 2012 - present
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