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'Blade II' cuts to the gore
By STEVE PERSALL, Times Film Critic
© St. Petersburg Times
published September 5, 2002
Blade II (R)
[Photo: New Line Cinema]
Blade (Wesley Snipes, left) battles with Nomak (Luke Goss) in Blade II.
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Wesley Snipes returns as the ultra-chic vampire hunter Blade, whose rivalry with those monsters is placed on the back burner when a new bloodsucking species arrives. The Reapers are mutant vampires feeding on the conventional ones Blade didn't slice-and-dice in the first movie. Now they need the hunter's assistance in order to survive.
First impressions: "Blade II is a really rather brilliant vomitorium of viscera, a comic book with dreams of becoming a textbook for mad surgeons. There are shots here of the insides of vampires that make your average autopsy look like a slow afternoon at Supercuts. The movie is directed by Guillermo del Toro, whose work is dominated by two obsessions: War between implacable ancient enemies, and sickening things that bite you and aren't designed to let go.
"The movie is an improvement on Blade (1998), which was pretty good." (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times)
Second thoughts: The Platinum Edition DVD also includes two alternate commentary tracks, macabre documentaries and Del Toro's director notes.
Rental audience: Gorehounds, Snipes fans and Goth posers seeking a new fashion statement.
Rent it if you enjoy: The original Blade, The Hunger; browsing through butcher shops.
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