Film Details:

Directed by Guillermo del Toro (El Espinazo del Diablo/The Devil's Backbone, Mimic)

Written by
Marv Wolfman (Transformers G1, Batman: The Animated Series)
Gene Colan
David S. Goyer (Dark City, Blade, Zigzag, upcoming Freddy vs. Jason - you heard me!)

Starring
Wesley Snipes (do I really need to list credits?)
Kris Kristofferson (See above)
Ron Perlman (City of Lost Children, Last Supper, Ice Pirates, a ton of other stuff)
Leonor Varela (Texas Rangers, Cleopatra)
Luke Goss (Two Days, Nine Lives, Love Life, Zigzag)

New Line Home Entertainment

Review: by Don (e-mail your faithful reviewer)

More action! More horror! More Whistler! More Ron Perlman! That's right. Ron Perlman. He's the friggin' Man. Don't know who he is? What, do you live under a rock? Mark my words, he is -- in fact -- the friggin' Man.

Blade II was, in all honesty, an improvement on the first film, one of those instances when the sequel surpassed the original. It happens rarely, but it does happen. Blade II has a seamless blend of CGI and live action that amps up the stunts to a degree most movies strive for, but few ever reach. Sure, the CGI looked like CGI, but there was literally no way possible that they could have done some of this stuff with even the most complicated of wire harnesses. Cool as all hell.

Anyway, the basic plot of the film, as you may know, is that there is a new breed of vampire on the loose. Dubbed a "Reapers", he is a genetic aberration, an offshoot of the pure vampire race much the same that Blade himself is, only this guy is uglier and less friendly. His thirst for blood is akin to crack addiction, so he needs it far more often and preferably far more potent. Thus, he feeds on vampires, not humans. The big problem with this is that when he does so, he infects the vampires with the new strain, and they too become Reapers.

The vampire Inner Council of Grand High Muckety-Mucks decide to ask for help, and who better than the man that has spent years whippin' their sorry butts? Yeah, I know. Why would he care? The enemy of my enemy is my friend, yes? No. But when the Reapers burn through all the vampires and there's none left to feed upon, they'll turn on the humans, and Blade ain't having none of that.

So Blade agrees to help. Joining forces with a special-ops vampire team who were trained for two years for the sole purpose of killing Blade, our hero goes a-huntin'. Crazy stuff goes down and Ron Perlman is still the friggin' Man. Kris Kristofferson reprises his role as Abraham Whistler, and manages to be the only man to be more the Man than the friggin' Man, who, as I said, is Ron Perlman. Perl-friggin'-Man. Yeah.

Directed by the beloved Guillermo del Toro (be the Bull, baby!), the horror levels are cranked up a notch over the first film, so there are moments of horror both quiet and, er... less quiet. I can't say enough about this guy. If you haven't seen The Devil's Backbone, do so immediately. I'll wait...

...See what I mean? The man knows what he's doing. Catch Blade II if you haven't already. It rocks like, uh….rocky things. Yeah.

DVD Details:

Disc 1
Widescreen
Dolby Digital EX 5.1 Surround Sound
DTS ES 6.1 Surround Sound
Stereo Surround Sound
Commentary by Guillermo del Toro and Producer Peter Frankfurt
Commentary By Writer David S. Goyer and Wesley Snipes
5.1 isolated score
English subtitles and closed captions

Disc 2
Deleted/Alternate Scenes with Director commentary
A Pact in Blood - interactive collection of documentaries
Director's Notebook: Interactive reproduction of Director's notes with intro by del Toro
Art Gallery
Theatrical Trailers
Music Video - Cypress Hill and Roni Size "Child of the West"
Blade 2 video game survival guide

DVD-ROM
Script-to-Screen
Original Website
Hot Spot

Further Information:

Internet Movie Database

Official Site

In Brief

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