Blade is back in this much gorier and CGI-ier sequel. It's more of the same garbage, but with a pinch of dog excrement added.If the pansy vampires from the first weren't bad enough, we now have "Reapers", mutants who feed on blood suckers. And since this is H.P. Lovecra...uh, Guillermo Del Toro, it needs to be as disgusting as possible (at least he didn't include his fish fetish), with the reaper's jaws breaking open, revealing a leech-looking tongue.The vampires seek out Blade to help them exterminate the Reapers. This time, Blade has a new, marijuana smoking sidekick, a resurrected Whistler and the "Blood Pack (tm)" to help him kill the new monsters in the goriest ways possible.The whole movie is like a nightmare, and not in a good, classic horror movie way. It's hard to describe, but imagine if your uncle Larry decided to travel to hell and when he came back, he wanted to show you his vacation movie. Everyone is a foul-mouthed sadist in this movie. Everything looks and feels disgusting.We're so lucky we even get to see our "heroes" dissect one of the "Reapers". Why? Because Troy McClur...sorry, Del Toro, wants to shove disgusting things in your face. If you watch the behind-the-scenes feature, it's revealed that they used sex toys and fake semen to make the Reaper's innards. That should tell you something about the quality of the movie. There's also a strange scene at a vampire night club, where a woman's back is cut open and the spine is exposed. What's the point?The twist near the end, where Blade's new kid sidekick is revealed to be a traitor is so stupid and illogical I almost laugh when I think about it. Earlier in the movie, it's revealed that Blade saved the stoner from two vampire girls (yet another excuse to add vulgarity). He "planned it all along". Yeah, right. How does that even work? "Plan A: Rip my intestines out of my body. Then, Blade will show up and save me. He'll probably kill you two, and I'll quite possibly die myself. Plan B: ...wait, there's no plan B? Who wrote this plan, David S. Goyer?"The fight between Blade and the main reaper Nomak is like watching someone else play Mortal Kombat on Playstation 2. I'm don't expect realistic physics in a comic book movie, but at times Blade looks like he's a big-headed, rubber puppet bouncing on a string. When the movie finally ends (at a peep show, where else?), the words of the tragic villain Nomak echoes through my mind: "it...it hurts no more!"There's no beauty in Blade 2. There's no goodness or truth. I'm not sure if it deserves to be called a movie. It's a waste of time, money and film. Like its predecessor, it's just meaningless garbage. Save your time and watch/read something better.(Del Toro ripped off his own movie in Hellboy. I'm talking about the sewer battle. How lazy!)

Blade II may be the trashiest (in the best sense of the word) to be directed by a Best Director Oscar winner. Wesley Snipes returns as the vampire hunter who is part vamp himself as facing a new breed of blood suckers who are a greater threat to humanity. Guillermo Del Toro brings his trademark eye for the weird in the form of the Reapers (and their nightmare jaws that open for to suck on victims) who lead by Jared (80's pop idolLuke Goss) Nomak. There are sequances that have a slow burn of suspense unfolding before exploding into dynamic action including one (typical of Del Toro ) set in a sewer system. That is not to say that bad guys are not dispatched in fun ways, one is vaporised by a bomb and another is sliced upwards. Ant there fight scenes that show off Snipes martial arts skills to the max. Blade II may not be high art like The Shape of Water but it is a lot of fun.

Great action, cool new villains in the Reapers. Some slight but not overused humor by Snipes. Some new weapons, and the return of a much beloved character from the first film. Almost better than the first.

Finally, a great popcorn flick that's an improvement over the original movie and offers up an often stunning combination of the action and horror genres to great effect. BLADE II, like its predecessor but more so, skilfully combines full-blooded gory horror with some excellent martial arts choreography, here done by Donnie Yen who also appears in a minor role. Although the plot is fairly predictable stuff, sometimes rehashing scenes in the original movie except with different places and characters, and the various plot twists are a little contrived at times, this is never anything less than very entertaining. Sometimes it may be silly but that's part of the charm. Never has there been such a combination of the ultra-cool (the action) with the ultra-cheesy (Snipes posturing wildly, e.g. the hilarious "sunglasses throw"), a combination which makes BLADE II a more satisfying film than the original -which is no mean feat in itself.The director is the acclaimed Mexican Guillermo del Toro, who brings his usual visual artistry (the world in which the film takes place is a dark, Gothic, decaying netherworld of ugliness and filth), plot elements (scary transforming monsters, mechanical devices which attach themselves to people and don't come off) and actors - yep, Ron Perlman is back from CRONOS and used to good effect once more. Starting with a wild action sequence in which Snipes takes on a pack of motorbike-riding vampires, the film rarely slows down, offering up some great set-pieces like the vampire's rave, the sewer hunt and the over-the-top finale. Influences from the likes of ALIENS and PREDATOR are evident but staged differently enough to avoid being too similar or noticeable to ruin the flow of the film.My love of the martial arts is quickly growing and BLADE II offers some fantastically-choreographed fights and swordplay. Incredibly fast moves and hits are seamlessly blended with CGI characters (to do those moves which truly are impossible for human actors to perform) and the result is adrenaline-pumping action highlighted by an appropriately pumping score. I really was on the edge of my seat for the vampire-busting antics and kept on looking forward to the next scene, and the next. The final one-on-one, in particular, is spellbinding stuff. Nice to see that they threw a few wrestling moves in there too to keep things fresh and entertaining (!). Wesley Snipes effortlessly slides back into the character of Blade and it's nice to see he doesn't take things quite so seriously this time around; however, his screen presence and talented handling of the action makes him a hero to be proud of.As for the horror-side of the film, well this is where things start getting really nasty. Forget the vampires from the first film (who now become normal, everyday kind of menaces), the newly-designed Reapers are a horrific bunch of subhuman-looking creatures who have a really disgusting surprise hidden up their sleeves which I don't want to spoil too much (other than to say there are some great shocks in store for the first-time viewer). The gore and violence is played to the hilt and this is a film packed with people being sliced in half, having half of their heads cut off (really sickening bit there), throats torn out and blood spraying all over the shop. Plus plenty of the usual arm-snapping, neck-breaking and bullet-busting everyday kind of film violence. The vampire destruction sequences, showing the creatures burning into skeletons and exploding into ashes, are truly spectacular and a delight to watch. Here's a film where I can 100% recommend the excellent CGI effects used - and I never thought I'd get a chance to say that (not a big fan of computer effects at all, but they work really well here - congrats to all involved).Cast-wise, it's nice to see Kris Kristofferson back in shape (although the movie doesn't do a very good job of explaining his back-from-the-dead presence), although there's another unnecessary and frankly unwanted love interest in Leonor Varela. Norman Reedus makes for a likable accomplice, Scud, despite being a bit of a geek, but the most surprising thing is that the chief nasty vampire (a really evil-looking screen villain) is played well by Luke Goss, also known as one of the members of '80s boy band Bros! A nice mixture of talent is evident in the vampire cast members, with actors ranging from the aforementioned Ron Perlman (as impassive as ever), to Donnie Yen, to Danny John-Jules (another British celebrity turned Hollywood star) to THE STENDHAL SYNDROME's Thomas Kretschmann. Although it never goes any deeper than being a purely visual display of effects and action, BLADE II is a solid and above-average entry in the action/horror genre and even something of a minor classic. Definitely a film that can be enjoyed more than once so a full recommendation to this one.