Blade 2 (2002): ***

Directed by Guillermo Del Toro

I had a problem with this movie. Like too many sequels, it didn't add anything to the mythos created in the original. It has long been my belief that sequels have to add something to an original movie; somehow make the original seem better. Aliens did this to Alien. Toy Story 2 to Toy Story. Godfather part II to Godfather. But Blade 2 is just the futher adventures of BLade, no better.

You know, I wouldn't be complaining if there hadn't been the seeds of something bigger in this movie. But there are some great character ideas in this movie about Blade that go completely unexplored. Blade does not grow or change throughout the course of this movie like he did in the first. He goes out in the last frame exactly the same man as when he started, just with a lot of Vampire dust on his leather trenchcoat.

The movie also doesn't really have as good a story as the first. It is basically set around three action set-pieces: The Rave, the Sewer, and the Vampire Complex. As such, they are all absolutely excellent. The action in this movie is very good. It also has a surprisingly good amount of switching between real actors and their CGI doubles. It was actually pretty cool. I also, being me, appreciated the amount of professional-wrestling moves in the fighting. Blade does a stalling vertical suplex to a security guard onto a screen of glass! Since the only focus in this movie is on the action it's a good thing that it works.

So really, I have no complaints about the action in this movie, although the final fight between Blade and the main baddie was just a tad too short for my taste. It didn't seem like a fight that had been building the whole movie. Oh, well.

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