Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
Two of our occasional reviewers have checked in with their looks at Guillermo Del Toro's blistering new BLADE II. I'll be posting my own review of the film later today, having seen the final version last night finally. And I promise... no muff-diving.
Until then, let's start with Steve Dallas:
Thanks to those wonderful people at CHUD.com, I caught a screener of BLADE II a few nights back. I liked the original; it was a fun, fresh riff on a genre that needed a kick in the ass. Beyond that, I didn't think it was anything special. If I flipped past it on HBO, I'd watch it, but it wasn't a film I'd buy on DVD. However, Guillermo Del Toro's recent work has impressed me. THE DEVILS BACKBONE was a masterpiece. Frankly, I was curious to see if he could bring even a little of that magic to bear on this franchise. Add to this the ravings of a madman who's been pimping this film for two years, and a mild form of hypnosis brought on by ad banner overexposure, and I no longer had any will to resist. Like many of you, I simply had to see this film. I walked in primed, expecting to be entertained.
But this was not the film I expected.
Oh, man... it's so much better than that.
This film has absolutely no business being this good. None whatsoever. As my old friend Jack O'Neil used to say, this film kicked my ass SIDEWAYS. It might not be the best vampire flick ever made, but it is undeniably the coolest. You must see this film.
If you missed the original, don't worry, a tragically hip montage brings you up to speed while the titles run. I'm not going to spoil the story for you; it's one of those you just have to watch unfold. This is all you get: A new breed of vampire has emerged. It's called a Reaper. Not content to feed on humans, it hunts vampires as well. It's thirst is insatiable, and their numbers are growing at an alarming pace.
Blade is the Daywalker - the greatest vampire hunter there ever was. There isn't anyone better for the job, but even he can't handle this alone. He's going to need some help. To meet this threat, he joins forces with those he has sworn to destroy. He leads a SWAT type unit of vampires, called the BLOODPACK, on a mission to wipe out the reapers.
There is so much more to this story, but I'm going to leave the rest for you to discover. This is one I'm just not going to spoil.
Guillermo Del Toro is a special director. He showed that to me with THE DEVILS BACKBONE, but I had no idea he was capable of making this sort of film. It's a HK action flick, and a damn good one. It's a horror / sci-fi gore fest, but it never goes overboard. It's got a much better storyline than it deserves. It's characters are well thought out. They say and do interesting things, because they are interesting people - not cartoons. And to top it all off, the film looks great. It's not a perfect film - Del Toro's reach exceeded his grasp in a few spots, noticeably in the CGI. He also could have shaved about 5 minutes off of the film, and I wouldn't have minded a bit. But I'm not going to nitpick his work too badly. Overall, this was an exceptional effort. This film just oozes cool.
Any good film starts with the story, and this one is no different. David Goyer knows how to adapt comic properties. He's one of the best, and he's made a career out of it. Projects like THE CROW, BLADE, and GHOST RIDER all have his name on them. He's good because he respects the material, he respects the reader, and he respects the viewer.
This easily could have been a throwaway film. It's a sequel to an action franchise - not a place where you find very much good writing, or many good films. He easily could have written a hack & slash sequel, slapped the name BLADE on it, and cashed out. But he didn't do that. He wrote a script that moves the franchise forward. He took care of the elements that made the film work in the first place: the mythology, the characters, the attitude and the combat. But then he made a very bold, and very wise decision. He took the first film and turned it upside down - he forced Blade to fight with the vampires, not against them. Cameron did the same thing in T2 when Arnold switched sides. You keep everything that matters, but you shake up the situation. You change the rules and force the audience to think. That's one of the things I liked most about this film - the storyline always kept you guessing. It twists and turns, it bobs & weaves. You're never entirely sure what's going on. When it all comes down, it makes perfect sense, but you never see it coming. It's an exceptional film for the genre.
But what sells it are the characters and the actors that play them. One of the nice things about a sequel is that you get to build on the character work done in the first film. You don't have to introduce them all over again - the audience already knows them. You're free to take these characters even further, revealing unknown facets of their personalities.
Snipes & Kristofferson slide right back into their roles. They fit them like an old pair of shoes, and they hit the ground running.
Snipes IS Blade, and... good lord. Nothing in the first film could possibly prepare you for this. This is the Daywalker at the height of his power: a fearsome sight to behold. He's almost immortal. But Blade's carrying around an awful lot of baggage. He's tired. His has been a long fight. Goyer's script brings out a side of him you've never seen before, and displays aspects of his personality you've never considered. Snipes owns this role. He's made it his own. He brings a humanity to the character that you don't expect.
Kristofferson is wonderful as Whistler. Yes, they bring him back. And no, it's not some hokey "deux ex machine" moment, where Blade wakes up to find it was all a dream. It's integral to the story, it makes sense, and it works. I've always been a fan of Kristofferson. He's always been fun to watch, in everything from Peckinpah's PAT GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID to CONVOY to LONE STAR. He's just great, and he rarely disappoints. The man can chew the scenery like nobody's business. Remember Sam Elliot's Wade Garrett from ROAD HOUSE? Same vibe. He's just a mean, crotchety old bastard. He steals every scene he's in, and his dialogue is perfect.
Add to this a wonderful supporting cast. Luke Goss is Nomak, the alpha Reaper. Even beneath the makeup, he's electric to watch. Nomak is a complex character, and his motives are, well, spoiler laden. Goss brings out the power and the intelligence of the man. More importantly, he gives us a glimpse of the sorrow, the anguish and the horror of what he has become. Villains don't get written like this in action sequels. Thank you, David Goyer.
Thomas Kretschmann is Damaskinos, the aging vampire elder. He's old, he's wise, he's complex. He's seeks Blade out, and asks for his assistance with the reapers. There's a lot going on behind those thousand-year-old eyes of his, and Kretschmann lets you see just enough.
Norman Reedus is Scud, Whistler's erstwhile replacement Think Eddie Furlong from T2, age him to date, and dry him out. That's Scud. Again, a well crafted character, played well.
Finally, we get around to the guys who steal the show: The Bloodpack. An elite vampire hit squad, they have spent the last several years trying to do one thing: hunt down & kill the Daywalker. Now, not only do they have to work alongside him, Blade is calling the shots. Internal conflict abounds - what a great plot device!
But the Bloodpack is more than just a gang of heavies. There isn't a redshirt among them. Even though some of them have little, if any dialogue, you come to know all of them. Their actions and their responses to crisis flesh them out. They each fill their little niche in the group, Somehow, I know that there was a backstory written for each and every one of these bastards: you can tell by the way they are played. Someone really needs to send me a copy. I'd love to read it.
But actors have to bring them off the page, and breathe life into these ideas. Guillermo Del Toro found an amazing cast to bring the Bloodpack to life (or is it death?), including martial arts legend Donnie Yen, who also served as a martial arts guru on the flick. But some of them just stood out from the crowd; indeed, some of them you won't be forgetting anytime soon
Ron Perlman plays Reinhardt, the displaced leader of the Bloodpack. The chemistry between Snipes & Perlman is electric. Watching these two play off of each other is one of this film's guilty little subplots. But even when he's on his own, Reinhardt is an interesting character. He's used to being in charge; now he finds himself supplanted by the thing he loathes the most in this world. Worse still, due to an ingenious plot device, he's powerless to do anything about it. There's so much conflict going on inside his head, and you can see it all. It's a great performance, and he's a vicious, vicious brute. He's a lot of fun to watch.
Leonor Varela is Nyssa, a female vampire ninja with more going on than even she can understand. She's naturally easy to look at, and she smolders in this role. You just can't take your eyes off her. She's enormously conflicted, and events unfold which make her a pivotal player in the saga. She brings a lot of heart to the role, AND she can kick your ass clear into next week. Great part, great casting.
But enough of all this acting/character/plot crap. You're not looking to see STEEL MAGNOLIAS. You're looking to see the Daywalker kick some ass.
This film does not disappoint. There is nothing I can say that will prepare you for how utterly and completely cool this film is.
The fight choreography is nothing short of spectacular. Donny Yen, of IRON MONKEY fame, worked a little bit of magic. The speed is unbelievable, and frankly I was amazed that Del Toro was able to keep up. I didn't know he had this kind of film in his bag. The amazing array of fighting styles is dizzying. Each of the Bloodpack members have their own thing, from lighting fast vampire ninjas to brute force muggers, and everything in between.
Simply put, Blade II is a cornucopia of ass-kicking.
You've got kung-fu, wire fu, boxing, wrestling, guys with knives, guys with guns, guys with HUGE guns, guys with guns you can't even explain, boomerangs, motorcycles, stakes, flashlights, hand grenades, samurai swords, axes, neck snapping, neck devouring, blood sucking, impaling, blood letting, decapitation, division, aww, the hell with it.
I wish I had seen more HK films, that I might be able to find the words to describe to you what I have seen. But words even fail me on occasion, so I must resort to allegory. If you were to film a comic book, this is what it would look like. Do you remember the first time you saw THE MATRIX? Remember walking out of that theater, feeling like you had seen something new? Some exotic flavor you hadn't sampled before? That's how I felt walking out of BLADE II. Like the bar had been raised.
This is a very gory, very bloody film. I'm not one of those guys who goes seeking this sort of stuff out; I've never picked up an issue of FANGORIA, and this is generally not my scene. But somehow, it works here. It's bloody, gory, and awful, but not overly so. All the blood that is spilled serves the story. Truth be told, I almost expected more. Because the vampires have a pretty cool way of checking out (it's gruesome, but it's not bloody), there isn't much of blood when they fall. The film does have a fair amount of gore, however, but it's amazingly well done. It's more like a dissection than a killing. People die in large numbers, but they at least have the courtesy to do so in interesting and horrible ways. The film is graphic, but it's not exploitive.
Much of the blood that is spilled comes from the reaper. The other bloodsuckers are reasonably well behaved throughout the course of the film. Maybe it was a New Years resolution or something, it seems like they were on a diet. Anyway, a special word is required for whomever it was that designed this creature. The makeup work is outstanding, but more than that... the Reapers have a characteristic feature... and it's unspeakably cool. Whoever came up with this deserves an award, or at the very least, a pat on the head. The Reapers are very, very cool, and they're just another example of how well thought out this film was. As you'll see in the film, they have to be. God, I really love the way they move; it's a nice touch. They make great monsters.
But it's more than just the creatures in this film that were well designed. Everything in this film looks great. Del Toro has an undeniable visual style, and it makes the film. He shot this in Prague, and the entire film reeks of the atmosphere. He didn't dwell on it (most of the shots are interiors), but it just adds that special touch... a vibe you pick up on looking at a building, knowing it was built on the foundation of something else; that it's much older than your parents, and that it will outlive your kids. It just adds something to the experience.
The sets and locations they shot in/on were amazing. There is a fight scene staged in an abandoned cathedral that will simply blow your mind. The headquarters of Vampire, Inc. was kinda nifty, but it seemed a little generic for the worlds oldest corporation. One of the main action sequences takes place at a party... it's a very cool party, and it's a great set. The opening sequence is set at a bloodbank. It's a great location, and it's creepy as hell.
Even the costumes work well, which is something I NEVER notice. Blade's trademark black leather duds look old, almost gray at times, compared to the flashy black patent leather bodysuits of the Bloodpack. It's a nice touch.
The film just looked great. It's got visuals you'll never forget. Try as you will, you'll never be able to remove that last scene on the helipad, or that last scene in front of the pool, or the tiny little vampire ninja's swinging from the rafters. They'll be burned into your psyche for eternity.
But I suppose the point of all of this... all of these little tidbits I've been throwing at you... is that they all add up in the end. That is what really took me by surprise. All these individual bits of coolness add up to make something more than just the some of their parts. It's called synergy, and it didn't just happen.
Someone had a vision of what this film should be. Maybe it was Goyer, maybe Del Toro, or more than likely both. But someone thought this all the way through. Then they figured out how all the discrete elements of the production would interact with each other to serve that vision. Sure, this film has unbelievable action sequences, blood, guts and gore galore, but it's not there just for the hell of it - it exists only to serve that vision of what this film should be.
That's why I love this film. It's not the action. It's not the actors. It's not even the amazing visuals.
It's how it all comes together to tell a story. In the end, nothing else matters.
Steve Dallas
Okay. I think Steve liked it. If only he knew how to communicate his reaction to something. And now let's see what Kampbell Kid thought of it:
Hey Gang,
It's Kampbell-Kid here with another review of Blade 2 for ya. After reading your delightfully profound review… I couldn't help but feel even more pumped to see this film. I stayed up until the late wee hours of the night building the print up to watch it and get another review in!
[minor spoiler warning]
HOLY MARY MOTHER OF DEL TORO!!
A total shocker!! A refreshing horror/action religious experience from beginning to end!!!! I now see why Harry wrote his review that NC-17 way... the Reapers mouths look like vaginas!!! No lie!!! I now see why at Harry's screening the woman asked the similarity between the vagina and the Reaper. You'll find out when you see it and then freak out when you see it for yourself... DEL TORO HAS CREATED MAN EATING VAGINA MONSTERS!!!
As for the film it makes you feel personally violated to the core after its exhibition. You realize your witnessing something fresh, cool, stylish, and inventive like Matrix... it literally fuks you in the ass and never lets go. I can honestly say without sounding like an over excited ranted fan-boy that just left the movie... that Blade 2 is very much the Aliens of the Alien series, The Empire Strikes Back of the Star Wars series, the T2 of the Terminator series. You walk out it wanting more and for it to never end. This film is non stop wall to wall action from beginning to end. I found the gore to be about the same, except the body count is obviously higher. You can't pick out a favorite action scene because all of them are "WHOA!" shocking great. I agree the only complaint is the films CG actor animation. It is kind of Batman Forever'ish looking sometimes. It doesn't look bad... but yet you kind of notice it at times, cringe a little, and think if they spent a tad more time it... would've looked flawless. The film uses the CG not only in character fight animation, but with amazingly cool camera angles on the action as well. Like the flowing camera shot of Blade back flipping into the air with a twist and then landing on the motorcycle behind the guy. Noticed a lot more wirework in this film, tons more. Like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon it makes sense though... it doesn't take away character, but enhances it. Vampires/Reapers have superhuman strength and Del Toro along with action director Donnie Yen (IRON MONKEY) totally captures that superhuman spirit in this film with all its' action sequences. Were talking Superman II action sequences!!!! Throwing people through buildings, hundreds of feet in the air, huge jumps, leaps, flips, spins, and wrecking shit everywhere kind of fight scenes. So fun to watch, makes you wish you had that strength. The environments created were just great for the film. It really did set a darker tone for the film. The score was decent; the songs were great especially Crystal Method's song from the trailer was included. Oh my god the weapons… they just put Batman to total shame! Blade really packs some heat!! Great action scenes with all the weapons too, especially the guns. This movie is just total eye candy overload that again makes the first film so bland and dry. The humor is witty and cheesy at times. The favorite line in the film that broke out a big laugh was when Blade was at vamp HQ and says to this guy in a suit… "Are you a Familiar?" The man in the suit replies, "No worse... I'm a lawyer!" Also noticed alot of odd cameos of the powerpuff girls on the televisions in the background sometimes?! It's subtle clues. Notice all the people that watch it.
As for the characters... Wesley does have more fun with the role and cracks lines that are cynical. Yes, to make you all happy Wes doesn't say that corny ass "You don't know who you're messin with!" line you saw in the trailer. Except replace the messin with what you'd really want a bad ass Blade to really say." His fighting skill has vastly improved! Kris is back and I'm sure you're all asking, "How? No worry, the film explains it. Kris delivers a lot of cheesy lines that are so bluntly offensive that it works. When he calls Ron Perlmans charcter "a fukin nipplehead", you can't help but crack a laugh. The bloodpack was cool, especially Ron's character. Wes and Ron have some great amusing scenes together. Donnie Yen, who also stars in the film as Snowman, bit the dust too soon in the film, ummm riiiight I'd say if I had a second complaint that would be it!! Here's hoping Yen kicks ass in Hero. The rest of the bloodpack was somewhat forgettable, except for the Van Diesel looking guy. Nyssa was just beautiful, muff err nuff said.
I now see why the previous reviews have said Blade 2 is the "Aliens" of sequels. It delivers!!! How? Because it has something the first film didn't have... personality. I just hope when I sleep tonight I don't wake up screaming... "VAGINA MONSTERS!!!"
Later,
Kampbell-Kid
I believe I've just detected a series of seismic geekruptions rocking Atlanta and Dallas, and I expect it to just get worse this weekend as the film hits screens and you guys start losing your shit in a major way.
"Moriarty" out.
