Blade 2 (2002)
“This is about as subtle
as a fart in a space suit.” - Director Guillermo del
Toro introducing “Blade 2” at SXSW 2002
“Blade 2” is kick ass. It’s the best action movie
you will see this year. I mean, if you like action,
if you like a movie that just goes and goes and goes,
then this is the fucker for you. It’s awesome.
“Blade 2” is about killing a new strain of vampires.
I won’t lie. I haven’t seen the original “Blade.” I
don’t know just what director Guillermo del Toro ripped-off,
or retained, if you’d rather, from the original. I only
know that he simply rips open the film and lets the
action roll. There’s very little time for plot or dialogue
or exposition here. There is a new strain of super vampires.
Blade (Wesley Snipes), himself part vampire or something,
teams up with vampires, whom he formerly hunted, to
kill the new super-vampires. That’s about it. Go go
go…
The special effects here are kick ass. The editing
here is as precise as diamond cutting. The stunts are
rocking. Everything looks awesome. Del Toro knows how
to film action, he knows how to make special effects
work, he knows how to make action sequences fly, he
understands montage, he understands color and pacing
and editing. He knows how to use stuntmen. He understands
fight choreography. He works like a fine craftsman to
make sure every little action fan that pays his 10 bucks
for a ticket to the film gets his money’s worth. This
film just goes and goes. Even octogenarians like Kris
Kristofferson and Ron Perlman kick ass here. Again,
kick-ass is the operative word when you talk about “Blade
2.”This film will sock it to you over and over. Bang
bang bang.
Del Toro understands that action is cartoon. He
understands that a vampire film has zero basis in reality.
There’s no reason to pretend it means anything more
than fantasy action. He isn’t creating another “Kronos”
or even another “Blade.” He just wants to take us for
a ride. His film is one action sequence after another
connected by the loosest of exposition and dialogue
and plot. “Wanna go kill some vampires?” one character
asks. “Yes!” replies the other and off it goes. Del
Toro does include images and themes that make us think
of vampire culture to be in the same realm as other
subcultures like drug culture or rave culture. That’s
the limit of the mythology here. His idea is action
as cartoon and to remind us of this he places several
visual references to the “Power Puff Girls” in the film.
To be fair, del Toro does have a few problems.
The film relies on “Matrix” as a starting point for
some action sequences. Del Toro is able, unlike many
other imitators, to make it work as well as “Matrix”
however. His action seems more like the further evolution
of “Matrix” effects rather than weak rip-off. The director
also references Tarantino’s “guys walking in a group
in trench coats in slow-mo” as well. Harry Knowles surely
wet himself at these images. And, finally, del Toro
also insists on weepy, American-Indian type flute music
at the “emotional” moments in the film. He seems to
revel in using this cheap and tacky music motif to manipulate
his audiences’ emotions. Again, "Blade 2" is little
more than cartoon, so cartoonish use of music is not
outside its realm either.
No better example of del Toro’s amazing insight
to modern audiences’ need to be wowed can be found than
his final combat. “I always wanted to see two superheros
beat the hell out of each other,” the director says
and his climax here is just that. Blade and the baddie
fight and beat the shit out of each other for 10 or
fifteen minutes. It is as cool as fuck. Hell, I almost
wet myself.
Let me say it again: “Blade 2” kicks ass! I can’t
even remember the last time I saw a Hollywood action
flick this good.
Seen at
SXSW 2002
|
Report
Card
Script:
C
Acting: A-
Cinematography\Lighting: A+
Special Effects\Make Up: A+
Music: C
Final
Grade: A+
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