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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

Blade 2 (spoilers)

09:35 / 24.03.02

Just saw this last night. Why is it so hard for directors to pull off a decent comic book character? Blade was one of those few films that was better than its original source material and the biggest reason why studios clamored to sign up more comix flicks to their budget. The opening scene with the blood sprinklers was just so much fun to watch.

S

P

O

I

L

E

R

S

LOOK

OUT

BELOW!

But this... this was just bad. The cheese factor far outweighed what few good action portions there were. It was like Shaft if done by Saban Entertainment and Wes Craven. Insipid in its fight sequences (wrestling moves fer chrissakes. Who kicks vampire ass with a suplex? Blade! He's a bad mutha--Shut yo mouth), idiotic in its dialogue and more fatbeard macho-wanking than you can shake a stick at. The Reapers had a lot of potential but just fell flat at the end for some wanky conspiracy plot. I will say this. Nobody seemed to be having more fun doing this movie than Ron Perlman.

If Guillermo del Toro is doing Hellboy I'm sincerely frightened. Bad, bad movie. Anybody else sat through this thing?

[edited to put some spoiler space in]

09:43 / 24.03.02

i've not seen it but i read the script a while ago. i thought it sucked, but i didn't like the first one either.

del toro is the most overrated director i can think of. i hated mimic, i thought devil's backbone was lame cliche, and i couldn't even finish chronos. stylistic my ass. and he's set to destroy more good projects than just hellboy, i promise you that.

20:04 / 24.03.02

Just saw this and although I agree with most of what you're saying I enjoyed myself. I went in expecting a pop corn movie and got a really good pop corn movie.

The dialogue was crap. Didn't care about the characters. The fight scenes were cool but a bit too long and ...yeah, fucking wrestling moves.

BUT it was bad ass. It radiated bad ass! Blade, the blackest and baddest muther fucker was kicking kracka'-ass-kracka'-blood-sucking-skin-head-ass. It was black-sploitation for the 21st century. And, you know, the kids cheered.

23:41 / 27.03.02

Can't see what the problem is with the wrestling moves. I mean, sure, they stand out in a sea of ultra-realistic vampire slicing, face splitting, sword/bullet deflecting and stupid kung-fu.

Oh, wait. They don't.

I enjoyed the movie, dumb trash that it was, but I got up and cheered when Blade suplexed the guy. Fantastic. Wrestling moves look good on camera - that's why they're popular. I can't believe it's taken so long for that stuff to get co-opted into action movies.

That aside, I liked the design of the Reapers and thought the first half of the film was one of the better knock-offs of Aliens. And I continue to chortle at the comments I've heard complaining that the film doesn't properly represent vampires.

02:01 / 28.03.02

I felt that the entire film mangled the insightful social commentary i expect from a sequel-based-on-a-70s-comic-book-vampire film. however, the usage of the Suplex as minor denouement was quite effective, even if said suplex was improperly administered and without technical proficiency. Perhaps, though, I spent a little too much time analyzing the story, acting, and plot, as there was no gratuitous nudity in the film to distract me.

whoops. was that me? I loved the film. I haven't laughed that hard at a theater since "Soldier". The only thing that disappointed me was the popcorn.

05:41 / 28.03.02

sure, it's dumb fun. whatever. but i'll bet i can get people to have my back when i suggest that del toro is a fucking terrible choice for both Hellboy and At the Mountains of Madness. yikes.

on second thought, i actually think hellboy is trash as far as story, so maybe it works.

14:57 / 28.03.02

Why Del Toro why?!? 'Cronos' was excellent, even 'The Devils Backbone' had its moments...He's becoming the new John Woo. Does Hollywood corrupt foreign directors? It seems to be happening all the time recently...Look at Jean-Pirre Jeunet (sp?) who went from 'Delicatessen' to 'Alien Resurrection.' Is it money they want?
I don't understand.

19:41 / 28.03.02

or, alternately, he went from "Alien Ressurection" to "Amelie" but i guess it depends on how you look at it.

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

02:57 / 29.03.02

You know, I liked it. I didn't go into it thinking I was going to see anything of artistic merit, since it WAS a sequel and the first one was dumb, drive-in movie fun. This one, they upped the bad guy power, had a twist that you saw coming a mile away and had a lot of explosions and fight scenes. That's all I asked of it.

I can see what the nay-sayers are talking about tho. I just didn't much care, the good guy killed the bad guy and I didn't have time to think about what was going on. And then about three days after I see the movie, I won't remember much about it but the cool visuals.

02:56 / 31.03.02

I'm kind of amazed at the responses here - actually, I take that back, no I'm not. I can understand why people wouldn't like this.

But I have to say I LOVED IT, I really did. I haven't had so much fun at the cinema in ages. It's completely preposterous trash, of course, but it's so jam-packed with gonzo bugfuck action that I didn't care. It pushed all of my pleasure buttons until they were broken.

So nyer to the lot of you.

17:46 / 31.03.02

And it made me want to do these:

[img]http://imagehost.auctionwatch.com/preview/ca/cameronstewart/Bladesketches.jpg[/img]

01:02 / 01.04.02

Since the re-vamp, the way to post images is to use this formula: <img src=webaddressofjpeg>

04:57 / 01.04.02

cool. I really like the gangsta pose. attitude a'plenty.

22:59 / 02.04.02

Yeah... mostly eye candy with a heavy helping of Cheeze.

Worst part... Donnie Yen, completely underused!!!

Bestpart . . . um, I'll get back to you . . .

check this out

The resistable rise of Reidcourchie

10:41 / 07.04.02

Some of the most interesting casting in a film ever.

Danny John Jules as the head of the Bloodpack (kept on expecting him to shout "I'm gonna get you little fishy!" to Blade.

And what the fuck Luke Goss of Bros fame as the head Vagina Dentata bad guy. What the fuck? When will I be famous indeed.

I thought it was pretty average, sadly I also I thought it wouldn't have required much effort to make it better, it was kind l;ike nobody cared about it and unusually it seemed to have less budget than the original. Still be interesting to see if Blade becomes a trashy(er) Durango type spaghetti vampire style franchise.

22:42 / 07.04.02

I went in expecting very little and that's exactly what I got. No, I didn't enjoy myself. I don't like dumb trash. I like smart trash.

And, by the way, nice pics Cameron. I really hope you get to do at least one issue (preferably more) of New X-Men.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

02:03 / 08.04.02

Having perused the cinematic entertainment described above, I feel I can recommend it unreservedly. The combination of martial coreography and the lavish yet judicious application of the latest in digital trompe l'oeil made this a veritable feast for the senses. And anyone who says different is a lamer and a big suck lamer coz it fucking rocked.

20:36 / 08.04.02

Big suck lamers of the world unite!

Gimmee "From Dusk Til Dawn" any day.

20:43 / 08.04.02

17:49 / 09.04.02

Heh. I love it. This one strip is waaaaaay better than the movie (and it cost me less too).

Less searchable M0rd4nt

20:11 / 09.04.02

Dusk 'til Dawn? Oh, please. That was a perfectly good failed-heist movie until they brought the stupid vamps into it. I want to give everyone concerned a slapped wrist and then make them go back and do the second half properly, with more failed heistyness and amusing psychosis. Most vampire movies are, frankly, pants (apart from Near Dark and one or two other exceptions). Blade II has vampires, but it is redeemed by guns, UV grenades, fights, big swords, kicking, mutants, Danny John Jules, and much flexing of bits of Wesley Snipes while the camera closes in for a long and loving inspection. Therefore, it rocks. Q.E.D.

23:26 / 10.04.02

Mordant, I agree with you more than you might think. I'm no vampire fan either, and I agree that Near Dark was a shining exception. And I even agree that the first half of Dusk 'Til Dawn was far better than the second half. But we still disagree where Blade 2 is concerned. IMHO, the first HALF of Dusk Til Dawn is worth three Blade 2's. Sorry, the none of the redeeming features you mentioned did much for me. Two thumbs down. Just not my kinda show.

18:57 / 11.04.02

You know... the about Dusk till Dawn for me was this...

While in america, the Movie was a classic Crime flick of it's time... ala, Tarintino.... once the charactor's crossed the border & where in Mexico the Movie also crossed the border & became classic Mexican horror cimema!!! The only thing it was missing was the Masked Wrestler, which I think would have made that movie 10 times better!!!

Imagine, in the midst of the final Blood bath El Fantome busts in an starts throwing vampires around with his bare hands... Saving the life of Juliette Lewis who would of course develop a crush on him as he walks into the desert towards the rising sun...

19:04 / 11.04.02

well it's already been done... a couple of times sort of.

There's more here...

gotta love this guy!!!

21:15 / 12.04.02

Hee, hee, hee, I've gotta agree. El Fantome would've enhanced the second half of Dusk Til Dawn greatly. Especially the whole 'riding off into the sunset with Juliette Lewis' bit. Man, talk about missed opportunity.

We're The Great Old Ones Now

16:46 / 16.04.02

Just saw Blade 2.

Iffy.

Gooey.

Predator-y.

Could have been worse.

Looks to me like they couldn't decide what to do with the Reaper character - fearsome foe, ally, tragic hero, blah blah. Worse yet, the guy's a decent actor...oops - cue everyone else looking less real, despite the fact the guy's face splits in half.

22:53 / 18.04.02

sheeeet just recently went to the picutures to "see" this film but due to a chemical induced relaxed state and because the only seats we could get was front row, i just had a few hours of visual eyefuck, which i gotta say isnt that bad a thing. i wasnt expecting much in the way of plot, character development, or powerful subtext, so i wasnt dissapointed. its a film about vampires for christsake to compare it to a blaxploitian film is i feel correct (maybe vamplotation) and should be watched with the same pinch of kitch salt

i find thinking of it as a ovrly expensive music vidieo for a bad that you would never see live helps to explain the pure eye candy enjoyment of it

but not the migraine

Molly Shortcake

12:47 / 24.04.02

Compete piece of trash. Devoid of subtext. Boring exploitation. (I LIKE exploiation films, provided they exploit well.) It was just like an action video game with all the good parts taken out.

It MIGHT of been good as a straight up action filick if Del Toro would let up on the non-stop editing like a MTV hack and pan the fucking camera out once in a while. Some camera placement and tracking would be nice also!

If it's eye candy you want go play Devil May Cry for PS2. The action is the same and the camera work is far superior.

13:16 / 24.04.02

It's a good argument to just do these movies the old-afashioned way. It would take a lot more money than they had to integrate the CGI and a moving camera - hence all the static shots. And the fast cutting means even less fo the action has to be done on-set.

I still enjoyed the film, as a craptacular enterprise, but I agree with yer second paragraph there, Rugal.

11:41 / 26.05.05

How could you possibly not like Blade 2?

It's like Ras Kass says:

Cuz you love it too much
But don't like yaself enough

Trinity, otoh, not very good really.