Blade II

Blade II
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Guillermo del Toro
Produced by	Wesley Snipes Peter Frankfurt Patrick Palmer Avi Arad
Written by	David S. Goyer
Based on	Blade by Marv Wolfman Gene Colan
Starring	Wesley Snipes Kris Kristofferson Ron Perlman Leonor Varela Norman Reedus Luke Goss
Music by	Marco Beltrami Danny Saber (additional)
Cinematography	Gabriel Beristain
Editing by	Peter Amundson
Studio	New Line Cinema Marvel Enterprises Amen Ra Film Imaginary Forces Justin Pictures Linovo Productions Milk & Honey Pacific Title and Art Studio
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date(s)	March 22, 2002
Running time	117 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$54 million
Box office	$155,010,032

Blade II is a 2002 superhero vampire film based on the fictional Marvel Comics character Blade. It is the sequel of the Blade film series. It was written by David S. Goyer, who also wrote the previous film. Guillermo del Toro assumed director duties, and Wesley Snipes returned as the lead character and producer.

The film follows the Dhampir Blade in his continuing effort to protect humans from vampires.

Plot

The film begins at a blood bank. A homeless man walks into the clinic and sits by another homeless man (Luke Goss) with a scar running down his chin. A nurse takes the latter man into a room with several people waiting where he is to be drained of blood, but kills his captors and reveals himself to be a new breed of vampire.

Two years have passed since the climax of the first film, and Blade (Wesley Snipes) has been trying to find Whistler (Kris Kristofferson), who survived his suicide attempt. He has been sweeping across Russia and eastern Europe, searching for his old friend and mentor, enlisting the aid of a young man, Scud (Norman Reedus), to design him a new line of gadgetry and weaponry. In the first scene, Blade fights his way through a large gang of vampires, leaving one of their vampires, Rush (Santiago Segura), alive. Rush tells Blade he will be back for him. Blade finds Whistler locked in a tank by a gang of vampires who were keeping him alive for purposes of torture. Blade rescues Whistler and brings him to Prague.

Meanwhile, a crisis has arisen in the vampire community. What appears to be a more developed strain of vampirism (dubbed the "Reaper virus") is sweeping through their ranks, giving its carriers new characteristics. The original carrier of the strain is Jared Nomak (the homeless man from the beginning of the film). Stronger than common vampires, the Reapers have three-way jaws, leech-like suckers and hearts encased in a thick layer of bone, making them invulnerable to any weapon barring sunlight. They also have a "ravenous" hunger, requiring more feeding than vampires, and even their dead victims become Reapers. The reapers also appear to be immune to silver and garlic. In order to combat the virus, the vampire elder (overlord) Eli Damaskinos (Thomas Kretschmann) sends his minions, Asad (Danny John-Jules) and Damaskinos' daughter Nyssa (Leonor Varela) to find and strike an uneasy truce with Blade. Upon meeting Eli Damaskinos and his familiar Karl Kounen (Karel Roden), Blade learns of the vampire community's plight. They concede to him that the Reapers are the greater evil and once they finish the vampire population, they will descend on humankind.

To this end, Blade teams up with the Bloodpack, a group of vampire warriors and assassins who were originally assembled to kill him. The group consists of Rheinhardt (Ron Perlman), Chupa (Matt Schulze), Snowman (Donnie Yen), Verlaine (Marit Velle Kile), Lighthammer (Daz Crawford) and Priest (Tony Curran). The group starts at a vampire nightclub which goes wrong after one of the Bloodpack members is bitten by a reaper.

After a battle against numerous Reapers in their hive within the sewers that cost the lives of some of the Bloodpack, Blade is apprehended by Damaskinos' forces, along with Whistler and Scud. It is revealed that, in his efforts to create a new race of vampires (immune to sunlight and silver), Damaskinos (using his own son) turned Nomak into the first reaper. Scud is also revealed to be one of Damaskinos' "familiars". Blade however, is aware of Scud's status and kills him with a bomb (that Scud had assumed was a dud). With the reapers gone, Damaskinos planned to dissect Blade to create more daywalkers. However, Whistler escapes and rescues Blade. Blade fights his way through Damaskinos' henchmen, which ends with Rheinhardt being killed.

Meanwhile, Nomak has entered Damaskinos' stronghold seeking revenge on his father. Just before he can escape to his helicopter, Damaskinos is betrayed by Nyssa (who has become disillusioned with her father's extreme methods) and is killed by Nomak after trying to negotiate with him. Nomak bites Nyssa (In order to "complete the circle"), and then attempts to leave. He is then confronted by Blade. After a brutal fight, Blade finds the weak spot in Nomak's physical defenses and jams his sword beneath his arm, bypassing the bone shield around his heart. Nomak then pushes it through, killing himself. With Nomak dead, Blade then carries Nyssa (who is mortally wounded) outside for the sunrise to honor her last wish to see the sunlight, and die as a vampire; Shortly after she disintegrates in his arms.

In the film's last scene, Blade disposes of Rush in a strip club booth, stating "Now you didn't think I'd forget about you" and stabbing him in the head through the glass.

Cast

• Wesley Snipes as Eric Brooks / Blade: A half-vampire "daywalker" who hunts vampires. Wesley Snipes stated that while such a character is not going to have much emotional depth, he then stated: "there's some acting involved in creating the character and making him believable and palatable."^[1]
• Kris Kristofferson as Abraham Whistler: Blade's human mentor and weaponsmith.
• Ron Perlman as Reinhardt, a member of the Bloodpack, who bears a particular grudge against Blade.
• Leonor Varela as Nyssa Damaskinos: An unapologetic, natural-born vampire and daughter to Damaskinos.
• Norman Reedus as Josh / Scud: A young, chain smoking weaponsmith who aids Blade in Whistler's absence.
• Thomas Kretschmann as Eli Damaskinos: An ancient vampire who is obsessed with creating a superior race of vampires as his legacy.
• Luke Goss as Jared Nomak: Patient zero and carrier of the Reaper virus. He bears a grudge against his father, Eli Damaskinos for creating him.
• Matt Schulze as Chupa: A pugnacious member of the Bloodpack who bears a particular grudge against Whistler.
• Danny John-Jules as Asad: A "well-mannered" member of the Bloodpack.
• Donnie Yen as Snowman: A mute swordsman and member of the Bloodpack.
• Karel Roden as Karel Kounen: A "familiar", Damaskinos's human agent and lawyer.
• Marit Velle Kile as Verlaine: A red-haired member of the Bloodpack and the lover of Lighthammer. The script originally said that she was the twin sister of Racquel from the first Movie. Traci Lords was interested in playing the role before it was changed.^{[citation needed]}
• Daz Crawford as Lighthammer: A hulking, hammer-wielding member of the Bloodpack with Maori facial tattoos.
• Tony Curran as Priest: A Scottish-accented member of the Bloodpack.
• Santiago Segura as Rush: A vampire flunky in Prague.

Production

Guillermo del Toro was hired to direct Blade II by New Line production president Michael De Luca.^[2] Tippett Studio provided Computer Graphic visual effects, including digital doubles of some of the characters.^[3]

Release

Blade II was released on March 22, 2002. This was during a period of the year (months March and April) considered to be a bad time for sequels to be released.^[4] Despite this, the film became the most successful film of the Blade series, making $80 million in the United States and $150 million worldwide. In its opening weekend, the film earned $32,528,016 from 2,707 theaters^[5] but dropped 59% of its earnings in its second week, which brought in $13.2 million. The intake is believed to be affected (in part) by the pull of NCAA basketball Final Four games.^[6] The film debuted in the United Kingdom at number one, making $3.6 million from 355 theatres^[7] and held the spot for the following week, where it had earned $7.9 million, despite a 47% decline. The film was also number one in Singapore, making $214,000 from 30 theatres.^[8]

Deleted scenes

On the New Line Platinum Series DVD, it contains several deleted scenes, including:

• An extended opening scene establishing Prague.
• A flashback sequence showing Blade's first encounter with Whistler, part of which can be seen in the film's title credits.
• An extended version of the ninja fight in the warehouse, with Blade using some fencing tactics to keep Asad at bay.
• A scene of Whistler shying away from the growing daylight outside.
• An alternate take of Blade's first meeting with Damaskinos, with Damaskinos wearing, according to Guillermo del Toro, a "Michael Bolton wig".
• A scene in which Damaskinos explains the effects vampirism has had on him.
• A much longer version of the House of Pain sequence, including a scene with Nyssa finding a room upstairs with a man unpacking human entrails from a box.
• A line by Whistler about "the power of the pussy".
• A Bloodpack "meeting" of sorts, with Chupa attempting to urge the others to kill Blade and go after the Reapers on their own.
• A scene in a bathroom after the "House of Pain" sequence of Lighthammer discovering how far his infection (with the Reaper strain) has gone.
• An extended scene of Damaskinos' dinner and blood bath, in which he talks about the fate of his human heart.
• An extended scene of the lawyer's torture from Blade.

Reception

Reaction to Blade II among critics has been mixed. The film earned a 59% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.^[9] Roger Ebert gave the film 3½ stars out of 4, stating: "Blade II is a really rather brilliant vomitorium of viscera, a comic book with dreams of becoming a textbook for mad surgeons."^[10] Conversely, James Berardinelli gave the film 2½ stars out of 4, stating: "Blade II is for those undiscriminating movie-goers who want nothing more from a trip to the multiplex than loud, raucous, mindless entertainment."^[11]

Soundtrack

Main article: Blade II (soundtrack)

References

1. ^ Bill Higgins (April 1, 2002). "A party with a bite". Variety. http://www.variety.com/vstory/VR1117864777.html. Retrieved 2008-12-13. 
2. ^ Michael Fleming (March 25, 2002). "Helmer scales mountains". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117864489.html. Retrieved 2008-12-13. 
3. ^ Ellen Wolff (July 21, 2002). "Artists flaunt character development at confab". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117870028.html. Retrieved 2008-12-16. 
4. ^ Variety staff (March 22, 2002). "Weekend Box Office Preview (March 22, 2002)". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117864344.html. Retrieved 2008-12-13. 
5. ^ "Blade II". Box Office Mojo. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=blade2.htm. Retrieved 2008-12-13. 
6. ^ Dave McNary (March 31, 2002). "Col's "Room" at the top". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117864637.html. Retrieved 2008-12-13. 
7. ^ Don Groves (April 1, 2002). ""Ice" the rage o'seas". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117864735.html. Retrieved 2008-12-13. 
8. ^ Don Groves (April 8, 2002). ""Ice" ages well overseas". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117865094.html. Retrieved 2008-12-13. 
9. ^ "Blade 2 Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/blade_2_bloodhunt/. Retrieved 2011-01-06. 
10. ^ "Blade II :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews". Rogerebert.suntimes.com. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20020322/REVIEWS/203220301/1023. Retrieved 2011-01-06. 
11. ^ "Blade II - Reelviews Movie Reviews - James Berardinelli". Reelviews.net. http://www.reelviews.net/movies/b/blade2.html. Retrieved 2011-01-06. 

External links

• Official website
• Blade II script
• Blade II at AllRovi
• Blade II at Box Office Mojo
• Blade II at the Internet Movie Database
• Blade II at Marvel.com
• Blade II at Metacritic
• Blade II at Rotten Tomatoes