Blade (Wesley Snipes) rescues Whistler (Kris Kristofferson) from one of the vampire's tanks and turns him back into human. Scud (Norman Reedus) is Blade's new human sidekick. There is a new form of mutant vampires called The Reaper. They are even more powerful than the regular vampires. Blade must form an alliance with the Shadow Council to battle this new threat. He teams up with the elite vampire team The Bloodpack.

The new type of vampires look alright. There is more CGI blood and a higher body count. The fights are back. I guess if blood, kills, and fights are what you're looking for. And why not. Then this movie has it all and more of it. However I don't particularly like the CGI fights. They look like a video game. I always prefer the real hand-to-hand combat stunts. The other thing that irked me is the quick return of Whistler. While it's understandable to revive Whistler, it was done so quickly that it strikes a sour note. Those are annoying enough for me to marginally vote this down.

That's the kind of humor G. del Toro uses here. Apart from his apparent (and on the DVD Extras much discussed) affinity for a special body part, he introduces us to a new villain here. Now of course you will say, this makes sense, a new chapter, a new villain. But this is an entirely different kind of villain. A villain that will force Blade to do something he(we) never thought he would do ...

Apart from the balls out action, the movie will have the tongue in cheek humor too. What it doesn't have, is a story. So yes you could dismiss the movie because of that. But why hating, if you can just enjoy this crazy wicked piece of film. That's what I did, because the movie never ever let's you think otherwise. So it obtains and stays this way from beginning to the end. So if the movie doesn't take itself seriously (and that in an excellent way),why would you want to do that?

Finally, a great popcorn flick that's an improvement over the original movie and offers up an often stunning combination of the action and horror genres to great effect. BLADE II, like its predecessor but more so, skilfully combines full-blooded gory horror with some excellent martial arts choreography, here done by Donnie Yen who also appears in a minor role. Although the plot is fairly predictable stuff, sometimes rehashing scenes in the original movie except with different places and characters, and the various plot twists are a little contrived at times, this is never anything less than very entertaining. Sometimes it may be silly but that's part of the charm. Never has there been such a combination of the ultra-cool (the action) with the ultra-cheesy (Snipes posturing wildly, e.g. the hilarious "sunglasses throw"),a combination which makes BLADE II a more satisfying film than the original -which is no mean feat in itself.

The director is the acclaimed Mexican Guillermo del Toro, who brings his usual visual artistry (the world in which the film takes place is a dark, Gothic, decaying netherworld of ugliness and filth),plot elements (scary transforming monsters, mechanical devices which attach themselves to people and don't come off) and actors - yep, Ron Perlman is back from CRONOS and used to good effect once more. Starting with a wild action sequence in which Snipes takes on a pack of motorbike-riding vampires, the film rarely slows down, offering up some great set-pieces like the vampire's rave, the sewer hunt and the over-the-top finale. Influences from the likes of ALIENS and PREDATOR are evident but staged differently enough to avoid being too similar or noticeable to ruin the flow of the film.

My love of the martial arts is quickly growing and BLADE II offers some fantastically-choreographed fights and swordplay. Incredibly fast moves and hits are seamlessly blended with CGI characters (to do those moves which truly are impossible for human actors to perform) and the result is adrenaline-pumping action highlighted by an appropriately pumping score. I really was on the edge of my seat for the vampire-busting antics and kept on looking forward to the next scene, and the next. The final one-on-one, in particular, is spellbinding stuff. Nice to see that they threw a few wrestling moves in there too to keep things fresh and entertaining (!). Wesley Snipes effortlessly slides back into the character of Blade and it's nice to see he doesn't take things quite so seriously this time around; however, his screen presence and talented handling of the action makes him a hero to be proud of.

As for the horror-side of the film, well this is where things start getting really nasty. Forget the vampires from the first film (who now become normal, everyday kind of menaces),the newly-designed Reapers are a horrific bunch of subhuman-looking creatures who have a really disgusting surprise hidden up their sleeves which I don't want to spoil too much (other than to say there are some great shocks in store for the first-time viewer). The gore and violence is played to the hilt and this is a film packed with people being sliced in half, having half of their heads cut off (really sickening bit there),throats torn out and blood spraying all over the shop. Plus plenty of the usual arm-snapping, neck-breaking and bullet-busting everyday kind of film violence. The vampire destruction sequences, showing the creatures burning into skeletons and exploding into ashes, are truly spectacular and a delight to watch. Here's a film where I can 100% recommend the excellent CGI effects used - and I never thought I'd get a chance to say that (not a big fan of computer effects at all, but they work really well here - congrats to all involved).

Cast-wise, it's nice to see Kris Kristofferson back in shape (although the movie doesn't do a very good job of explaining his back-from-the-dead presence),although there's another unnecessary and frankly unwanted love interest in Leonor Varela. Norman Reedus makes for a likable accomplice, Scud, despite being a bit of a geek, but the most surprising thing is that the chief nasty vampire (a really evil-looking screen villain) is played well by Luke Goss, also known as one of the members of '80s boy band Bros! A nice mixture of talent is evident in the vampire cast members, with actors ranging from the aforementioned Ron Perlman (as impassive as ever),to Donnie Yen, to Danny John-Jules (another British celebrity turned Hollywood star) to THE STENDHAL SYNDROME's Thomas Kretschmann. Although it never goes any deeper than being a purely visual display of effects and action, BLADE II is a solid and above-average entry in the action/horror genre and even something of a minor classic. Definitely a film that can be enjoyed more than once so a full recommendation to this one.