A Blade Needs Only One Edge

A great director can make a great movie from a terrible screenplay, a good example being 2002's Blade II. David Goyer's screenplay is intensely stupid but director Guillermo del Toro overpowers the force of stupidity with atmosphere, pacing, composition, and a pure instinct for horror.

The first film was distinguished by exceptionally pathetic vampires. The second film solves this problem by introducing a new strain of mutant vampires who are much stronger, faster, and scarier.

Their mouths open up like the Predator and they have a second inner mouth like the alien from Alien. There's even a great dissection scene reminiscent of the facehugger dissection.

And the action scenes are terrific. Donnie Yen is sadly underused but Wesley Snipes and his stunt doubles could move appreciably fast. There are a few bits of outdated cgi but not enough to be a serious flaw.

Even though it doesn't make any sense, Kris Kristofferson returns from the first film, where he was clearly killed. But it's good to see him. Ron Perlman and Norman Reedus are both welcome additions who add a lot to the film. The latter character is part of a twist that makes absolutely no sense but he's also in a great scene where the mutant vampires lay siege to his van.

Mostly the makeup and special effects hold up perfectly.

Blade II is available on Netflix in Japan.

His Name was a Sharp Cutting Edge

Wesley Snipes beats down vampires in 1998's Blade. Poorly written and with average direction, this one at least has some good action sequences and good performances.

Snipes sure is great as Blade. Adopting a gravelly voice and stoic demeanour--broken up by the occasional wicked grin--he's believably intimidating and quite fast with his fists.

Kris Kristofferson is captivating as his mentor, Abraham Whistler, and Stephen Dorff, as the villain, Deacon Frost, isn't too bad. He has a somewhat Near Dark/Lost Boys punk vampire vibe which jives with him leading a coup against the "pureblood" vampires led by Udo Kier.

Kier is playing another laughably ineffectual vampire here, similar to the one he played in Blood for Dracula. Only in Blood for Dracula, there was a point to it and at least that character attempted to put up a fight. As Dorff asserts his dominance, the purebloods placidly but uncomfortably shuffle to their dooms with the attitudes of tourists being told they can't take the scenic route.

It's nice to revisit some typical '90s production design but, I must say, there's an awful lot of paper in this fantasy version of New York, or whatever city it's supposed to be.

Blade is available on Netflix in Japan.