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BLADE II Reviewed by c johnson I didn't see the first installment of this sci-fi/horror series, the manager at Electronics Boutique who I've known for years at his point, recommended Blade II. I was trying to talk to him about the importance of Nintendo's"Animal Crossing" and he was like: "That's cool man, but I'm really way more into Blade II." This caught my attention. Move to a couple of months later, a cold late October night in the woods. I made a huge dinner (a full chicken, a bottle of wine and a box of rice), and basically am blowing off moving out of the house I've been in for 2 and a half years. PPV has been really hooking my up lately - I ordered WWE's NoMercy a couple of nights previous - and basically eat and watch violence. I recommend it. So I give Blade II a shot - I don't really like Wesley Snipes - he's pretty much Steven Seagal with a cut-up afro. You know what to expect from this caliber: dumb one-liners like "I don't make trash, I burn it." and then punch the bad guy in the face. Most of the movies I've seen with him in have been retarded spy/action movies that make no sense. But wait, Kris Kristofferson. I love that guy - he's one of those people I really don't have anything against - he didn't go through a bad 80's period where he made dumb beach movies. His music is great, though I can't really remember any of his popular country songs- he seems like a real honest artist who takes himself pretty seriously. What the hell is he doing in Blade? It opens quickly - within two minutes Wesley's Blade explains everything that happened in Blade I and how he kills vampires. No problem - Kris Kristofferson is his tech support buddy - and apparently he got caught in Blade I and helped the vampires try to kill Blade. Blade is in Eastern Europe trying to save his buddy. Nice - I'm a huge fan of Eastern Europe. Where the hell is this movie going? Oh, and Blade is half vampire. I think this played a big part in the first movie - already been covered, it doesn't slow this killing machine/movie down. The next scene introduces us to the new bad guy - you thought vampires were bad ass - you have no idea. This guy is the leader of animals who basically eat vampires by ripping his chin open and a snake/tongue hooks into vampires throats. Holy shit - this is insane, the whole snake/tongue angle is really disturbing - takes the whole sexuality/vampirism thing to a whole other level that really made me uncomfortable. The poor vampires are basically raped and killed by this new animal/killing machine. So the head vampire employs a ninja/vampire team to get Blade and Kristofferson to join in the fight against these new monsters. Big shoot-out/gore fest in Eastern European rave (great call), big fight in castle, back-stabbing by the Vampires, more killing, small love interest for my man Blade (don't slow this fucker down), killing, blown up bodies, holy shit this movie had me by the goddamn throat! I should make a quick mention about the soundtrack - really good hip hop MCs and rave artists. Along the lines of Judgement Day from the late 80's, which hooked contemporary hip hop artists with grunge and metal artists, the results are surprisingly awesome. Mos Def has the main song of the film, I don't know who his rave partner is, and secures his role as a really diverse, really talented microphone master. All right - I'm going to wrap this up with two major points about the improtance of this movie:1) Special Effects - A big piece of the film is the effect of sunlight on vampires - predictable and could basically have ruined the whole movie by a recurring theme. Nope - when sunlight hits a vampire or alien/vampire it has different effects - from absolutely blowing up in a beautiful shower of sparks, skeleton and flesh to gently disintegrating, beautifully in the morning sun. Its really amazing. Other key effects have the vampires running around on the walls like spiders which looks totally amazing.2) What is this movie? - I have no idea what the budget for this movie was -but I think its proof of how far we've come as a entertainment culture. Its a B-movie that could have come out 20 years ago and would have completely SUCKED. But it comes out and 2000 and its amazing to watch - visually. Video games and movies have been hooking up since the mid-80's. Its interesteing to watch the cross-over - from Super Mario Bros in the mid-80'swith Dennis Hopper and Bob Hoskins to that crazy japanimation monster Final Fantasy from a year ago. Entertainment feeding on itself, not unlike an alien/vampire feeding on a lesser vampire, has gotten to the point where amazing pieces of art are being made. We are entering a really weird chapter in our culture and personally, I'm preparing by living in the woods eating chickens and plugging into the wildest, most violent stuff we have to offer. |
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