PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Blade 2 was more than a sequel. The opening scene to the first Blade film is one of the greatest scenes in horror history, a very bold statement that I will defend until the end. Watching it was one of the few moments in my adult life where I found the pusher that gave me that first horror hit, and I relished a high that I hadn’t had in a long, long time. There’s an underbelly of vampire conspiracy that most are completely oblivious to, and bloodsuckers walk among them, indiscriminately picking them off like tender grapes. It was terrifying, and anyone that could appreciate that concept had to have more.
The timing couldn’t have been better. Horror fanatic turned film auteur Guillermo del Toro was in a sweet spot to take the helm for the sequel. He had already done some really innovative indie and wide release stuff, like Cronos, which is as about an innovative vampire flick that you would ever want to see. He had also done a studio creature feature film with Mimic. Using him for the sequel was both a bold move and a very sensible one as well. In retrospect, after seeing it bookended with first and third films, it’s very different and totally supports my theory that the part 2 of anything is always its own unique island.
I should’ve given full disclosure earlier. Blade is my favorite superhero above Batman, Superman, and anyone else in the Marvel or DC universe. That’s what he is, the sweet spot of standard comics they are making films about, all those horror comics that were my absolute favorite, ones that you really had to dig to find. He’s perfect. This character is everything that is great about action, blaxploitation, and horror rolled into one of the most perfect casting choices ever.
Wesley Snipes was born to play Blade, and he did it with a consummate mastery. I wish he had done at least one more. It’s a little surprising that Kris Kristofferson was back for this sequel. I was initially shocked that he did the first one. Kristofferson is a bit of legend. Whistler wasn’t in the pre-film comics. He made his first appearance in the animated series and was voiced by Malcolm McDowell. I like the fact that Kristofferson plays him a little rough around the edges. His chemistry with Snipes is serendipitous and made the audience believe that the only thing that stands between us and the vampire apocalypse is a really smooth half vampire and a handy old guy wearing a Carhartt vest.
Guillermo del Toro loved the first Blade and saw it as a vibrant canvas of dark possibilities for the sequel. We get another surprise just like the first film as we open in what seems like a normal blood bank. The first film’s opener is impossible to top, but this one is great, too. Blade is in Eastern Europe where he’s found Whistler. Some exposition in the beginning lets us know he’s been looking for a while. The vampires have him and have been moving around a lot. Whistler then finds his temporary replacement with a pre-fame Norman Reedus. **Spoiler** This is the only film or series that I know of where you will want to see Norman Reedus die.
Some may think that Hostel made Eastern Europe scary in modern times, but anytime I see a 600 year old building with neon above the door and techno music throbbing out of it, I automatically assume it’s full of vampires posing as humans. The atmosphere for Blade 2 is far more gothic but twinged with a modern Euro trash accent. The club where they encountered the reaper vampires looks stately in some shots and dirty and sweaty in others. This film was in the old country where vampires began and where their base still is, but now with a lot of glow sticks and pleather outfits.
Even though it’s been 20 years since the film’s release on March 21, 2002, I’m going spoiler free as much as I can. What makes Blade 2 a del Toro film is the reaper strain plotline. Reapers are a deadlier strain of vampires that aren’t nearly as romantic and beautiful. Calling them crack addicts with superpowers would be more correct. This nasty new enemy forces Blade and his associates into an uneasy alliance with the vampire ruling body. Their vampire lawyers make total sense and are a nice touch to the vampire world conspiracy that makes Blade’s world so terrifying and makes him so noble, a lone and incorruptible hero against any army of evil with Whistler being the only one he can absolutely trust.
Guillermo del Toro has said that Blade 2 is his black metal movie, dark and nihilistic, and I agree. There never seems to be a happy ending with these films. I love all the Blade flicks. This one isn’t even my favorite, but it has its own vibe, a little of a product of its time. The Blood Pack looks a little like Lestat’s band in Queen of the Damned. I mean that as a compliment. Vampires were about to get shiny, but they never are with any Blade film. They’re selfish, merciless, and ugly as their true selves, and Blade is there to take them out while the rest of us vilify him or think he’s crazy. Blade 2 nailed the archetype of the dark martyr antihero that makes Blade such a phenomenal character. I hope we get that in future incarnations.
