Blade II

Back in the halcyon summer of 1998, "Blade" reminded us all that vampires were not the seductive presences Anne Rice novels had made them out to be, but a seething mass of blood-sucking decadence that could only be stopped by the title character, as played by Wesley Snipes with wraparound shades, a really cool blade and about forty-seven guns. Four years later, Snipes has returned with "Blade II" to make sure we don't forget that lesson.

However, he hasn't returned with his original director. Stephen Norrington showed a sure hand and a keen aesthetic sense on "Blade," and it was somewhat surprising that Guillermo del Toro replaced him for "Blade II." What results is a different film, looser, more relentless, somewhat less inventive and more overtly spectacular than the original. In the end, though, Snipes kicks as much ass as ever, del Toro shows skills no one thought he had, and "Blade II" (dare one say it?) manages to vault over the incredibly high bar set by its predecessor.

Blade, of course, has all the powers vampires do but isn't affected by silver, garlic or sunlight, all of which he uses to mow down his vampiric enemies like the wastes of formerly-human flesh they are. Here, he's actually been approached by the blood-sucking freaks to help annihilate a new predator, the Reaper, who (in a welcome reversal) loves to sup on vampire blood, supposedly due to a mutation in the virus that causes vampirism. (You do not have to know a lot about virology to enjoy this movie. In fact, it might help if you don't.)

The setup fairly screams treachery, especially since Blade will be working with a group of heavily armed vampires who have been training to kill him for two years and cannot resist delivering poorly coded racial insults upon meeting him. They also deliver unremitting abuse to Blade's mentor Whistler (Kris Kristofferson) while treating his new helper Scud (Norman Reedus) with odd tolerance.

But Blade joins up anyway, thinking he can get deeper into the vampire world. Sure enough, the vampires have darker designs to pursue, designs that can only be stopped if Blade can somehow summon the courage, guile and skill to kill everyone he sees.

Of course, this is Wesley Snipes we're talking about. If we were all actually being judged not on the color of our skin but the content of our character, Snipes would have been anointed as Schwarzenegger's heir a long time ago, because there is no finer emotionless killing machine in action films today. Admittedly, Blade is slightly less impassive in this sequel, finding it in himself to make jokes and show traces of human emotion occasionally, and Snipes seems to enjoy doing these things.

But Snipes shows his true skills when hitting people with ground-shaking strength, coolly executing wild combinations of acrobatic karate moves, and grimly setting his jaw as he prepares for another round of fighting mutants and freaks. He's aided by special effects, but such is the sheer power of Snipes that you never doubt that he can actually do all that stuff, at least while you're watching.

Impressively, del Toro makes the rest of the film as grim and visceral as Snipes. You have to love globalization sometimes; del Toro is a Mexican working in America who somehow learned to direct a Hong Kong action film without sacrificing his own peculiar Gothic sensibility, and that is what "Blade II" is. The influence of Tsui Hark, especially, shows up in some of the more protracted battle scenes, while imagery for the Reaper is borrowed from Ridley Scott's "Alien." However, the basic visuals - dank, shadowed and grimy, yet with rich, seductive coloration and intricate architectural detail - are all del Toro (with help from cinematographer Gabriel Beristain), and the synthesis is thrilling; "Blade II" is both dark to the core and light on its feet, just as it should be. It's less subtle than "Blade," but hell, that ain't bad.

del Toro has also borrowed from Sergio Leone ("The Good, the Bad and the Ugly") the trick of finding characterfully ugly faces and photographing them so as to bring out their manliness. Ron Perlman deserves mention as Rienhardt, one of Blade's arch-nemeses who, despite his bulging muscles and utter disrespect for morality, is doomed to die because his shades are not as cool as Blade's. Luke Goss brings athleticism and homeliness to his role as Nomak, the original Reaper, both of which are appropriate as he alternately disgusts and terrifies his prey. And Kristofferson has never been doughtier or more profane than he is in this movie, to great manly effect.

"Blade II" is not only the best pure action film of this year, it surpasses all the pure action films of last year. There's nothing more to say but: Lock and load, ladies and gentlemen, it's vampire-hunting season.

SHAKESPEARE REFERENCE ALERT

As the camera moves over vampire headquarters, the name "Caliban Industries" flashes by, so quickly you can barely see it. I am not sure what the "Tempest" reference is doing in this film, seeing as how most of its polysyllables are either virological or inventively profane, but there it is. Mostly, it marks yet another time when the estimable Robert Kahn and I turned to each other in the knowledge that a reference had just been made that very, very few other people in the theater actually understood. It seems to happen a lot to me.

MLK JR. REFERENCE EXPLANATION

I honestly think Wesley Snipes is almost as good right now as Arnold was when he was in his prime - and Arnold, in case you haven't noticed, is no longer in his prime. But when you read articles about the action-film industry, they all wonder where the new stars are coming from. They think Ben Affleck will be their savior now, because he's in the new Tom Clancy adaptation. Or they debate about the wisdom of relying on Asian imports like Jet Li and Jackie Chan. I don't want to malign any of these men, who have all made impressive contributions to the action canon, but the fact is that Wesley Snipes is doing it right now, and he deserves to be in these discussions. End rant.

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