Blade 2 2002

Chris Fujiwara, Boston Globe: Any subtlety, mystery, or surprise present in the first film is gone. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: ... del Toro maintains a dark mood that makes the film seem like something to endure instead of enjoy. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: A pleasurably jacked-up piece of action moviemaking. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: The fight scenes are fun, but it grows tedious. Read more

Robert K. Elder, Chicago Tribune: Against the rest of his dramatically flimsy crew, Snipes' sunglasses-at-midnight strut conveys an almost lifelike sheen. Almost. He's more alive than the movie, which is dead on arrival. Read more

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times: ... Blade II is more enjoyable than the original. Read more

Jay Boyar, Orlando Sentinel: This movie's greatest strengths and weaknesses are in its action scenes. Read more

Tom Maurstad, Dallas Morning News: Everything that was right about Blade is wrong in its sequel. Read more

Elvis Mitchell, New York Times: A B picture in love with the zest of its comic-book origins, it embodies that medium's pulse-pounding spiritedness and silliness. Read more

Ted Shen, Chicago Reader: Everything gets bogged down in one spectacularly gory action sequence after another. Read more

Melanie McFarland, Seattle Times: There's no seduction here, no build. You might leave feeling strangely sucked dry. Read more

Joe Leydon, Variety: The borderline-chaotic fight scenes, set to a deafeningly loud rap-rock/heavy metal score, are directed and edited for maximum kinetic impact. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: The world can always use another entertainingly trashy B-movie, and Blade II fits the bill. Read more

Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle: This film seems interested only in wowing us with stunts, makeup, special effects and plot twists that we see coming for miles. Read more

Paul Clinton (CNN.com), CNN.com: Blade II is almost excessively violent -- OK, it is excessively violent -- but that's exactly what Snipes and Blade fans want. Believe me, they get it. Read more

David Germain, Associated Press: Blade II is a better vampire movie than recent entries such as Queen of the Damned or Dracula 2000. That said, Wesley Snipes' return as slayer of the undead still is fairly anemic. Read more

Steven Rosen, Denver Post: If you can keep your eyes open amid all the blood and gore, you'll see Del Toro has brought unexpected gravity to Blade II. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: [Del Toro's] heavy-handed embrace of the Blade mythology allows Wesley Snipes to give more of a performance than he did in the first film. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: This isn't a horror movie with enough emotional resonance to cause nightmares, but it may inspire you to take a long bath before going to bed. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: Del Toro is a stylish horrormeister, and he has created an evocative, foreboding atmosphere. But only a fan of this kind of mayhem could find a way into the story. And only a critic, sworn to serve, could stick it out to the end. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Blade II is for those undiscriminating movie-goers who want nothing more from a trip to the multiplex than loud, raucous, mindless entertainment. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: An improvement on Blade (1998), which was pretty good. Read more

Laura Miller, Salon.com: Why spend $9 on the same stuff you can get for a buck or so in that greasy little vidgame pit in the theater lobby? Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: It's a bad action movie because there's no rooting interest and the spectacle is grotesque and boring. Read more

David Edelstein, Slate: There's no script to speak of, but del Toro devises every battle to wow even the most jaded martial-arts mavens; the dissolutions and implosions are beautiful. Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: Relieved of the action-stalling expository responsibility that dogs so many movies based on superhero comics, Blade 2 goes straight for the jugular. Read more

Tom Charity, Time Out: Stripped down to such basics as story and dialogue, it's nothing to get excited about. Read more

Mike Clark, USA Today: Action-packed but ugly, the movie hasn't a shred of dead or undead humanity aside from a few funny insults. Read more

Mark Holcomb, Village Voice: The only dread it inspires is in the possibility that its director prefers turning human flesh into CGI-enhanced mush over exploring genuinely frightening material. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: Fluid, fast and fun. Read more

Stephen Hunter, Washington Post: Ghastly yet wonderful at the same time. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: No one seems to be having much fun, with the possible exception of Kris Kristofferson, who is back as Blade's venerable human sidekick, Whistler. The film finds few variations on the themes of run, kick, chomp and gulp. Read more