A bit less bite

Lovers: taken from IMDB
“OK i gotta say this film totally kicks a*s!! i mean i love ALL the blade films,and its not often a sequel is good but blade 2 was excellent and a third to be successful...amazing!!this film was different to the other 2 yeah,but it had to be!it seemed to me that it had to do something different to the other 2, so it was more real world,real life and it definitely got away with it. Wesley snipes played blade just as good as ever,with an extra bit of humour to gave it that bit more. ryan reynolds,an assett to the film,not the typical "super-hero" guy,more down to earth yet kicked butt in his fights,jessica biel,fantastic as there was a woman who was equal to the men and just owned the part! an awesome film,could watch it time and time again. very impressed for a third film! the writer did a great job in creating a new blade film with different,more realistic scenes and storyline. BRILLIANT!”

From even someone who loved blade this is a bit too much praise for what is a mediocre film.

Haters: again taken from IMDB
“But trinity...wow. I'm surprised that Blade didn't have nipples on his costume with the immediate decay of the quality of the franchise. The responsibility lies completely on David Goyer as he finally was given the chance to direct he series he has written since it's inception. This film felt like it should have been on Sci-Fi channel or FX. Those good old days of Blade kicking ass are gone, replaced by Jessica Biel and Ryan Reynolds beating down brittle MTV vampires that couldn't hold a candle to Stephen Dorff's Deacon Frost. I don't even remember seeing Blade fight Dracula, with all the action geared towards his new sidekicks. That's like a Batman movie with Robin as the star. David Goyer now says he'd like to direct Thor......comic fans around the world should now panic as to what he sets his sights on next.”

I have to agree with this one, it’s a Blade film so why did we not see more of Blade?

What I think:
I have to say all things considered I don’t think it was a terrible movie, it would have been nice to see more of blade and it doesn’t really make sense that the human characters are all of a sudden kicking vampire butt. Though Ryan Reynolds is brilliant at these kinds of wise cracking roles and does throw an element previously ruined in its predecessors into the mix; humour. Though this one does seem like the MTV version of Blade, with new weapons that don’t really make any sense at all to ipods shamefully being plugged! The most annoying thing for me is the hyper reality I have spoken about before, in this film when Drake (Dracula) goes for a stroll amongst us lower mortals there is an element of this. It is done so badly it’s almost painful to watch and looks more like a really poor pop video.

There are redeeming factors; the action is once again very entertaining. Ryan Reynolds is a very funny guy and a sequence when Dracula lays waste to the Nightstalkers and a blind mother is done quite well, not scary but looks good. All in all this franchise is a good one for no brains action as the films go on, it’s always good revisiting the first one and nice even if isn’t done as well to follow the character.

Style over substance

Lovers: A rather blunt opinion from a user on I MDB
“I would like to express my bewilderment towards people who do not enjoy, or even like, the action genre, yet choose to see these movies just so they can criticize them for their shallow plot lines and general brainlessness. Moreover, it greatly annoys and perplexes me that these people then use their "expertise" to rate these movies poorly, and thus enforce the impression that we are, in fact, dealing with a lousy piece of movie-making, when the actual truth is that these people prefer films of completely different genres.”

This guy is being as bad as the people he puts down here, I think he just needs to realise that movies a lot more relative than he thinks. He does have a point though; Blade 2 is very entertaining and completely dumb all at the same time!

Haters: another blunt point of view from those lovely users at IMDB
“Of course, if you enjoy big screen depictions of violence and gore, even ones that aren't that well done, you may just enjoy this. If you like some pretty nauseating, excessive images, you are as they say, quids in. But don't tell me this is a good film. It is undoubtedly an awful, decidedly ugly one, that fails on all counts.”

Again a very extreme view, impressive word use though! Nauseating, brilliant!

What I think:
I think Blade 2 first and foremost is not as good as the first film, its more about all out wall to the wall action in this one than anything else. The first blade film had a very distinct style to it, dark and foreboding look coupled with hyper reality moments whenever you entered the vampire world. This was dropped in favour of a slicker vehicle. Much like Blade himself who blows kisses to his car it’s all about style, from a long coat that now has red interior (see what they’re doing there?), to a team of vampires fitting all stereotypes! Even in the shots, mouthing “What the f*ck” or catching the shades does the style very much change.

It gives you an idea of the movie you’re watching; style over substance and if you do like you action bloody and violent then Blade 2 is up your street. Personally though I prefer the darker approach, the style adds to the kick ass action and makes the characters much more watchable. In this film you don’t really care about any of the characters. Thought credit must be given to Luke Goss who plays his character of used and rejected son very well only wish he had more screen time. For a Guillermo Del Toro film this is a big disappointment it has to be said.

A New Direction.

I have decided to take Beeonfilm in a new direction by dividing my reviews into three sections. These sections are Lovers, Haters and what I thought. The idea being that you get a better all round idea of what everyone thought of that particular film. Instead of describing it to you here is that format fitted to the first Blade film…

Lovers: Taken From an avid fan on IMDB
“This film is superb! Wesley Snipes Plays Blade the vampire hunter with pure class, he kicks butt in such a fluid and violent way that would make Bruce Lee proud. The movie is a fast paced, thrill ride of action and superb stunts. The first action scene and last are outstanding and Wesley looks like a Terminator as he runs around wiping out all suck heads. The script is pretty good and there is sharp dialogue too. Wesley should have done more action films than he has, i know he is a very good actor and in this he is not streched as much as in his more comic or drama roles but as far as action stars go he is the best actor of them all, only Bruce Willis, Stallone and perhaps Tom Cruise (if he counts as an action star) come close. Also aswell as Wesley being quality, Steven Dorff is also very good as the bad guy. It was an unexpected surprise that someone of small stature compared to Snipes should come across as menacing, but he does. Overall the film is sharp, stylish and i hope the sequal is done with the same sort of pace”

Now I can see where this guy is coming from, all the blade films are action packed and fun to watch. I probably wouldn’t go as far as to say superb but its fun.

Haters: Taken from a plot revealing hater on IMDB
"Blade seemed too unbeatable. He also beat the Blood God too easily. I can accept that sunblock protected Frost's skin from the sun, but what about his eyes? And when did he suddenly gain the ability to dodge bullets? Although Blade is heavily outnumbered by vampires every time he fights them, he's never attacked by more than one vampire at a time while others patiently wait their turn. It's an old cliche, but it's so obvious here it ain't even funny. Maybe I missed something but weren't the council members an essential element in the process of raising the Blood God? Yet even though one of them was killed by Frost's girlfriend the ritual goes through without any problems. Blade killing his mother with a bone? etc. Some scenes in "Blade" look like they've been heavily "inspired" by The Matrix, but since it came out only 6 six months later I can't really say it was a rip-off.”

Extremely interesting points of view in this one, I have always been troubled by the fact Deacon Frost can magically survive in sunlight if he wear’s sun block! He also points out the other obvious plot holes. Personally I just think he’s nit picking in what ultimately is an entertaining film.

What I Think:
Blade is a great film; it has kiss ass action with over the top bad guys. It also has an element of hyper reality which is used brilliantly to show the difference between the vampire world and our world, it was strangely dropped from Blade 2 and put back in rather unceremoniously into the third Blade but that’s for another time! It was the first comic book film to have above average production value and the first really well received, so in a sense it started what has become a money making machine! As far as the vampire genre goes Blade trumps must of them on entertainment.