Blade forms an uneasy alliance with the vampire council in order to combat the Reapers, who are feeding on vampires.
With “Blade” being a global success a sequel was inevitable, 4 years later we finally got it.
At first I was disappointed that Director Stephen Norrington didn’t return as he turned down the offer as he wanted to move onto other things. Luckily one of my all time favourite directors, Guillermo del Toro, took on the job. His attention to detail runs so deep in his films and it pays off massively every time, it most certainly did for this film.
Wesley Snipes has openly admitted this is his personal favorite “Blade” movie and you can see why, this film delves deep into many different mythologies, something Del Toro is known for doing. He makes “Blade” adapt to his own style and it does so with ease, it’s just a perfect matching that seemed to bring out the best in everyone and as a viewer that’s great.
We see Del Toro regular Ron Perlman appear in this feature and he does a great job, something you expect of him and his acting caliber. Also for you eagle eyed viewers you will spot a young “Walking Dead” star Norman Reedus and also for even more eagle eyed viewers you’ll also see “Red Dwarf” star Danny John-Jules which makes me smile every time I watch it.
Whilst this film is mine and a lot of fans favourite of the franchise, it’s not without it’s faults. The CGI is, well in all honesty it’s terrible, which can be distracting at times. The acting ventures into the ‘hammy’ territory at times, but despite this it most definitely proved itself to be a worthy sequel, this was a big rarity back then as sequels were usually met with groans due to their reputation.
“Blade II” is a fun sequel, if you enjoyed the first film you’ll love this one.
Miscellaneous facts about the film:
Scud wears a T-shirt featuring the logo of the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense, a reference to Mike Mignola’s Hellboy (2004) comic, the film adaptation of which Guillermo del Toro directed and Ron Perlman starred in.
The idea of the reapers having stingers coming out of the mouth were inspired by polish folktales where the vampires had a stinger or “finger” coming out of the mouth that they used to suck blood rather than use teeth like the Balkan genus that is the greatest influence on the modern vampire mythology.
Over 30 members of the cast and crew were temporarily blinded by the misuse of UV lights in the vampire autopsy scene.
Tim Curry was considered for Damaskinos.
Asia Argento, Kristanna Loken, Elena Anaya, and Rhona Mitra were all considered for the role of Nyssa.
Donnie Yen, a martial arts star who plays a member of the Bloodpack (Snowman), was also the film’s fight choreographer.
Pop Icon Michael Jackson was originally going to have a cameo in the “House of Pain” sequence as a “Vampire Pimp” that Nyssa encounters as she searches the upstairs hall. Jackson had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts and the part was played by a Czech actor. The sequence was ultimately cut out entirely for pacing reasons.
The only movie in the Blade trilogy that used its original written ending. Blade (1998) and Blade: Trinity (2004) went through reshoots to improve and/or replace their respective original climaxes.
Wesley Snipes was not always available for each day of filming for this movie, which came out in 2002. During 2002, Wesley starred in 3 other films aside from Blade 2. Instead of waiting for Wesley to become available, the crew shot another actor (who was not Wesley’s stunt double) for scenes where it was not necessary to see Wesley’s face. The first scene being where Blade, Scud. and Nyssa are riding in the helicopter to meet Damaskinos. The second was after Nyssa performed an autopsy on the dead reaper and confronts Blade in his quarters about his attitude toward the Bloodpack.
When Damaskinos mentions the virus that causes vampirism, he says “parvovirus”, though the closed captioning says “horrible virus” because of the obscurity of the term. Parvovirus IS a true virus type, and meets all the requirements for creating vampires in a fictional environment. The term was too obscure for most people to recognize, other than experts in virology.
Reinhardt’s (Ron Perlman) sunglasses are never taken off throughout the course of the film.
During the fight with Nomak in the church part of the House of Pain, the stained glass window is a replica of Dr. Strange’s (another Marvel character who battles the occult) medallion, The Eye of Agamotto.
Scud’s name is a reference to yet another comic book, “Scud: The Disposable Assassin.”
The name “Chupa” comes from the Spanish word chupar, which means “to suck.” Chupacabras (sucker of goats) is a famous vampire legend from Latin America.
In the scene before while entering the vampire club with the Bloodpack, a large neon sign can be seen on top of a building that says, in large red letters, “Radoo”. The history of Vlad the Impaler (whom the legend of Dracula is largely based upon) talks of his brother Radu. This name is also often associated with vampire movies as it is deeply ingrained in the Dracula story.
To get the movie with an R-Rating, green blood was used for the reapers.
The look of Damaskinos is based off Nosferatu and the idea of his skin looking like old marble. The look for Nomak and the Reapers were based off numerous incarnations of drawings by Guillermo del Toro and concept artists, but primarily based off the mutants from Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970).
David S. Goyer’s original idea was to use Morbius as a primary villain, but Marvel decided they wanted to retain the rights to make an entirely separate franchise out of Morbius – i.e. a Morbius film, so the story was changed slightly and Jared Nomak was created to be used as the primary villain instead.
The Bloodpack character Verlaine was originally scripted to be the twin sister of Racquel, the vampire in Blade (1998) that was played by Traci Lords.
According to Wesley Snipes on the commentary with Goyer, there were four fight choreographers: Donnie Yen, who choreographed the “wire fu-esque” sequence with Blade and Nomak in the cathedral in their first fight; Jeff Ward; Clay Fontenot; and Snipes himself. Goyer remarked that there was a “wonderful rivalry” between Yen and Ward/Snipes/Fontenot.
The early scene in which Scud is watching The Powerpuff Girls (1998) was originally written with him watching an episode of Speed Racer (1967). However, the owners of the domestic rights wouldn’t allow it.
Much of Karel Roden’s dialogue is dubbed by an uncredited English actor since audiences found his Czech accent too thick.
The phrase “a man without fear” is used in this film. This is another Marvel comic book reference, to Daredevil.
In the scene where Blade and the bloodpack are walking towards the house of pain, you see briefly through Whistler’s thermal-scope that Blade is hot blooded unlike the other vampires.
The original script contained a sex scene between Blade and Nyssa.
Ron Perlman and Luke Goss would go on to star together in Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008), with Ron as Hellboy and Luke as Prince Nuada. This also was the second time for Ron and Guillermo del Toro to work together (first one was Cronos (1993)) Due to their strong friendship, Ron and Santiago Segura usually have a place in Del Toro’s movies (excepting Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)).
The name Caliban is a reference to the monster in Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest.’
The character on Snowman’s armor is the Japanese kanji ‘yuki’ which means ‘snow’.
The lobby of the Caliban building is inspired by the lobby of the Creative Artists Agency in Beverly Hills, designed by renowned architect I.M. Pei.
In the DVD commentary, Guillermo del Toro said he paid homage to Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen and the book I am Legend. A reaper explodes similarly to the way Dr Manhattan explodes and the heroes were bombarded by reapers, much like the zombies bombardment in I am Legend.
When Blade returns to his headquarters early in the movie, Scud remarks “The Dark Knight Returns!” This is a reference to another comic book character that hunts by night, Batman, who was the subject of a classic comic book miniseries by that title.
The corporate artwork in the Caliban building, which is knocked over in the climactic fight scene, represents a DNA double helix.
Blade himself wears Oakley Four sunglasses, the ninja-style vampires who descend near the start of the film to offer Blade a truce are wearing heavily modified Oakley Overthetops, Reinhardt sunglasses are Oakley Square Wires and a further appearance can be seen fleetingly being worn by the fat, bearded vampire towards the end of the film, he is wearing Oakley Mars. All these appearance of Oakley sunglasses throughout of the film are apparently down to Wesley Snipes being big fan of the brand though his sunglasses in Blade (1998) were a pair of BlackFlyz.
Comic Book Artists Mike Mignola and Timothy Bradstreet worked as conceptual artists.
When Rush takes Blade to the place where Wistler is held, he speaks “vampire language” through the door for the other one to open. He clearly says “Torrentetres” which is a reference to the Spanish film Torrente 3: El protector (2005) which was in production at the time, and which was directed by Santiago Segura (actor who portrays Rush).
The two handguns that Blade uses are a pair of customized Heckler & Koch USP match with laser sights and a rail-like attachment.
The only film in the series to be shot in 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The other films were shot on the widescreen 2.35:1 aspect ratio.
Reinhardt (Ron Perlman) exposes his gloved hand to a beam of sunlight and it burns his skin regardless of the protection of the glove. In the first Blade movie Deacon Frost (Steven Dorff) and crew go into the sunlight with leathers and make up with no ill effects from the sun.
The clock seen on the back wall of Damaskinos’ lair is a reproduction of the Orloj, or astronomical clock of the city of Prague. It’s purpose is not only to tell the time but also to show the Earth’s position relative to the sun, moon and the cosmos.
Lauren German auditioned for the role of Nyssa.
Like other Marvel comic book films The Punisher (1989) and X-Men 2 (2003), the film’s main protagonist is forced to form an uneasy alliance with his enemies to battle a common enemy.
Matt Schulze who plays Chupa in this film is actually in the original Blade as a different Character,albeit breifly, named ‘Crease’.
Features 3 actors from Doctor Who (2005), Tony Curran (Vincent van Gogh), Paul Kasey (assorted creature roles), and Pete Lee-Wilson (homeless man from “The End of Time” Pt. 1)
As of 2017, this is the only film on Guillermo del Toro’s filmography in which he has no writing credit.
Wesley Snipes: [Sun Tzu] Snipes’ quoting of Sun Tzu – “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer,” follows references to the works of Sun Tzu in many other Snipes movies including Passenger 57 (1992), Rising Sun (1993) and The Art of War (2000).
Body Count: 110.
The only film in the trilogy where Blade does not engage in a sword fight with the villain, or concludes with one. He does fight Nomak twice with his Ninjato, but Nomak is never armed with one.
When Blade tells Whistler to keep your friends close and your enemies closers, he moves to the right, as you can see Scud over his left shoulder.
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