<em>'Blade II'</em> is a good follow-up to the 1998 predecessor. I'd personally say that the plot in this 2002 flick isn't as good, but is still entertaining in its own right and is portrayed by a stronger cast. Wesley Snipes is Wesley Snipes, brilliant. Behind him, Ron Perlman stands out. I didn't know Norman Reedus was in this, love him in <em>'The Walking Dead'</em> - he elevates an otherwise forgettable character. Another favourite of mine is here too, as Matt Schulze of <em>'The Fast and the Furious'</em> fame appears. I also recognised Karel Roden, who distractingly has his lines dubbed by a British actor - very odd! Lastly, I have to commend the special effects. The majority of which is admittedly as passable as was the case for <em>'Blade'</em>, but the new addition of that effect for the reaper mouths is outstanding - it genuinely still holds up to today. Very impressive.

This time "Blade" (Wesley Snipes) joins forces with the vampire council to prevent the all-out eradication of the human and vampire species by the cross-breed "Reaper" that has such a rapacious hunger that it will devour just about anything to survive - no-one is safe! He allies with the "Bloodpack" and with "Scud" (Norman Reedus) on a quest to track down Luke Goss "(Nomak") who is the one creating these hybrid monsters, and to stop them before extinction beckons. This has quite a strong storyline, the characters are given some time to evolve and the chemistry between the rather static Snipes and Kris Kristofferson ("Whistler") works well on the few occasions it is on screen - though not really well enough to compensate for pretty wooden performances from messrs. Goss and Reedus. As with the first film, the fight scenes are far too heavily staged; they rob the story of menace and the over-use of the soundtrack to accompany these extended, gory, slaughter-scenes really does reduce this to an almost cartoon status. It is good to look at, stylishly produced, but sadly nowhere near as good as the original.

Not as good as the 1st. Seems like it was less action. Movie was still good though.