Blade II

Blade II
Movie poster for Blade II
Directed by	Guillermo del Toro
Written by	Screenplay: David S. Goyer Comic Book: Marv Wolfman Gene Colan
Starring	Wesley Snipes Kris Kristofferson Ron Perlman Thomas Kretschmann Leonor Varela Danny John-Jules Luke Goss
Edited by	Peter Amundson
Music by	Marco Beltrami
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release dates	February 5, 2001
Running time	117 min.
Language	English
Budget	$55,000,000 (est.)

Blade II is a 2001 vampire action movie directed by Guillermo del Toro and starring Wesley Snipes. It is the second film in the Blade series.

Plot

Two years after the end of the previous film, Blade cuts a swath through the vampire population of Prague to find his old mentor Abraham Whistler being kept in suspended animation. He rescues Whistler, who has been turned into a vampire, and administers an accelerated version of the cure that was developed in the first film. Whistler revives and learns that Blade has procured a new weaponsmith in his absence, Scud.

As Whistler and Scud begin to argue, a duo of vampires invade Blade's base and deliver a truce offering. Upon arriving in the fortress of Eli Damaskinos, a vampire elder, Blade learns that a disease spread by Jared Nomak has created a new strain of infected vampires called Reapers that threaten to wipe out all human life on the planet. The vampires offer to ally with Blade in order to combat this mutual threat. Blade agrees and teams with the Bloodpack, an elite vampire squad that was created to battle Blade himself.

Blade and the Bloodpack stake out a vampire nightclub, and their uneasy alliance quickly wears thin. When the Reapers attack, Blade pursues Nomak, and learns that he too bears a personal grudge against vampires. After the battle, the group deduces that the Reapers' only weakness is ultraviolet light. They concoct a plan to lure the Reapers into the sewers and ambush them with UV grenades. While Blade develops an unusual connection with Nyssa, the daughter of Damaskinos, he is ultimately betrayed by the Bloodpack during the ambush.

Blade, Whistler, and Scud are taken back to Damaskinos's fortress as prisoners, where Damaskinos reveals that he created Nomak in a botched effort to breed a superior race of vampires. Scud also reveals himself as a traitor, but Blade kills him with his own bomb. As Nomak assaults the fortress, Whistler and Blade break free. Damaskinos prepares to flee, but he is betrayed by Nyssa. Nomak kills Damaskinos and infects Nyssa before Blade catches up to him. Blade and Nomak engage in an epic battle before Blade stabs Nomak in the heart. On the brink of death, Nomak feels relieved of his pain and finishes the fatal blow.

As the sun dawns, Blade stoically grants Nyssa her final wish to see the sun, to die as a vampire before the Reaper virus takes hold of her. In an epilogue, Blade goes to London in order to settle an old score with a vampire flunky.

Cast

Actor	Role	Notes
Wesley Snipes	Blade	A half-vampire "daywalker" who hunts vampires.
Kris Kristofferson	Abraham Whistler	Blade's human mentor and weaponsmith.
Ron Perlman	Reinhardt	A member of the Bloodpack, who bears a particular grudge against Blade.
Leonor Varela	Nyssa Damaskinos	Though an unapologetic, natural-born vampire and daughter to Damaskinos, Nyssa develops an unusual connection with Blade.
Norman Reedus	Scud	A young weaponsmith who aids Blade in Whistler's absence. He is also a vampire double-agent.
Thomas Kretschmann	Eli Damaskinos	An ancient vampire who is obsessed with creating a superior race of vampires as his legacy.
Luke Goss	Jared Nomak	Patient zero and carrier of the Reaper virus. He bears a grudge against Damaskinos for forsaking him.
Matt Schulze	Chupa	A pugnacious member of the Bloodpack who bears a particular grudge against Whistler.
Danny John-Jules	Asad	A well-mannered member of the Bloodpack who helps deliver Damaskinos's message to Blade.
Donnie Yen	Snowman	A mute swordsman and member of the Bloodpack.
Karel Roden	Karl Kounen	A "familiar", Damaskinos's human agent and lawyer.
Marit Velle Kile	Verlaine	A pink-haired member of the Bloodpack and the lover of Lighthammer.
Daz Crawford	Lighthammer	A hulking, hammer-wielding member of the Bloodpack.
Tony Curran	Priest	A Irish-accented member of the Bloodpack, and the first member to be infected by the Reaper virus.
Santiago Segura	Rush	A vampire flunky in Prague who temporarily escapes Blade's wrath.
Chris Hay	Reaper	A vampire in Prague who gets infected with the Reaper virus.

Reception

Blade II was the most successful of the Blade film trilogy, making $80 million in the United States and $150 million worldwide. Critically, however, the film was less successful, gaining a 58% on Rotten Tomatoes. While it is a generally mixed score, it is the highest rated Blade film, surpassing Blade 's 54% and Trinity 's 26%. On a similar film critic website, Metacritic, the film has a 52, indicating "Mixed or Average Reviews." This again surpasses Blade 's 45 and Trinity 's 38.

Production notes

• The sunglasses worn by Blade in the movie were a pair of Oakley Four S.
• Originally, Blade & Nyssa were to have a sex scene; both Wesley Snipes & David Goyer state this on the DVD's commentary.
• Blade: Trinity's opening chase sequence was originally planned for Blade II, but was scrapped because of budget concerns.
• In the film, the character Scud's t-shirt bears the logo of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, a fictional organization from the Hellboy comic book series. Mike Mignola, the artist, writer and creator of the Hellboy comics, worked on some of the conceptual art of Blade II. Guillermo del Toro would later direct two film adaptations of Hellboy, with Ron Perlman as the title character. Karel Roden and Luke Goss would also go on to appear as the primary villains of Hellboy and Hellboy II: The Golden Army, respectively.
• Donnie Yen, who played the mute Bloodpack vampire Snowman, choreographed three of the fight scenes in Blade II.
• The car that Blade drives in the beginning of the movie is a 1968 Dodge Charger 440 with two lights added to the middle of the grill.

Soundtrack

A soundtrack was released the same time as the movie and released by Virgin Records

1. "Blade (Theme from Blade)" by Marco Beltrami & Danny Saber
2. "Cowboy" by Eve & Fatboy Slim
3. "I Against I" by Mos Def & Massive Attack
4. "Right Here, Right Now" by Ice Cube & Paul Oakenfold
5. "Tao of the Machine" by The Roots & BT
6. "Child of the Wild West" by Cypress Hill & Roni Size
7. "The One" by Busta Rhymes & Dub Pistols
8. "We Be Like This" by Jadakiss & Danny Saber
9. "Gorillaz on My Mind" by Redman & Gorillaz
10. "Gangsta Queens" by Trina & Groove Armada
11. "PHDream" by The Crystal Method
12. "Rasied in the Hood" by Volume 10 & Roni Size
13. "Gettin' Aggressive" by Mystikal & Moby
14. "Mind What You Say" by Buppy

See also

• Blade, the film series.
• Blade, the predecessor to this movie.
• Blade: Trinity, the sequel to this movie.

External links

• Official Website
• Blade II on Marvel.com
• Blade II at IMDb
• Template:Shh
• Blade II Script at Horrorlair