Film Rewatch: Blade 2

Thoughts: A personal all-time favourite, finally on blu-ray! And the wait was worth it! The picture is stunning, the sound was phenomenal, and the film stills stands as strong as it ever did.

I've always considered the Blade films (1 and 2, there was no third film. Full stop.) to be my personal preference when it comes to comic book films, they really capture this certain vibe. And with 2, the film is like the best video game adaptation that's not based on a video game. Seriously, you have bosses, objectives, basic enemy fodder, team members with various skills, different levels, weapons and upgrades. Plus the fight scenes look and are shot like cutscenes from any number of videogames I've played.

If someone like Rocksteady made an Arkham Asylum/City style Blade game, it'd work perfectly. You watch that fight during the opening where he's taking out vamps with dual silver stakes. EXACTLY like the fight mechanics in the Batman games.

And there's something about the character designs that's very... MacFarlane-esque. Like they're animated MacFarlane toys or something; very chunky and well-coloured. Satisfying. And there's these awesome moments when you really notice Del Toro's hand, especially in set design. Most notably to me is the sequence at the top of the House Of Pain, where Blade and Nyssa meet Nomak. It's like the characters step out of Matrix Bondage Club No.59 and into Pan's Labyrinth or something; the colours, lighting and set are all very Del Toro.

The soundtrack is one I picked up years ago, and it still holds up. I can definitely recommend it for dance/techno/hip-hop heads. It was put together by P. Diddy, and practically all of the tracks are collaborations between a dance/techno artist and a hip-hop artist. Fucking amazing idea and execution.

I love this film. I can't wait to watch it again!

5/5