Nerds That Geek Movie Review: 'Blade II'

Written by Scott Edwards

Wanting to find a loved one that has been taken from you is a noble effort. But you have to decide how far you are willing to go with the search as things in the world have changed while they have been gone and they may not be the same person when they are found. There are so many stories about people being missing and when they return, they are not able to become a family member again since they have been shown a different lifestyle and it is the one that they trust. Wanting to find that loved one is very important for closure, but when you find them, will they be willing to let you back into their lives?

Blade is searching the eastern block for one person, his old friend Whistler who was taken from him. Hitting up every safe house he can find, he is able to find the one man that basically raised him from birth. Thinking about his training, Blade thinks about ending his old friend's pain right then and there, but there is so much love between the two men that he puts down his sword and allows Whistler to live until morning and see if the sunlight will do its job. Whistler makes it through, but him being a vampire for a couple years has Blade and his new second hand man Scud worried about what will happen to him.

The vampires have found they have a new enemy on the streets and need to find a way to put an end to the strain before it becomes too powerful. Calling for help from the one they hate the most, Blade is summoned to the vampire council and filled in on their situation. Offering him help to hunt down the new menace, Blade is put in command of the Bloodpack that has been training for years to take the Daywalker out. Knowing that this will be a difficult transition for the vampires to be taking orders from their former hunter, Blade establishes his dominance within the group, but they are still skeptical about the arrangement. Being fearful about turning their backs on anyone from the accompanying group, each side has their own priorities and will pursue them first.

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​Jared Nomak, the first of his kind with the Reaper strain has hit the streets and is looking to get retribution for what has been done to him. Wanting to get back at all of those that have made him what he is, he wants blood for his final payment. Finding out what sort of power he does possess, he is able to battle the most equipped foes with little effort. Being immune to garlic and silver has made his new race much harder to deal with and with a protective shell around their hearts, they are next to unstoppable, unless the sun gets a hold of them. Even though Nomak seems to be an unstoppable feeding machine, he has a plan in mind of what he will do to make everything all right again, but when he finds out Blade is after him, he wants to make sure that his fellow vampire hunter knows the truth about what has happened to him and what is on the horizon.

Blade II follows the Daywalker as he joins forces with those he has vowed to rid the world of. Being asked to hunt down the new threat that is on the streets, Blade has to put his faith into the fear that is beating in the undead Eli Damaskinos' heart. Wanting to get a better look into what the vampires have been hiding from him in all of his hunting years, Blade agrees but his friends Whistler and Scud are very concerned about what will happen when he gets too close. Showing little respect for what he has been told, Blade takes control of the Bloodpack who have been training to kill him and finds someone new he can bring himself to trust, Nyssa, who is Damaskinos’ daughter. Trying to get on the inside of the vampire nation, Blade finds out that there is much more going on than he could have ever imagined, but his first priority is to rid the world of new Reapers that are running free on the streets and feeding more frequently. Knowing who his target is, Blade has to decide who he can trust when it comes to who is really behind the strain and what the end goal is.

I don’t know how to really describe the second installment of the Blade trilogy. It is full of action and splatter like the first one, but it seems to play a little bit more with who Blade is while giving his character a little more depth. Only being able to trust one person for twenty years, Blade has been able to open up to more opportunities while his mentor has been gone, but he still has little faith that anyone is completely good. Nyssa seems to be the only one that is able to gain more from Blade in the short time they are together, however, she does not know what is really happening either and pays for it with her crew's lives. The story is solid about trying to make a flawless vampire and the horrific trials to bring such a creature into the world, although I would think that the father would give a little bit more love to his children than what he actually offered them. With Ron Perlman playing Reinhardt, it is hard to say anything bad about the movie since he commands the screen, even stealing scenes from Blade himself. It looks like Blade is still on the hunt and nobody is safe, not even the vampire that was able to escape his first encounter with the hunter as he gets a taste of the sword at the end of the movie. Stay Scared.

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