Blade II

Washington Post Desson Thomson

To appreciate the movie, you have to be okay with vampire violence. I don't mean subtle little nips at the neck and, ooooh, it's directed by Werner Herzog.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

You can sense the difference between a movie that's a technical exercise ("Resident Evil") and one steamed in the dread cauldrons of the filmmaker's imagination.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

Like the original, Blade II has superior production values and visual and special effects. Snipes and Kristofferson build on the resonance of their original portrayals.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

Ghastly yet wonderful at the same time.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Invades theatres with its fangs bared for action. It's bloody hell and we love every minute.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

It's all speed, movement and blood -- lots and lots of blood.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

Because of the movie's wonderful shamelessness, its mordantly funny chills and fights are huge turn-ons. A B picture in love with the zest of its comic-book origins, it embodies that medium's pulse-pounding spiritedness and silliness.

Film Threat Michael Dequina

The drawing card for Blade II is -- the promise of a blood-soaked action/horror thrill ride, and Snipes and Del Toro get the down-and-dirty job done with style.

New Times (L.A.) Luke Y. Thompson

Just be advised guys, Blade II is as estrogen-free as movies get, so you might want to leave your date behind for this one, or she's gonna make you feel like you owe her big-time.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

Everything "Blade" should have been but wasn't: stylish, fast-paced, and comfortable with its own ridiculousness.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Del Toro lays on the operatic head-trip gore, but his heavy-handed embrace of the ''Blade'' mythology allows Wesley Snipes to give more of a performance than he did in the first film.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Though superior to the original Blade, the superiority is mostly in the myriad ways the "suck-head" enemies can be blown up, melted and dismembered.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

What makes Blade 2 marginally better than "Blade," especially if you thought the first was a hollow spectacle? It has a plot.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The film stays true to its unpretentious origins -- it's like a comic book come to life, with an undeniable visual flair, a lot of kinetic action sequences, minimal character development, and a plot that could charitably be called "uneven".

Variety Joe Leydon

May be too grisly to extend its appeal beyond its fan base.

Salon.com Laura Miller

Suffers from way too many fight scenes that last way too long and look way too computer-generated.

USA Today Mike Clark

Snipes gives a looser, cooler performance this time around, though emotionally, it's closer to dead than undead. Blade II is for the horror faithful only; others will be grasping their crucifixes.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Much sillier - and the movie's nearly two-hour running time seems to last nearly as long as a vampire's afterlife.

LA Weekly Manohla Dargis

Even Del Toro can't raise the conceptually dead.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

This vampire story is as soulless as they get.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

The sequences are handsomely designed, but frankly, you might as well be watching someone play a video game.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

Del Toro ("Cronos") is a stylish horrormeister, and he has created an evocative, foreboding atmosphere. But only a fan of this kind of mayhem could find a way into the story.

Boston Globe Chris Fujiwara

It was possible to hope that Blade II would turn out to be good. Well, forget it.

Chicago Tribune Robert K. Elder

Against the rest of his dramatically flimsy crew, Snipes' sunglasses-at-midnight strut conveys an almost lifelike sheen. Almost. He's more alive than the movie, which is dead on arrival.

Village Voice Mark Holcomb

Appallingly violent.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

So witless it wins most of its laughs when Czech-speaking characters spout obscenities that get translated into English subtitles.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

The big news in Blade II is that there's something worse than vampires, but is there something worse than Blade II?

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Duller than first version.