The first rendition of the Marvel comic adaptation Blade, released in 1998, built up a cult following on video and DVD because of its entertaining combination of traditional comic-strip thrills and hard-edged action. New Line evidently were pleased enough with its success to commission a sequel, as directed by Guillermo del Toro, the Mexican director of Cronos, Mimic and The Devil's Backbone -- a trio of genuinely inspired horror movies. Expectations were high that this would be a cut above the average mediocre horror sequel. Anyone who has been following Del Toro's work will have guessed that he is too talented a director to merely serve as an efficient hack for hire.

Wesley Snipes reprises his role as the half human, half vampire superhero. As Blade II begins, Blade is pretty much found in the same situation he left off at the original’s ending: merrily hunting vampires in Eastern Europe. However, his life is about to get a lot more complicated. He is being hunted by the Bloodpack, an elite group of vampires trained specifically to rid the world of Blade. But now they're on his trail for a different reason: they need his help. The vampiritis-virus has mutated into a more rabid variety, turning its victims into crack-addict like blood junkies. Desperate for a fix they kill at a much faster rate, causing their numbers to multiply exponentially. These super-vamp Reapers are more resilient than the traditional kind, stronger, faster and much harder to kill. Moreover, they do not just feed on humans; traditional vampires are on the menu as well. Hence, Blade is now forced to team up with his sworn enemies to rid the world of this raging doom.

Visually, Blade II is about as different from the original as it can get while staying within the established lore. The look of the movie is a stark contrast. The steely blue skies and the bright slaughterhouses and libraries are gone. Basically, all the light is gone -- Blade may be the daywalker but there is little evidence of it here. The fighting all occurs in the darkness of underground tunnels and darkened nightclubs, and the sets are quite amazing. The production designer was the excellent Carol Spier, a long time collaborator with David Cronenberg. The surroundings are impressively immense, foreboding and a great mix of the futuristic and the gothic. Blade II actually looks like a vampire movie, something its predecessor never really did. The movie was shot entirely in Prague, which location adds a distinctive look to it.

Del Toro is a director with a seductive talent for both ambiance and pacing, and he managed to successfully capture the spirit of the comic book. Fight scenes were choreographed by Jeff Ward (Snipes’ stuntman) and Donnie Yen (Fist of Fury, Iron Monkey), with contributions from Snipes himself to give all the action a violent, straightforward edge. The more agile vamps do that lizard thing of scuttling sideways along walls. Del Toro’s sense of style is impeccable, making each skirmish between Blade and the Reapers larger than life, thus feeding into the comic book aesthetic. Make-up and special effects are stomach churning in detail, and the Reapers’ designs are impressive. These genetically mutated vampires have evolved huge mouths with disconnecting jaws fanning out to reveal a hidden, barbed sucker that latches onto unsuspecting victims.

Unsurprisingly, this movie is not an actor's showcase, given that most of the cast is to play vampires who fight and, in the vast majority of cases, die horribly. Snipes has the charisma and presence required to lend a certain gravitas to Blade, as well as being convincingly athletic in his many fight scenes. It is also good to see him bring a touch more humor to his character, albeit of the darkest, sickest kind. He looks cooler than cool, sporting a flamboyant flattop coif, a black leather duster and wrap-around shades as he somersaults and punches his way out of danger. There is little emotional content to his performance, but he copes admirably with the physical demands, completing many of his own stunts.

The supporting cast performances are outright impressive given the limitations to the characters within the scope of the story. Some of the movie's best scenes are stolen by lantern-jawed giant Ron Perlman (Alien: Resurrection, Hellboy), who plays a bad-dude vampire rival for Blade's leadership of the mercenary strike force. In addition, former boys-bander Luke Goss is a delight as the both warped and frightening Reaper Nomak.

David S. Goyer’s script however is a definite step backwards from part 1. The concept of the Reapers is basically a good one, and the Bloodpack is a nice throwback to the comic book roots, but there are some plot developments that require considerable leaps of faith. The story ignores or circumvents common vampire lore without any explanation. The movie's timeline is so out of whack that two sunrises fall within an eight hour time-lapse and Blade's smart-mouthed, stoner dude gadget guru can invent and mass-produce new lines of custom weaponry within the same abbreviated day. An old guy with a face like marble is trying to clone fetuses with implanted genes that will make them immune to silver bullets. His next step is protection against sunlight and, after that, what, world domination? The ‘traditional’ vampires are so ridiculously easy to kill that it is hard not to start wondering why the world needs someone like Blade at all. Kris Kristofferson returns as Whistler, an aged and seasoned redneck who knows a thing or two about vampire slaying. He helps Blade occasionally and gets beaten up on a regular basis, but his presence does not seem to serve any narrative purpose other than to establish some contrived continuity with the prequel.

Another major flaw is the movie’s reliance on CGI or, more specifically, the dubious quality of some of it. While much of it is of the standard that can be expected from a big budget movie (for example the excellent Reapers and their unusual feeding methods), a number of action scenes have been enhanced with computer graphics of which the quality is sub-par. The initial fight in Blade's headquarters is the worst offender, with both parties being total CG creations for some of the extreme maneuvers and the difference is easily noticeable. Del Toro mentions his discontent with these scenes in his commentary; it seems the money ran out before he was happy with them so it is comforting to know that this is not his idea of great CG.

Nevertheless, thankfully, Del Toro infuses his movie with enough qualities to get past its flaws and fallacies. The story may not have the same level of coherence, but the direction challenges and even at times surpasses Norrington’s in its predecessor. Blade II is 117 minutes of kinetic, handsome, audience-indulgent and consistently entertaining vampire slaying mayhem.