Disc Details
Special Features:	2 Screen-specific audio commentaries Isolated score Multiple making-of featurettes Deleted scenes Music video Still gallery Theatrical press kit Filmographies Theatrical trailers
Video Format:	Widescreen (1.85:1) [SS-DL]
Languages:	English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Subtitles:	English
Captions:	Yes
Casing:	2-Disc Keep Case

The second film capitalizes on that success, but through a different set of eyes, namely Guillermo Del Toro. With any Del Toro film, you'll have gore, and this film takes a more horrific tone then the first film, which was more of an action piece. Whether this is good or bad, you'll have to decide.

Blade is pursued by his enemies, not for the sake of destroying him, but for creating an alliance against a new breed of Vampire that exists only to destroy... and not just man, but vampire alike. Ron Perlman (Alien 4, City of the Lost Children, Cronos, etc.) leads the vampire Bloodpack, a platoon trained to kill Blade, but now forced to unite with him. The tension between them and our hero is classic, and one of the best aspects of the film. The creature effects are wonderful, barely being able to see the difference between real effects and digital. The tone, the music, and the direction is wonderful. And we are even reunited with Blade confidant Whistler, who, as the film explains, was not actually dead after his "fatal" self inflicted gunshot. Instead, he was taken by the vampire clans and kept in hiding. Blade hunts him down, and brings him back to the living.

The highlight of the action is the new race of vampire, created in the attempt to birth a new and improved daywalking vampire that could rule the world. These creatures are freaky, and they'll kill anything. To top it off, they're near indestructable. Forget garlic, silver, etc. The only thing they can't conquer is daylight. Blade and the Bloodpack against these killing machines is something you can't miss.

Picture Quality: 9/10
The darks in this feature are the most important aspect of the transfer because almost none of the film contains any daylight. Therefore, the colors that we see are mostly shades of black and gray... and ofcourse... blood red. The darks are actually pretty brilliant, while there is still some halo effects here and there. But overall, it's a crisp transfer.

Sound Quality: 9/10
The sound booms in this disc! The music pulsates and the slices and dices of the blades are excellent. The score is nothing too original, but it serves its purpose. You are surrounded by bullets flying, vampires exploding, and the eery sounds eminating from the new breed of vampires.

Menu: 10/10
The menu is pretty cool, with the beats of the soundtrack booming while you see moving images from the film.

Extra Features: 9/10
The commentaries are pretty cool... with Del Toro's being the most informative. Wesley's is more along the lines of banter... about the other aspects of the experience, but we still get some cool conversations between him and David Goyer.

The docufilms are brought to us in the workshop selections, and offer a detailed look at different aspects of the film. We see the creature effects being made, the action sequences being filmed, etc. The deleted scenes area is fun with a Del Toro image telling us that most of them are "crap"... but some are pretty good. All in all, if you're a true fan of the film you'll LOVE these extras.

The Final Word:
I was really hyped about this film when it came out, but was a bit let down by the final images. I still rate it as one of the best comic adapted films, but I missed the raw action of the first. The horror aspect was great, but could have been done in even more conjunction with an action tone. I was sad to see that Wesley and Ron's characters never got to have the battle that the audience was waiting for.

Perhaps by biggest problem with the film was the use of a digital Blade in some of the major fight scenes. The first film proved that digital effects in the fight scenes weren't needed... as did The Matrix... but for some reason Del Toro choose to insert CG Blade images to do some of the more intense flips and moves. CGI hasn't made the kind of advances to recreate a human character with the realism that we would hope for. Wire work would have been much more suited. The CG creature effects were near perfect though.

Overall, the film is a fun "romp" with some VERY freaky moments. And even some great fight scenes. It is a must have on DVD though... hey, it's Blade and Del Toro!

Ken Miyamoto