Blade 2

The original Blade challenged our mental image of the modern vampire, with the garlic-hating creatures furiously clubbing away in the centre of town until Wesley Snipes turned up to spoil the party. Blade 2 picks up where the original left off with Snipes reprising his role of murder and mayhem complete with a new sidekick, Scud. Not only has he got to rescue Whistler (his original companion, who was apparently killed off in the first film has been resurrected in the best tradition of sequel sorcery), but he's got to save the world - again.

In a new twist, a new race of super-vampires (reapers) has developed, resistant to the deadly charms of garlic and silver, but breeding like rabbits and soon to overtake the human and alliumphobic (it's the phobia associated with garlic - look it up if you don't believe me) vampire populations. Blade now finds the vampires in need of his help to fight off the reapers - and the plot ambles along.

It all sounds a bit naff really, and there's no denying that on paper it is. Del Toro's triumph as director is to take such a desperately thin plot and pad it with inventive and furious martial arts sequences (by Donnie Yen) and slick - if sparse - dialogue, ending up with a film that's as dynamic and stylish as it is fun. The special effects are unusually effective and rival The Matrix in their ingenuity. Add in a degree of blood thirst that raises the original by a factor of ten (you have been warned) and you have an unexpectedly gripping and entertaining result.

If you want to pick holes in the plot you'll have great fun. If you're prepared to lose yourself in a nonsensical but highly entertaining world for a couple of hours you'll enjoy it even more.

Stuart Jarvis