Blade II (Exclusive Series) (HBO Max) (Non-MCU Marvel)

Initial release date: March 22, 2002

Studios: New Line Cinema/Marvel Enterprises

Tagline: In A World Beyond The One We Know, The Forces Of Darkness Fear One Man ... Blade!

Plot: Exploding from the pages of Marvel Comics comes the thrilling follow-up to the blockbuster, 'Blade.' Half man ... half vampire, and consumed by desire to avenge the curse of his birth and save the human race from a blood-drenched Armageddon. In the newest action-packed adventure, Blade is forced to team up with the very vampires he hates in order to overcome a new type of monster which threatens to eradicate both races.

Cast

Wesley Snipes - Blade

Kris Kristofferson - Whistler

Ron Perlman - Reinhardt

Leonor Varela - Nyssa

Norman Reedus - Scud

Thomas Kretschmann - Damaskinos

Luke Goss - Nomak

Matt Schulze - Chupe

Danny John-Jules - Asad

Donnie Yen - Snowman

Karel Roden - Kounen

Daz Crawford - Lighthammer

Santiago Segura - Rush

Samuel Le - Jigsaw

Writer: David S. Goyer (Terminator: Dark Fate)

Director: Guillermo del Toro (Nightmare Alley)

Rated R for strong pervasive violence, language, some drug use and sexual content (117 min)

Continuing on with checking out a few Marvel titles NOT part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is the 2002 sequel 'Blade II.'

The second entry of the 'Blade' trilogy is rare since it majorly surpasses the first movie a lot. The sequel has a lot more going on and the visual effects are more impressive. The action is top-notch and can get very insane.

'Blade II' also delivers some really good twists and turns and can actually get really dark. Honestly, if Marvel goes this dark for its upcoming MCU reboot of 'Blade,' then I'll be satisfied. The sequel's villain also has some very cool moments and isn't as bland as the Deacon Frost character from the first movie. And, can't forget about Ron Perlman and Kris Kristofferson. These two actors definitely have a few scene-stealing moments throughout the sequel.

'Blade II' is currently streaming on HBO Max through the end of the month. And it's time to get ready to get my take going on 'Blade: Trinity' to see if it's any good since I've heard it's not (FYI - It's not the greatest).

Here are some interesting tidbits for 'Blade II':

• Over thirty members of the cast and crew were temporarily blinded by the misuse of UV lights in the vampire autopsy scene.

• Donnie Yen, a martial arts star who plays a member of the Bloodpack (Snowman), was also the film's fight choreographer.

• Snipes has admitted this is his personal favorite 'Blade' movie.

• The idea of the reapers having stingers coming out of the mouth were inspired by Polish folktales where the vampires had a stinger or "finger" coming out of the mouth that they used to suck blood rather than use teeth like the Baikon genus that's the greatest influence on the modern vampire technology.

• Reinhardt's (Ron Perlman) sunglasses are never taken off throughout the course of the film.

• Goyer's original idea was to use Morbius as a primary villain, but Marvel decided they wanted to retain the rights to make an entirely separate franchise out of Morbius - so the story was changed slightly and Jared Nomak was created to be used as the primary villain instead.

• Following the success of the original film, New Line and Marvel made plans for a sequel in 1999.

• Filming took place in the Czech Republic, at Prague Studios, and Barrandou Studios, as well as London from March 12, 2001 and concluded on July 2.

• 'Blade II' was released on March 22, 2002. This was during a period of the year (months March and April) considered to be a bad time for sequels to be released. Despite this, the film became the highest-grossing film of the series, making $80 million in the US and $150 million worldwide.

• A video game adaptation of 'Blade II' was released for the PS2 and XBOX on September 3, 2002.

https://youtu.be/vAUB7dcUn8o