Could BLADE II escape the sequel curse and avoid being really stupid? Of course it could, but did it? Sorry, folks, but the one factor that I suspected would ruin BLADE II did in fact do so. It was the director, Guillermo del Toro. He frankly sucks and his substandard direction throughout is mind-boggling. To be fair, the screenplay wasn’t the strongest either, but del Toro was the real problem. The first BLADE was no classic of modern cinema, but it was fun and at least not seizure inducing. BLADE II is no different than any other cheesy, crack paced, action flick. So while a letdown in many respects, the bread and butter (meaning the action) is no console either. Here’s a question. Why waste time choreographing such elaborate fight and stunt sequences when the camera and editing won’t hold still for a second? How can you appreciate, much less follow, a barrage of split second images? It’s like trying to watch 30 TV’s at once. And why are computers replacing real people in fight scenes? It’s obvious and stupid. It doesn’t make the scenes any more compelling, just jumbled and hard to follow. If I’d wanted a video game, I’d stay at home and play one.