This is a feature-length documentary on the second disc of the Special Edition DVD of Blade II. One guess as to what film it deals with. It consists of behind-the-scenes footage, clips from the movie and interviews. The entire process of making it is pretty well covered, each department gets credit and time(if seldom too much of it) is spent explaining and detailing the work of the various crew-members. A good bit of it is interesting and entertaining, and the editing has moments where it's very sharp and creative. The music is really cool and well-selected... it certainly won't disappoint those who enjoyed that of the flick(and possibly that of the first one, too). In fact, the only real fault of this is that nothing really stands out, there isn't anything that really stays in your mind long after watching this. For about an hour and a half of watching, it ought to leave you thinking more than, "That was fun." For anyone bothered by swearing and such, this featurette has the same... shall we say, unrestrained nature to the language... as the trilogy does. If you stick with this to the end, you'll be treated to del Toro describing his interesting take on why vampire-myths exist, as the credits roll. I recommend this to any fans of the Guillermo's take on the character, and anyone in general who wants to know about the creative process behind it(though do note that this contains spoilers for it). 6/10
2 Reviews
Interesting but lacking in moments that make you say 'wow I didn't know that' or bits that really stick in your mind
bob the moo16 May 2004
Using footage shot during the filming process of Blade II as well as contributions from the main members of the crew, this documentary follows the thought process in the making. The film looks at the design of the sets, the look of the film, the use of extras, the design of the costumes, the choreography of the fights, the use of effects and wires, the score and use of music and other aspects are all discussed. The film's first half relies heavily on contributions from del Toro and several other of the production crew, but later it uses members of the cast as well.
Weighting in at almost an hour and a half, this documentary was either going to be interesting or it was going to be very dull heck, it was almost as long as the film itself! I'm pleased to report that the film was not dull and was pretty consistently interesting. The film deals with the costumes and shows the various sketches and thought processes involved and actually manages to make the subject interesting. The set building aspect is not as interesting and it is clear when it begins with someone saying 'the main reason we went to Prague was cost plus they have great set builders' and then lists other films shot in Prague, beginning the list with 'Slaughterhouse Five'! The filming process is quite interesting but lacks good contributions and is far too general.
The background to the fight scenes is rather dull and it only serves to show just how workmanlike the shooting of them can be. The stuff on the score uses too much footage of them discussing the music on a very noisy set where really a couple of short, concise interviews would have been much more interesting. Generally this is part of the problem with the documentary it is consistently interesting but it doesn't have very much stuff in it that is REALLY interesting. There are no funny stories, there was nothing that really stuck in my mind and there was nothing that made me say 'wow, I never knew that'. It was still interesting, because I know very little about how to make a film and it's interesting to me to see the process in progress, but it needed at least two or three bits that would really stick in your mind.
Overall this is an interesting documentary that is worth the 90 odd minutes to watch some bits are overlong and a little dull (the score bit is just onset footage and lasts way too long) but it is generally OK. The film relies heavily on del Toro for contributions and he does well to talk about a lot of subjects. Snipes is the main cast member to contribute but he has little to say (and it was just promo footage) and Donnie Yen is the only other one involved, but his comments made me feel a lot better about how little he was on screen in the actual movie. Despite it being interesting it really lacks bigger moments of interest that it needed to have to really stand out as a good documentary. It is interesting but I needed more.
Weighting in at almost an hour and a half, this documentary was either going to be interesting or it was going to be very dull heck, it was almost as long as the film itself! I'm pleased to report that the film was not dull and was pretty consistently interesting. The film deals with the costumes and shows the various sketches and thought processes involved and actually manages to make the subject interesting. The set building aspect is not as interesting and it is clear when it begins with someone saying 'the main reason we went to Prague was cost plus they have great set builders' and then lists other films shot in Prague, beginning the list with 'Slaughterhouse Five'! The filming process is quite interesting but lacks good contributions and is far too general.
The background to the fight scenes is rather dull and it only serves to show just how workmanlike the shooting of them can be. The stuff on the score uses too much footage of them discussing the music on a very noisy set where really a couple of short, concise interviews would have been much more interesting. Generally this is part of the problem with the documentary it is consistently interesting but it doesn't have very much stuff in it that is REALLY interesting. There are no funny stories, there was nothing that really stuck in my mind and there was nothing that made me say 'wow, I never knew that'. It was still interesting, because I know very little about how to make a film and it's interesting to me to see the process in progress, but it needed at least two or three bits that would really stick in your mind.
Overall this is an interesting documentary that is worth the 90 odd minutes to watch some bits are overlong and a little dull (the score bit is just onset footage and lasts way too long) but it is generally OK. The film relies heavily on del Toro for contributions and he does well to talk about a lot of subjects. Snipes is the main cast member to contribute but he has little to say (and it was just promo footage) and Donnie Yen is the only other one involved, but his comments made me feel a lot better about how little he was on screen in the actual movie. Despite it being interesting it really lacks bigger moments of interest that it needed to have to really stand out as a good documentary. It is interesting but I needed more.
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