Reviews

That's it right there. The initial draw to this movie for me was Tom Cavanagh. He certainly didn't disappoint, in fact, I love him even more after seeing him in this. Ben Foster's performance was also quite remarkable. This movie will hit home to anyone who was even remotely taunted in school (for me, it was mostly middle school, but it was there no less). And Trevor's videos are incredibly stirring. They make you squirm, make you feel disturbed, and they should, because they are so true. Not only was it stirring and moving, but the movie also had its very intense moments of suspense. I was on the edge of my seat breathless during one scene. This film should be seen by everyone. I see it got a reasonable amount of recognition, but I don't think it will get nearly as much as it deserves. Absolutely outstanding and well worth the wait for the DVD.

I'll admit right off the bat that there are some very graphic and disturbing scenes involving sexual intercourse and blood-drinking done simultaneously. But those scenes only enhance what is essentially a moving and powerful melodrama.

There are so many themes and ideas involved with this movie, like drug addiction, infidelity, shattered dreams, alienation, doomed love...the list goes on. This is one of a few "horror" movies where in the end, I really felt more sad and depressed for the characters rather than shocked or frightened. The writing and especially the performances are superb and they bring the insanely original and unique premise down to earth, making it perfectly understandable. And they leave enough information of the origin of Lix out during most of the movie so you're allowed to guess and wonder where exactly she came from.

The direction is also done very well. It's stylish, but not too stylish, not too over-the-top. Charly Cantor never once goes for style-over-substance. If I have one complaint about the movie, it's that the scene involving the three junkies coming back for Lix is done a bit carelessly and hustled. But I think that whole subplot might have been unnecessary anyway, so I'm not too hung up on it. The music, done by Erasure's Vince Clarke, is also fantastic. His deep dark synths and mournful piano melodies fit the mood of the movie perfectly, and the songs picked for the soundtrack fit rather nicely as well.

This movie is literally a rare find. On Dec. 30th, 2003, I suddenly found it brand new for rental at a videostore. So hopefully anyone who ever wanted to see this will finally get a chance, or anyone who was never aware of it will be treated to something very special indeed. But I am afraid this will likely stay one of the most underrated and unappreciated (as well as unknown) movies ever made, which is such a shame. My rating: 8/10

Just some specific points....

Too much....WAAAYYY too much exposition. Sometimes it did sound like they were repeating themselves and I actually found myself glazing over and becoming impatient, simply becase I thought I'd heard it all before.

Agent Smith as always was a pleasure. I missed him when he wasn't there.

The action was good, but I didn't really discover anything new or groundbreaking, except for maybe the freeway scene, which was very exhilerating. But I just think back to when I experienced "bullet time" for the first time in the original, I was just blown away and left speechless. Nothing really did that for me in this one. Not that I didn't enjoy the action, though.

Some people didn't like the cliffhanger ending and wanted some closure. I must ask, why? The third one is coming out in six months. Relax. You'll have closure then. The cliffhanger is to build excitement and more anticipation for the third one.

So I enjoyed it, but I wasn't left speechless as I was with the original. 8/10

After knowing about this movie (at one point called "Good Vibrations") for about five years, I've just now finally been able to see it! I guess it's just recently been made available on Region 2 DVD after spending all this time on a shelf after being shown at a couple of film festivals.

I'd known about it for so long because of its connection to my favorite band Erasure. The band's keyboardist Vince Clarke scored the film and the band's singer Andy Bell made a brief appearance as a porn director. This is what initially triggered my interest, but it also sounded like it'd be a fun, cheeky romp of a comedy.

Alas, it was more "Could have been..." than "was." The idea of a sweet and naive Russian immigrant coming to America with a big dream only to land a job at a sex-toy factory and fall in love with a fading porn star was a winning idea for an off-beat romantic comedy. There are some great moments (certain "toys" being used as blunt weapons, the speech impediment of another fading porn star, and of course, Andy Bell's little checklist of shots he needs for his pornographic masterpiece). But as a whole, the film seems forced and hurried (heck, it's only 74 minutes long!). The main romantic plot unfolds too quickly to really be believable. And you really have to be on your toes to catch the reasoning behind the whole Russian mafia and FBI events that occur in the last act.

This film (titled "A Dirty Little Business" on my copy) seems like it was hastily thrown together, as if the writer/director gave up halfway through editing and said "Screw it, let's just release it as is." Had he and the other filmmakers taken more time to craft it and flesh it out, it could have been great. But I'm afraid the final result is simply mediocre.

But for Erasure fans, it's actually a nice little treat. The familiar trademark Clarke synthesizer beats, squiggles, chirps, and warm orchestrations are heard throughout the entire film, and there's even a bonus alternate version of a relatively recent Erasure track at the end credits. And it's an absolute riot for hardcore fans to see Andy Bell playing the porno director. There's just something very appropriate and right about it. Erasure and a comedy about the sex industry is indeed a perfect match. But I'm afraid if you're not an Erasure fan, you won't have as much fun with this one. It really was a winning idea, and I think it could have been done better had the filmmakers given it more of their time and attention.

I had been looking forward to seeing this ever since I heard it was being made. I was relatively skeptical, however. Would the villain be as crisp and cool as Stephen Dorff? Would the fight scenes and gore come in as many amounts as it did in the original? During the first fifteen minutes, one of my questions was answered. This intense and extremely satisfying action sequence had already surpassed just about every fight scene in the original. The vampires vaporized into burning dust in a much more glorified fashion, and Wesley Snipes found more unique ways to take them out. This opening was truly eye-popping, and was a good sign of things to come. In general, the movie stayed that way. The action scenes were smoothly intertwined with a storyline that had made a good progression from the first movie (Blade must team up with a group of vampires who had originally been trained to hunt and kill him to help them fight a new and dangerous enemy that feeds on both humans AND vampires). The only thing that this one didn't have that the original had was the cool villain. Stephen Dorff was a more menacing villain than the creepy Nomak. Not that Nomak wasn't menacing at all, but Deacon Frost had more of an entertaining badass factor. But other than that, this movie had more action, more gore, and more bite overall than the first one. Highly recommended!