BY DANIEL BAIG | "Everybody's crazy about a sharp-dressed man."

That was the line that skittered through my head when Wesley Snipes walked into the room and sat down. Man, is this cat kool! He was dressed in an immaculate cream/off-white, fashion-forward suit (think Armani), though for a shirt he just had on a white cotton T-shirt.

(Gratuitously, I thought, after the interviews were over another reporter told me that she didn't think Wesley's outfit would look good on me  not that I had asked her! Although she's absolutely correct. I'm far too pale to get away with wearing all cream.)

He wore amber-tinted sunglasses (indoors  but they were lightly tinted, so we could still see his eyes), and his hair was cut very close, and was totally natural. He also had a moustache.

I was surprised to notice a big gap between his front two teeth. I was also surprised when he spoke, because he did so with a very slight "posh" (but still American) accent. Like Madonna of late, but a lot more subtly. However, as the interview got going, it seemed to drop away.

Something else to point out: Often when stars come into the room for these interviews, they're accompanied by assistants, or studio reps, or publicists, etc. Wesley came in totally by himself, and was alone with us the entire time.

At one point, early on, however, the door opened and somebody brought in some ice water with lemon he had requested. Then I noticed, standing just outside the door, two enormous bodyguards.

Clearly, though, Wesley didn't think we were a threat.

Question: Was it fun?

Wesley: It was an absolute blast.

How much is Blade [the character] you?

There's a lot of me [in him]. My sensibilities . . . I can relate to him. You know, I could kick back with Blade.

Ah-nuld as Blade??

[Please note; I did not ask the following question:]Do you think Arnold Schwarzenegger could have played Blade?

I don't know. I don't think Arnold can pull the black guy thing off.

[This next was my question:] Did you do a lot of wire or harness work for some of those really incredible acrobatic fight sequences? I'm especially thinking of the scene near the beginning when you fight the "ninja" vampire squad.

No, no, none at all. The leaps and stuff were part of the digital world. Most of the terrestrial stuff was real. For the stuff in the air, they actually used our digital bodies [sic]. And they just placed [the digital bodies] in the scene digitally. [They scanned our bodies into the computer] and recreated our bodies in a digital environment.

[An English journalist then asked about the casting of Luke Goss, who more than a decade ago had a huge pop music career in England as a member, along with his twin brother, in teeny-bopper group Bros (pronounced brass, though it's short for brothers).] I mean, casting him [as the lead super vampire] is kind of like having Justin Timberlake be the villain! Were you aware of his former singing career?

Not at all. I had no idea whatsoever [that he had been a singer]. He looked good, [that's all.] And also, Blade was a big hit in England. What a great idea, to use an Englishman in the movie.

[A Spanish reporter noted that the director, cinematographer, and female costar of Blade 2 were all Spanish speakers.] Were they speaking Spanish on the set all the time?

Oh, yeah, you bet.

How was that? Did it bother you?

Nah! It made no difference to me! Them's our people![sic] I'm from the Bronx! I grew up around Puerto Ricans and Dominicanos, eh?

Blade seems particularly indestructible in this one [Blade 2]. Is that fair to the bad guys?

See, now, I don't know if I agree with that. I mean, you see Blade be very vulnerable, he gets caught out there. We know that he's vulnerable to electricity  we've seen that twice. [Laughs.] A shock WILL put him on his ass.

Batman vs. Blade???

So could Batman beat him?

Batman? Batman against Blade? Money. I think that's ridiculous. Are you kidding me? You know that I'll take his utility belt! Blade'd take his belt AND SPANK HIM WITH IT! He'd take his car. And strip it down. Clear it out. Put a sound system in it.

This Sunday there will be three African-American actors nominated for Academy Awards in leading roles. Do you think this is indicative of social change?

[Laughs.] I don't think it's a reflection on any social change whatsoever! [Laughs again.] Not at all! [Laughs again.] [Then, seriously:] When African-Americans are the ones voting, that's a different story.

[A reporter brought up James Bond, asking if he was someone Wesley wanted to be like when he was young.]

James Bond?? Nah, James Brown! [General laughter.] Nah, I was more like an In Like Flint kind of a guy. We didn't get a lot of the James Bonds in my neighborhood. [laughs] You know, as you were moving the antenna round, trying to get a signal.

Bond. James Bond. Snipes. Wesley Snipes.

[A short while later, though, another reporter returned to the topic of James Bond.]

Let me tell you something. I actually went to them and asked them . . . I actually went to them and said, 'Hey, I got a great idea. Why don't we create a character within James Bond? And I'll play that character. Maybe the premise is, like, he's a guy who's admired Bond since he was a kid. Learned everything that you can do. Studied all his ways, his methods, his science, da da da da da da da. And all he wants to do is meet him, and get recognition from him. And then James Bond disses him. [Laughter.] So now he's pissed off.'

So they were like, [does a nasally, "white-guy" voice]'Yeah, yeah , yeah. Great idear!'

And now Halle Berry's in the movie!

[I pointed out then to him that,] She's prettier than you, though.

True, true, true. I understand.

The lonely daywalker . . .

[The British journalist pointed out that] Blade doesn't seem to be very lucky when it comes to his women. They all seem to die.

[Jokingly pissed off:] Why you gotta bring that up, man? Why you gotta bring that up, man? [Much general laughter.]

Blade is getting some in 3!

[Another reporter then asked Wesley about his thoughts on the Fox Celebrity Boxing, mentioning Tanya Harding and Paula Jones. Wesley had no idea what she was talking about. She went on to explain, also mentioning Greg Brady vs. Danny Bonaduce. Wesley had already been told time was up, and was leaving the table at the same time. But he shouted out his response as he left:]

Pimps and ho's! Pimps and ho's! [Fading away, as he was heading down the hallway,] Pimps and ho's!

The minds behind the movie.

I also spoke with David S. Goyer, the screenwriter of both the first Blade and now its sequel, and Guillermo del Toro, the Mexican director I recently wrote about on this site reviewing his Spanish film The Devil's Backbone.

The interesting thing they both told us was that, yes, they hope to do a Blade 3, IF the studio lets them do Goyer's planned story, which is: The vampires have won. They control the world, FARMING people in big camps for their food. And it's up to Blade to wrest back control of the planet . . . .

Guillermo also spoke about Hellboy. The situation is the same as it was when last reported on: He's desperate to do it, but only with Ron Perlman in the title role. Which has not yet been agreed to. So at the moment, the project is, well, pending.

Look for an article in the near future with a lot more info from del Toro about Hellboy!

Review

I liked Blade 2 a lot more than I liked the first Blade. It has a more interesting story, better action, and far scarier villains.

Playing the chief villain, the progenitor of a new breed of super-strong, yet in some ways (not, thankfully, in terms of speed of movement) zombie-like vampires , Luke Goss, behind a ton of makeup, is really good. A formidable foe.

If you like non-stop martial arts action  and as long as you're not a purist about it  then THIS IS YOUR MOVIE.

Because Blade 2 is pretty much non-stop, wall-to-wall fighting. And it's very well-choreographed, by Jeff Ward (who also worked on the first one) and Hong Kong martial arts star Donnie Yen, who also has a smallish part in the movie, giving himself a tris cool sword fight.

There are a few moments, though, especially in a long, bravura sequence at Blade's hideout when a bunch of ninja-trained (kind of; that's my phrase, not the movie's) vampires invade, where you realize that you are actually watching two animated characters fight each other! This happens when the fighting involves big leaps into the air and somersaults and things like that.

The best thing in the movie is probably the scenes where a lot of these new-fangled vampires are crawling on every surface of the wall of a tunnel (ceiling, sides, etc.), like huge insects, towards our heroes.

The opening sequence, while done at a whirlwind pace, has perhaps one fault, which is  Blade vanquishes something like 12 vampires in a row with zero difficulty. He just shoots at them, touches them with his sword, etc. and poof! they vaporize. It's no contest whatsoever. It's too easy.

(Actually, funnily enough, the way they flame up and disintegrate looks almost the same as it did in Queen Of The Damned.)

And later on, Blade seems just a tad too indestructible. He's practically Superman.

Some of the dialogue between Blade and Whistler (Kris Kristofferson) is a bit much to take:

"Dont die on me old man!"

"Don't die on me, son!"

It provokes unconscious eye-rolling.

The other significant thing to point out about Blade 2 is its LOUD! sound design. It's REALLY LOUD!

You notice this especially in the opening moments, when there are all these odd, eerie sounds which don't seem to be coming from anywhere or anything in particular, but appear to be there just to add to the mood, which they do.

But did I mention that they're LOUD?

If you don't like loud, bring ear plugs.

And if you don't like gore, you might want to catch E.T. again instead. Blade 2 is GO-ry!

Grade: A-/B+ (This rating is if you like loud, violent, well done action.)