Blade II is a gung-ho guilty pleasure, the kind of movie critics are not supposed to like.

But, living on the lunatic fringe of horror, gore and martial arts action, this intense sequel delivers a visceral slam upside the head. This is style over content. Fabulous style.

Start with Wesley Snipes. He is chiselled and so physically fit that it's jaw-dropping. His extreme looks and even more extreme movement and attitude make up more than half the fun of watching these movies.

Snipes was responsible for the original Blade (1998) becoming the box-office hit whose healthy financial numbers spawned this sequel. Like a mutant superhero cross between Shaft and Batman, Snipes repeats his role as a half-vampire, half-human avenger, a supernatural creature that was plucked out of the Marvel Comics series created by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan.

This time, in a so-called script devised by returning screenwriter David S. Goyer, our blood-curdling anti-hero teams up with the enemy -- the vampires he so ruthlessly hunts down and kills -- to fight what appears to be an even greater threat, an uber-vampire that feeds on humans and other vampires.

This plot is ridiculous (which is no surprise) and Snipes' co-stars, including Kris Kristofferson returning from the dead, are all pushed to silly extremes (again no surprise).

But Snipes kicks major butt with a stylish flair that keeps you watching, despite the indulgent violence, despite the routine CGI special effects that deliver mutations without magic.

Filmmaking technology has moved so rapidly that even such B-quality films as Blade II can boast highly polished special effects sequences that make "real" something that is conjured from a nightmare. They simply work better when there is a strong story propelling them along. That's missing here.

What Blade II director Guillermo del Toro did do, however, is pump up the intensity of the action, at least in comparison to the original Blade, which was directed by Stephen Norrington.

Del Toro is the crafty Mexican filmmaker who made the cult horror flick Cronos. Devotees can easily see style connections between the two films. This guy has real talent for genre filmmaking and perhaps will blossom on a grander scale, following the path of Canadian David Cronenberg.

Meanwhile, del Toro's Blade II will punish you to the point of exhaustion and thrill you to the point of ghoulish delight. (More on: Blade 2: Bloodhunt).

(This film is rated R)

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