[Bloodrayne 2:Deliverance]
Plot:Newton Piles (CHRIS COPPOLA), a reporter on assignment for the Chicago Chronicle, has come to Deliverance, Montana, to write tales of the Wild West. But until the railway comes through next week, Deliverance is the quietest town on the frontier.

All of that is about to change. Led by Billy the Kid (ZACK WARD), a hoard of evil cowboys goes on a rampage, slaughtering townspeople and rounding up children. Billy a 357-year old Transylvanian vampire who is hell-bent on creating his own kingdom in the New World...spares Newton's life, promising to give him the greatest story ever told. But soon Billy meets his match in Rayne (NATASSIA MALTHE). The product of the unnatural union of a vampire and a human, Rayne is a Dhampir: she wields all the powers of a vampire, yet none of the weaknesses. Born over a century earlier in Romania, Rayne has been hunting vampires for a long time. Now she has her sights set on Billy.

Cast: Natassia Malthe, Michael Eklund, Will Sanderson, Chris Coppola, Zack Ward, Michael Pare.

My Thoughts:Better than "Bloodrayne".

Review:After I saw "Bloodrayne", there was no doubt in my mind that the movie would never receive a sequel. But then shortly thereafter comes an announcement of "Bloodrayne 2", minus one Kristanna Loken. As if she was the problem with the first movie. "Bloodrayne" had alot of issues, and Kristanna Loken was actually the only thing that kept it mildly watchable. Well...after Michelle Rodriguez's characters was killed anyways. At any rate, "Bloodrayne 2" basically takes Uwe's actors and tosses them into another epic tale involving the female dhampir (half human half vampire) battling evil.

This time Rayne is played by Natassia Malthe (Elektra). Malthe's no stranger to vampire pictures, as she played a vampire before in a D-grade SCI-FI channel film like a year ago. Anyways, this film makes sure to avoid any mention or connection with the first movie. It really tries to be a standalone pic. This time, it's set in the old west, with Rayne arriving in the town of Deliverance just in time to play savior from an evil band of vampires led by Billy the Kid (Zack Ward). Although there's no documented proof that Billy the Kid was a vampire like ever...this film just decides to rewrite history for entertainment purposes. Ward does an excellent job as Billy the Kid, the guy plays a much better villain than he does good guy (Nikolai in Resident Evil Apocalypse).

Ward oozes evil on screen as probably one of the most wicked vampires you'll ever see. The guy has no mercy on anyone, he drains adults, law enforcement, even kids. Of course to make matters worse, he's planning on building an army of vampires (as most vampires usually plot to do) and a new railroad service which is soon to go up in the town offers him the perfect opportunity to spread his plague within town and outside of it. Rayne pretty much doesn't want to take on Billy, but after he kills some people very close to her at the start of the film, and the townspeople are too scared to stand up to him and his evergrowing gang, Rayne figures she might as well take this guy down. Natassia Malthe as the new Rayne does leave some things to be desired.

She plays the part with alot of fury and emotion, but doesn't come off as likeable and easy going as Kristanna as Rayne. Instead she comes off as really uptight and cranky. WHich is further emphasized by the fact that she never smiles, even after she's kicked some vampire ass. "Bloodrayne 2" is by no means a great movie, but it certainly does correct alot of mistakes "Bloodrayne" made. For starters, the villain is interesting this time around, and alot scarier. Also the action scenes are alot more well done, with gunfights taking the place of swordfights and hand to hand battles. The picture is also alot more tolerable overall, which is mainly due to better overall dialogue.

The dialogue in "Bloodrayne" was horrible, but in the sequel it's alot more edgy and sharper. If there's one major disappointment about "Bloodrayne 2", it's the films final battle...which plays out in too much of a cliche fashion. The villain does exactly what you'd expect him to do, the heroine Rayne, capitalizes on those mistakes and the beat goes on from there. I thought more effort could've been put into the films climax to make it more surprising and less predictable but it just didn't happen. "Bloodrayne 2:Deliverance" is a good standalone movie, and actually if you haven't seen "Bloodrayne" at all, and have either not gotten around to it yet, or are avoiding it like the plague...I'd recommend just bypassing it altogether and seeing this instead.

Positives:Good performance by Zack Ward as Billy. Decent gun battle scenes, better dialogue, and an interesting story.

Negatives:Cheesy ending, and I would've been happy if Kristanna Loken had stuck around as Rayne.

Overall:Good sequel worth seeing atleast once.





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