Guillermo del Toro’s Most Underrated Movie Just Dropped on Paramount+: “It’s cool, gory & non-stop”
The vast majority of Guillermo del Toro’s filmography is celebrated by both critics and fans. Pan’s Labyrinth, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, and The Shape of Water have all taken home an Oscar. So, his collective body of work is widely acclaimed. However, there are still outliers in his oeuvre, films that don’t rank as highly for one reason or another.
Some posit that Pacific Rim is relatively underrated compared to a lot of del Toro’s work, and I think that’s a fair assessment. It didn’t fare as well as expected at the domestic box office, and while film scholars have been generally positive in their critiques, it’s far from a critical darling. There’s also a case to be made that Mimic is somewhat underappreciated, but it’s probably fair to say that it’s not his best work.
For many fans, however, del Toro’s most underrated picture is the comic book adaptation Blade II. Directed by del Toro and penned by David S. Goyer, the picture performed well enough at the box office but didn’t really impress critics. Moreover, in the years since its release, it seems some fans have forgotten how great it is. As loyalists will tell you, though, Blade II seamlessly combines action and horror tropes for a rip-roaring ride that ranks as the best of the franchise for many.
The setup for Blade II is this:
Exploding from the pages of Marvel Comics comes the thrilling follow-up to the blockbuster Blade. Half Man … half vampire, and consumed by a desire to avenge the curse of his birth and save the human race from a blood-drenched Armageddon. In this action-packed adventure, Blade (Wesley Snipes) is forced to team up with the very vampires he hates in order to overcome a new type of monster that threatens to eradicate both races.
Although Blade II is (obviously) based on an IP, it still has del Toro’s fingerprints all over it. He makes the property his own with the introduction of the Reaper vampires, who have a distinctive look and feel reminiscent of the filmmaker’s signature aesthetic. In fact, he was apparently so fond of the design that he utilized a similar look for the television series The Strain.
See below for a sampling of social media reactions that echo how underrated the film really is:
If those hot takes have you nostalgic for this comic book adaptation and you’re itching to revisit, you can do just that on Paramount+. The streamer just added the flick to their lineup on September 1. In fact, they actually added the entire trilogy. So, if you have the time and desire, you can binge the whole franchise.
That’s just about all that we have for you at present, dear reader. Stay tuned to the site for more timely updates from the streaming space in the very near future.
Categorized: News
