From the muddy/choppy editing and pedestrian approach to the action, you can tell this was a budget sequel. A good director knows how to make $5mil look like $50mil, but that didn't happen here. The flashbacks were annoying (jump-cut, jump-cut, over-saturate), and some of the 'healing power' moments just showed that CGI isn't automatically better than latex, corn syrup and reverse-filming. That said, the fake arm looked totally plastic anyway. The killer blow would have to be the lacklustre acting. Mabius seemed to be over-acting a lot (where was the sadness, the hurt, the bitterness, the despair, the darkness etc. etc.?), the rent-a-cops were just that, William Atherton is forever stuck in his sneery reporter role from Die Hard, and as for Fred Ward & Kirsten Dunst - FOR SHAME! The two of you are far better actors than this. My only explanation could be that they were trying hard not to outshine anyone else (and had to lower their standards a long way to do it).
Since this was a group effort, I should mention that I thought the plot was okay, but the dialogue was nothing special. None of the bad guys seemed to have much character, and Fred Ward's interest/knowledge of taxidermy and the occult came straight out of nowhere (and was neither explained nor developed). Although all the main characters saw Mabius fry in the chair, everybody in the film took it in their stride that the guy was back from the dead. And if we're talking about acting skills - Mabius and Ward gave two of the shabbiest, most fake-looking electrocutions I have ever seen. It looked more like they had a ferret down their pants.
With the flaws coming from all sides, I can only conclude that the Director is most to blame for not having the vision or experience to pull this lot through. We would have been far better off with a broody revenge thriller, and just a couple of big-budget Gothic/violent set-pieces. Finally, a handful of pole-dancers do not add eroticism or glamour (or titillation). Was it ever even explained what Lauren(?) was doing in that club in the first place!? The soundtrack was alright though.
Since this was a group effort, I should mention that I thought the plot was okay, but the dialogue was nothing special. None of the bad guys seemed to have much character, and Fred Ward's interest/knowledge of taxidermy and the occult came straight out of nowhere (and was neither explained nor developed). Although all the main characters saw Mabius fry in the chair, everybody in the film took it in their stride that the guy was back from the dead. And if we're talking about acting skills - Mabius and Ward gave two of the shabbiest, most fake-looking electrocutions I have ever seen. It looked more like they had a ferret down their pants.
With the flaws coming from all sides, I can only conclude that the Director is most to blame for not having the vision or experience to pull this lot through. We would have been far better off with a broody revenge thriller, and just a couple of big-budget Gothic/violent set-pieces. Finally, a handful of pole-dancers do not add eroticism or glamour (or titillation). Was it ever even explained what Lauren(?) was doing in that club in the first place!? The soundtrack was alright though.