10 Best Film Sequels By Different Directors

The Sequel To: Blade (Norrington, 1998)

The Director: Guillermo Del Toro

Taking Over From: Stephen Norrington

One of the key directors of the Mexican New Wave, Guillermo Del Toro's first American outing somewhat set the style for his future films. Coming just a year after his seminal The Devil's Backbone, a chilling horror set against the backdrop of civil war in a Franco-led Spain, it might've seemed an odd choice for this politically conscious auteur to take on the world of comic-book cinema, but it proved to be a masterstroke, with Blade's Gothic nature serving as an ideal springboard for Del Toro's touches of fantastical, surrealistic magic to leap off.

While the actual character of Blade (Wesley Snipes) isn't quite as well-rounded as in Norrington's sturdy original, everything else surpasses it, not least the visuals, which remain the benchmark for how comic-book action can, and should, look. There are traces to Pan's Labyrinth (Del Toro's best known, Oscar winning film) in Blade II, as well as to Hellboy I and II, his other, stylish outings in the Marvel cinema canon.