Movie Review: Lost Boys 2: The Tribe

Many long time fans of the original Lost Boys vampire cult classic were pissed when they found out a part 2 was being made. Most fans are well aware that making a second movie usually ends up being a flop.

I got the opportunity to see Lost Boys 2: The Tribe this past weekend, and let me say for the first time in a long while, I can honestly admit that this sequel was not a full fledged flop. Although some areas in the movie were slightly less than entertaining, for the most part I enjoyed it, and couldn't see why past fans of the original wouldn't enjoy it.

The Plot:
 
The Lost Boys 2: The Tribe is basically about 2 young siblings Nicole and Chris (Autumn Reeser -remember the gal from the OC and Tad Hilgenbrink) who recently have moved to Southern California to live with their aunt. It's not too long into the movie that the two meet up with some of the locals, and past surf legends with a secret of their own. They are vampires. Tah-dah!!!!

The head vampire takes an immediate liking to Nicole. Nicole is shortly turned into a half vampire by the headmaster, and it is up to her brother Chris to save her from turning into a full blown vampire. In order to save her he must kill the head vampire before Nicole makes her first kill.

Chris seeks help from the Frog Brothers, which oddly only includes one brother; Edgar the Vampire Hunter, whom is played by Corey Feldman! Right around the time you meet back up with an old time actor from the original movie, you think that Corey Haim is going to pop out somewhere in the scene, however he does not (If you followed the Two Corey's reality show, you'd see why).
 
Anyhow, Chris and his vampire hunting sidekick Edgar seek out the lair in which the vampires are hiding. By seeking out their den, they know they can get to the headmaster to kill him.

Acting:
 
The acting was all played out very well and not once during the movie did I think or even feel the actors were over doing it. It seemed realistic, and the characters all meshed well with one another.

I fond myself laughing on a constant whenever Edgar was in the scene. Corey Feldman played a spectacular role, and lived up to his original character without missing a beat. Boo-yah to those who felt otherwise. Feldman stayed true to Edgar's character; fun, spunky, and humorous even in dangerous situations.

Problems:
 
I won't ruin the movie and give away the ending, but I have to note that the ending in particular had absolutely no build up. In the original movie you were on edge wondering what the hell would happen, and Kiefer Sutherland played a wicked scary head vampire. He was intimidating, scary, and reeked of power!!!! In the Lost Boys 2 though, the head vampire in particular was far too handsome and human looking to even be considered scary, or intimidating.

The deal killer was the ending. The characters did a great job, as I mentioned earlier, but with the endings quick non-build up was such a disappointment.

Alternate Endings:
 
So I was annoyed that the ending of the movie was done so tragically horrible... to my surprise though The Lost Boys 2: The Tribe featured 2 alternative endings that you can view in the movies menu.

Don't get excited here. The alternate endings didn't even fit into the movies plot... I was left confused as all hell. It was as if these 2 alternate endings were made for an entire different movie! Maybe they were? Corey Haim was supposed to be in the movie, but seeing how he was either fired, or left on his own, perhaps these endings would of fit in somewhere... perhaps after the Haim blow up, they had to re-do the entire thing from scratch? Who knows, all I know is that the alternate endings made no sense.

They did however feature Corey Haim and Corey Feldman together.

Although I am glad Haim made it in the alternate endings, I wish he would have been featured in a larger role within the actual movie. He plays a very small almost absent part at the very end of the movie, but it's like a 4 second shot of him.

Some feel that Haim got his limelight in the original movie, and couldn't see why he'd be in the movie at all seeing how he and Edgar killed the head vampire in the first Lost Boys, having Haim in the sequel really makes no sense to the plot.; where Feldman was the vampire hunter, it makes a lot more sense for him to play a larger role in the sequel. I feel though that after the original, Haim's character should have joined the Frog Brothers, and joined with Feldman as a vampire hunter. Thats just me though.
Unfortunately it didn't happen that way though.

Overall:
 
Although Lost Boys 2: The Tribe features a share of flaws, the overall movie was entertaining. It was nice to see Corey Feldman back in world of acting.

I recommend this one to fans of the original, fans of Feldman, and fans of vampire movies in general. It's not excellent, but it is also not that bad.
3.5 stars out of 5.