Blade: Trinity Movie Review:


The vampire underworld is in turmoil. Control of humanity has suddenly shifted back to the fangs and claws of the vampires. Blade (Wesley Snipes), a sword-wielding Daywalker and the only hope for grabbing the advantage away from the undead bloodsuckers, is framed in a series of vicious murders. Now forced to join the Nightstalkers, a legion of vampire hunters led by Hannibal King (Ryan Reynolds) and Abraham Whistler (Kris Kristofferson), Blade slashes his way to the top of the vampire bloodline -- directly to Dracula (Dominic Purcell) himself.

So goes the story in “Blade: Trinity,” the third and hopefully final installment of the "Blade" series. David S. Goyer, writer of all three chapters, takes the helm for his directorial debut in hopes of reconstituting the success of the series and showing why audiences can't get enough of the half-vampire, half-human. Goyer maintains the dark, murky atmosphere of the first two installments with sets that are bathed in an appropriately gothic ambiance. Even the daylight scenes have a stark, highly posterized style to them. As a writer, it's clear that Goyer favors the anti-hero, as Blade is a dark and menacing character that possesses hero status despite his own nastiness and internal conflicts.

Much as is the case with classic sci-fi from the 50s and 60s, the foundation of ensuring that films like “Blade” meet success is solid storytelling. But unfortunately, the lack of an interesting story is Trinity's weakest link. I can forgive poor special effects, choppy editing, uninteresting side plots, and wooden acting, but there is absolutely no excuse for neglecting anything that resembles an original, absorbing tale. Its hokey dialogue does provide a few laughs, but unfortunately we laugh at the wrong moments.

In all fairness, “Blade:Trinity”isn't without any redeemable qualities. The wit and comedic delivery of Ryan Reynolds as Hannibal King, the leader of the Nightstalkers, was just what the doctor ordered in an otherwise complete absence of memorable characters. Many of his quips and zingers are actually quite funny and seem to come at the right moments. And of course the physical beauty of Jessica Biel as Abigail Whistler, another member of the famed vampire hunters, is always pleasant on the eyes and even had me convinced to take up archery at one moment.

One particular scene shows a bit of promise, but ends up as a missed opportunity rather than a memorable movie moment. As Dracula prowls the streets searching for Blade, he happens upon a local Goth merchandise retail establishment in which the clerks eat Count Chocula cereal and more closely resemble a vampire than does Drake. Many potential reversed-identity jokes go uncracked leaving us wondering if perhaps something was left on the cutting room floor.

Any thoughts that Wesley Snipes might be able to use “Blade: Trinity” as a springboard for a career revival can be buried right now. As the hybrid vampire, Snipes more closely resembles a character in a Play Station video game than he does a movie hero. I realize his character is not created to win any acting awards, but even his fighting scenes lacked pizzazz and never showed us anything new. The camera was way too close to the action to get any sense of visual cohesion and the poor editing did nothing but confuse the situation.

I thought for sure we had all learned a lesson from the colossal misfortune of “Van Helsing” -- that extravagant special effects and grand-scale fighting scenes will never replace the value of good storytelling (no matter how cool the monsters look). But just as “Van Helsing” leaves us over-stimulated and under-entertained, so does “Blade: Trinity.”



Frank Wilkins

Ok, here we at the third film in the Blade series and supposedly the final film in the series. All I can say to that is it’s about time.

1998’s “Blade” was a fun little action picture that helped pave the way for an onslaught of Marvel Comics characters to make their way onto the big screen. The merry Marvel movies have swallowed up the box office in huge doses so why not make another Blade movie.

This time another assortment of “B-grade” actors assemble as stubborn vamps to step in the way of the samurai-sword wielding vampire-slayer Blade (Wesley Snipes). This time the group’s secret weapon is the brain-dead Prince of Darkness himself, Dracula or Drake (Dominic Purcell) in this film.

Another hunter is also hunting Blade, the FBI who wants to bring Blade in after a cooked up murder charge. To avoid getting captured, Blade must team-up with a group of rookie vampire hunters known as the Nightstalkers to takedown Drake and clear his name. The Nightstalkers are lead by ex-vampire and smart-mouth Hannibal King (Ryan Reynolds) and dashing upstart Abigail Whistler (Jessica Biel), daughter of Blade’s mentor Whistler (Kris Kristofferson).

There are just so many things wrong with this picture it is difficult where to start. From the horrendous rock-a-phonic soundtrack to the repetitive fight sequences to laughable Dracula myth, Blade Trinity is by far the worst of the series.

If you want Blade to face-off against his nemesis from the comic-book series then why not give Dracula his due. Give us the real Dracula not some playboy with a deep voice who wears some pathetic armor and can transform into a spiny-looking Predator thingy. I have to give Dominic Purcell credit. He was so good in the short-lived series “John Doe” but here he has been reduced to a side-show freak. I am still convinced that Blade didn’t take on Dracula even after seeing the flick.

Then there is the whole inside joke that the “real” Dracula wouldn’t walk around in a hooded cape. Well he wouldn’t be a Predator either.

Aside from the ridiculous and awful Dracula, there are Dracula’s minions including Parker Posey, Callum Keith Rennie and wrestler Triple H. I have never liked Posey because no matter what role she does it always seems to be tongue-in-cheek and she becomes her own worst enemy. In this flick, nothing has changed. Rennie prances around trying to look evil but something about him made me think he should have been Igor and started eating bugs. Then there’s Triple H. He’s huge, buff and mean so which is he a vampire or a wrestler or does he know.

The only small things I liked about the film were the goofy comments from Ryan Reynolds, who continues to be one of the best actors in the worst movies working today. Would someone please give this guy a great movie already? The other is seeing Jessica Biel go all Buffy. Damn, I miss that series. Oh, and what the heck was with her damn iPod anyway.

I wanted this to be a fun action flick that would seal the series like it was supposed to but what we get is a sequel that should have gone straight to video. Sorry Wesley and Ryan. At least the Dracula from “Van Helsing” only had the lisp.

Blade (1998): 4 of 5

Blade 2 (2001): 2.5 of 5

Blade Trinity (2004): 1.5 of 5

“So Says the Soothsayer”

Dean Kish

As Blade’s (Snipes) fight against the Vampire’s intensifies, his activities become known to the humans making him a wanted man by the FBI. Unable to continue alone his is joined by the Nightstalkers, a group of young, highly trained, well equipped but inexperienced vampire hunters. Their leader is Hannibal Kane (Reynolds), a former vampire who is hungry to take the fight to them and along with the beautiful and deadly Abigail (Biel) and the rest of the team, Blade thinks he might have a chance of taking the fight to the vampire. The immortals have other ideas however as they have found a new leader, the first vampire, Dracula (Purcell)

The first film re-ignited the interest in comic book movies. The second one advanced the characters and made it into a franchise but what can the third movie do for Blade’s fight against the vampires?

Directed by the writer of the previous two movies, David Goyer, Blade Trinity had a lot of expectation surrounding it. The two previous films had succeeded as adult comic book adaptations that successfully mixed high action and horror superbly, now we have the third movie in the franchise but the problem is that all that momentum has been sadly lost. Blade Trinity just isn’t in the same league as the previous two films and comes as a major disappointment.

The film has quite a few major problems. Firstly, the movie takes the most famous vampire as its villain and while this is the obvious move for the series and a welcome choice, the character is approached from the completely wrong direction. With all due respect to Dominic Purcell, he just isn’t famous enough or good enough to take on the lead villain role. Here we have a short, stocky man who looks more like a nightclub bouncer than the epitome of evil. He has absolutely no screen presence and creates no sense of menace in the slightest. This has to be one of the worst examples of casting in the history of comic book movies.

The plot is far too flimsy. While neither of the previous movies were literary classics, they still had a good premise to drive the story and some decent dialogue to back it up. There are so many wasted opportunities here that it becomes frustrating for the fans. The complete lack of backstory for the new characters is criminal. Both Hannibal Kane and Abigail are introduced via a couple of sentences and the film completely misses the chance to tell us why Dracula became the first vampire, just saying that he has existed for over 4000 years. The dialogue is also second rate, with some of Blade’s lines making you cringe and Jessica Biel has hardly anything to say.

Slightly counteracting some of these negatives is what the Blade movies do best, the fights. Wesley Snipes is arguably the best non-Asian martial artist working in cinema at the moment. The man is exceptional with weapons and hand-to-hand combat, making Blade one of the most deadly screen heroes. This is becoming Snipes’ signature role and a character that he has really made his own, making Blade the ultimate anti-hero.

Joining him in the fight this time around are Jessica Biel and Ryan Reynolds. As Hannibal Kane, Reynolds brings a comedic, wisecracking element to the franchise. This is a role made for the actor but he also has the chance to kick some butt, something that he looks like he is really enjoys. Jessica Biel is a talented actress but she only gets the chance to show the physical side of her talents. She is extremely good looking and she takes to the action sequences with great gusto. The problem is that he character is very underdeveloped and we don’t even see her react to some news that would devastate anyone else.

The other supporting players don’t get much help from the script either. Parker Posey is completely wasted as villainess Danica Talos. She does her best with her limited screen time but her character just becomes very frustrating, as she doesn’t get the chance to explore her wicked side. WWE superstar Triple H is also wasted, with his climatic fight not living up to expectations.

In the end Blade Trinity is a very average movie. In what could be the swansong for the character, you can tell that the filmmakers are looking to spin of the series with the Nightstalkers, but they just end up distracting you from the main character. Much of the blame for this has to rest at the feet of writer/director David Goyer, as delivers a movie that lacks the bite of the previous two. With a lacklustre villain and an underdeveloped story, fans will be hoping that Blade’s third adventure is nit his last and the fight against the vampires doesn’t end in such a bloodless way.

Jamie Kelwick

 

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