BLADE TRINITY

"We are going to lose"

Hannibal Kane

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.

Disc 1:
Commentary one with writer/director/producer David Goyer, Ryan Reynolds and Jessica Biel
Commentary two with writer/director/producer David Goyer, producers Peter Frankfurt and Lynn Harris, cinematographer Gabriel Bernstain, production designer Chris Gorak and editor Howard E. Smith

Disc 2:
Daywalkers, Nightstalkers and Familiars: Inside The World Of Blade: Trinity (16 featurettes)
Goyer on Goyer - the writer interviews the director
Alternate ending
Blooper reel
Galleries
Trailers

Blade

Blade II

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2004