Directed by: David S. Goyer
Written by: David S. Goyer
Starring: Wesley Snipes, Kris Kristofferson, Jessica Biel, Ryan Reynolds, Parker Posey
Rating: [2.5/5]
When you’ve taken out vampire gods and what they turn into after an infection, the only thing left just so happens to be the OG of them all. The one untainted by the new restrictions and boasting all of the power. In Blade: Trinity, we have our hero stepping up and taking on Dracula.
After a group of vampires awaken Dracula from his deep slumber, Blade (Wesley Snipes) finds himself in trouble with the law. Now with human issues lining up with a new threat looming, he receives the help of two younger vampire slayers, who brings a new spunk to the team.
Growing up, I probably watched this film five or six times mostly because I had a crush on Jessica Biel but also because of the new technology added in this third installment. Primarily, Biel’s use of archery and a laser bow with the power to cut through vampires like a hot knife through butter. It comes down to the heroes with this film and if you can specifically tolerate Hannibal King portrayed by Ryan Reynolds. Blade had to team up with others in Blade II, but never someone with the gumption of King. The role essentially becomes one of Reynold’s several auditions to portray Deadpool, but I found his one-liners to work in the film.
The addition of Reynolds and Biel adds energy to the team, especially with Blade never having loads of cheer or humor to him. Biel portrays Abraham Whistler’s daughter, Abigail, who adds a level of composure while King drops the smart alec comments. Much like Blade, Abigail has a hunger to take down vampires and uses her skills in vanquishing them. I appreciate the use of weaponry in these films and for their advancements, they still have a classic function to them. To take down an ancient enemy, tools like swords and bow and arrows become the weapons of choice.
If King and the new weaponry doesn’t work for you then everything else will spell out doom because Blade: Trinity lacks in almost every other department, especially the villains. The first Blade film introduced a society of vampires, who have integrated themselves into our politics and other foundations of civilization. These vampires have lured other humans into doing their bidding with the promise of turning them into immortal beings. These folks are referred to as “familiars,” which puts Blade in the limelight for humans now. The vampires now control the media and have shifted any fear the common citizen had for them and made Blade public enemy number one. The idea of presenting this challenge for Blade seems interesting, but the vampires utilized as the enemies severely lacked good acting.
The main vampires surrounding Dracula’s return are Danica (Parker Posey) and Jarko (Paul “Triple H” Levesque). Posey has plenty of fun with the role but famous WWE wrestler, Triple H, really struggled through his scenes. One of the many wrestlers, who lightly began transitioning into the acting world in the 2000s with most of them not named Dwayne Johnson struggling to find any real success. Triple H certainly had the physicality to bring menace to his character, but his shtick ran its gamot fairly quickly. The worst of them all had to be Dominic Purcell as Dracula, who must have walked into the wrong set. I understand what he attempted to do with this character but this variation of the famous blood-sucking creature simply did not work at all. It may be down to the direction or how the character had been written, but this new edgy iteration of Dracula felt like a dreadful 2000s cover of a beloved classic song.
David S. Goyer wrote the screenplay for all three Blade films and now stepped up to direct this one, which may have been a mistake. Goyer’s run in Hollywood continues to show someone tapped into the superhero world with vastly different results. He’s a creative lead for this trilogy of films and heavily involved in the Dark Knight trilogy. Two vast levels of quality, which showed him going on an upward trajectory only for him to be involved with the lackluster DCEU films. Blade: Trinity feels like nothing new narratively but the action within it shows Goyer developing as a director.
Blade: Trinity rightfully has been named the worst of the series by many people with good reason. Narratively it has more holes than Swiss cheese and lacks many forms of logic. Its villains are fairly putrid with some lackluster acting. However, some moments bring it together for me to simply enjoy some of the mindless action on display, especially when Blade starts throwing sharp things at the vampires.
Films with Josh 