BLADE: TRINITY (2004)

Out come the shades, long jacket and icy cold stare as the third instalment of the Blade chronicles hits the big screen. In the relative infancy of serious superhero comic conversions, the original Blade took both the action and horror fan on a high octane ride like no other and aimed its cross hairs squarely between the eyes of the grown-up movie fan. Thanks to David Goyer's great screenwriting on the first movie he was then unleashed in duel roles as writer and executive producer of the second and eventually, after proving his metal, given the directors position on Blade Trinity. Despite his relative rooky status as director (Blade Trinity only being his second helming position) you would have thought his previous experience of the Daywalker would allow some great development for both the underlying plot and the Blade character himself. You would think wouldn't you?
This time around Blade finds himself hunted by the FBI as a group of Vampires, intent on ridding themselves of the thorn in their sides, set him up to become public enemy number one. As Blades situation goes from bad to worse, finding himself in custody and about to be handed over to the vampires who put him there, he is suddenly saved by another underground group of vampire killers called ‘The Nightstalkers’. Lead my smart mouthed Hannibal King (Reynolds) and Whistlers daughter Abigail ( Biel ), Blade reluctantly joins forces to fight against the master of all vampires (Purcell as Dracula) and the group that resurrected him lead by Danica Talos (Posey).

Fans of the previous Blade incarnations will be comforted to know that the ice cool exterior is as frosty as ever with its mind melting meld of deadly martial arts action and bullet ballet all heartily drenched in an adrenaline pumping techno sound track which oozes visual and audio sex appeal. The ocular effects are stunning with the usual vampire ‘disintegration’ being used to great effect along with a couple of familiarities borrowed from the Reapers in the second film. All this eye candy is made all the more sensational thanks to some fine computer enhancements which, for a nice change, integrate with the live footage exquisitely. However, once past all the flashy imagery and finely choreographed punch-ups, some underlying problems begin to surface with both characters and story that throw a spanner in the works.
On the casting front Ryan Reynolds’s minces his way through the entire movie as Hannibal King. In a rather contradictory state, one moment he’s playing the hard hunter and the next he’s displaying rather too much of his pubic region whilst just managing to resist stretching out his limp arm and calling every one ‘girlfriend’. His character does have a heap of charm though who’s primordial task is to act as comic relief with often effective and humorous one liner’s. Die hard fans of the Blade series might be niggled by this foolish behaviour which does have a tendency to cheapen the ‘grown-up’ nature of the film. Jessica Biel’s gorgeous girl next door persona works well with the deadly nature of her character and it’s good to see her play an aggressive part. The rest of the Nightstalker gang are pretty incidental, adding only a few moments of interest until their inevitable conclusion but do look out for the little girl whose finale offers up a rare moment of tenderness amongst the flying bullets and spurting arteries. The Dracula character should have been portrayed as a complete bad ass with an almost overwhelming charisma and inner strength to match, but I’m afraid that Dominic Purcell managed neither of these things and, in his game efforts to achieve credibility as the movies chief nemesis, he appeared nothing more than another meat bag waiting for a little Blade righteousness.

The story fairs little better as the tangibly desperate measure of carting out the obvious ultimate foe in the guess of Dracula smacks of a severe lack of creativity and the ultimately dead-ending of Blades character development bodes poorly for the die hard fan. Familiar plot elements also raised my eyebrow such as Blades capture and the reluctant joining of another band of fighters being just two examples of rehashed rudiments that have been done better previously in the series.

The completed package is a belly filling experience with its excellent action packed pace, but this mini feast is nothing more than Chinese food, after about 20 minutes you’ll be gaggling for something more substantial. Perhaps its time to let Blade rest for a while and give the next breed of vampire hunter a go?

Score

6 / 10