Blade: Trinity (2004)

Week 2 of the 2011 Halloween Review Marathon continues with another vampire film.

Reviewed by James Ryder

INT. - ABANDONED BUILDING JUST OUTSIDE THE CITY – NIGHT

BLADE (Wesley Snipes) and his mentor WHISTLER (Kris Kristofferson, The Jacket) prepare for battle.

WHISTLER

I’m getting too old for this crap.

BLADE (Wesley Snipes)

Good thing there are two hot young stars on the poster… in case anything happens to you.

WHISTLER 

I always plan ahead.  [Cocks SHOTGUN]

The two hotties on the poster helping Blade form a new TRINITY are a pair of vampire hunters played by Jessica Biel (as Abigail, The A-Team) and Ryan Reynolds (as Hannibal) - two actors who have perpetually been the “next thing” for most of the last decade.  The story itself is fairly standard.  Some ancient vampire crap is going down, and Blade has to stop it before humanity is wiped out, blah blah blah.  The film unfortunately doesn’t explore the Blade or vampire mythos very deeply, but instead it uses them as horror themed set dressing to an otherwise generic action movie.  The filmmakers could have easily replaced any of the good guys with generic mercenaries and the bad guys with an international villain, and the film would essentially be the same.  The terrorists, oops, I mean evil vampires (a hammy Parkey Posey and surprisingly less hammy Triple H) have uncovered an ancient warrior in Afghanistan and plan to unleash it to kill Blade and TAKE OVER THE WORLD. 

Writer-Director David S. Goyer crafts a good looking film with a bland story – surprising since he his best know as a screenwriter.  His work is vast and its quality can be greatly enhanced by his collaborators.  It ranges from the excellent (Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins, Alex Proyas’ Dark City) to the, uh, less good (generally anything directs himself, The Unborn at 11% on Rotten Tomatoes or The Invisible at 21%).  The fact that he is flying solo is likely part of of the film’s blandness.  The film contains very few “scary” moments and following up the excellent Blade II, it had a lot to live up to.  I suspect if it wasn’t the third in a series its blend of action and horror might be more memorable. 

Two items that I found myself looking at from a historical lens: the shaky cam craze hadn’t taken off yet and it’s almost surreal (and welcome) to watch a modern action film without feeling like you’re in the middle of a hurricane.  Second, Apple’s then new iPod is heavily product placed utilized to “enhance realism” in this film.  At first seeming like a logical placement (who wouldn’t have a vampire killing playlist), when Abigail inputs the ubiquitous ear buds twice for the same battle it becomes a little silly.  The film does include an excellent soundtrack with members of the Wu-Tang, The Crystal Method, and Kool Keith’s side project Thee Undatakerz all contributing music (Jurassic 5 also gets a shout out on an iTunes screenshot).

On its own Blade: Trinity plays like a middle brow comic book – all the panels are technically proficient and the story is solid, if unremarkable.  There is nothing to make it stand out in a sea of other titles, unless you’re already a fan of the series. 

This review is based on the theatrical version.  From what I understand (though I have not seen) the director’s cut adds about 10 more minutes to the film and has a more ambiguous ending.

(c) 2011 Beyond the Films