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132 of 150 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
This Blade Doesn't Need Sharpening, December 17, 2004
When I first heard that "Trinity" was on the way, I had my reservations about it. I was worried that the film would become cluttered with heroes, what with Blade and Whistler fighting necksuckers, and now Hannibal King and Abigail Whistler thrown into the fray. Somehow, a balance is found between the heroes that keeps all of them out of each others way.
The plot is reflective of the other films in that once again the vampires are looking for a way to become daywalkers. Instead of calling up a vampire god or creating a mutant race though, they decide to go to the source of their "virus"--Dracula. Hoping to use his blood to make them perfect immortal beings and eventually herd humans like livestock to feed them, a group of vampires seeks out and revive the dark prince. He looks like something from a GWAR concert, then morphs into this medieval looking guy. Dominic Purcell portrays him, and does a better-than-average job. Parker Posey plays a vamp who is very over-the-top. At first, I didn't think she'd work in this picture, but she does a really good job. WWE fans were happy to see Triple H get his chance to flesh out a vampire with silver caps on his teeth. His character is like the schoolyard bully of the bunch. He's big and bad, but has a soft spot for Pomeranian dogs. The rest of the vampires are pretty stock as far as modern vampires go. They somehow all know martial arts, are unusually good at science, and enjoy techno music.
Wesley Snipes looks very comfortable in his role as Blade. His character has lightened up a bit as far as humor goes, but he's still one bad mama-jama. Kris Kristofferson looks comfortable as the tough old fart/father-figure Whistler. Jessica Biel was very good as Whistler's daughter, Abigail. Of all the characters, she seems to be the one person you'd least expect to play a butt-kicker, but she pulls it off in grand style. Ryan Reynolds plays Hannibal King, a smarty pants vampire hunter who was once one of them. His one-liners are hilarious most of the time, but he gets pretty annoying during parts of the film. His humor was probably highlighted a little more than the average "Blade" audience member goes for, but I think he did a pretty decent job. The rest of Abigail and Hannibal's group, the Nightstalkers, features a pretty stock bunch of characters who are really only here to provide weapons and victims for the film.
The action is much better than in the second film. There is very little evidence of CGI tampering in the fight sequences this time around. The majority of the action is shot up-close and personal. Blade, as usual, has that strike-a-pose mentality about him and has some very good-looking moves in this film. Hannibal is mainly a gunslinger. Abigail favors a bow and her boots when it comes to killing vampires.
Of course, no "Blade" film would be proper without some techno music. This time around the music has a little nu metal flavor to it and more of a gangsta feel than the other two films. The music should be considered a major character, since it moves the entire movie at a swift pace. Of all of the films, I believe that "Trinity" has the best soundtrack.
I've heard that this film would be the final installment in the "Blade" series. That's probably a good idea since it looks like the vampires are starting to run out of options to become daywalkers. I've also heard that this movie is going to be used as a springboard for the characters of Hannibal King and Abigail Whistler. Much like the Elektra character in "Daredevil," I'm sure that this duo can pull off a film on their own. I don't think they will have the drawing power of "Blade," but there is an audience out there for them.
One other note, this is the first "Blade" film to feature the easily recognized Marvel tagline at the beginning of the film. It's nice to see that Avi Arad and Stan Lee are finally giving a little more respect to this series, since it seems to have done pretty well without them the first two times around.
Well, I recommend this flick to fans of the first two films and folks who liked "Daredevil" and "Punisher." Also, if you like brooding heroes or action flicks like "Resident Evil: Apocalypse," I'm sure you'll enjoy this film. Children should not see this movie. It isn't so much that it is scary, but f-bombs drop left and right in this flick. The signature burn-up of vampires is also here, so that might be a little disturbing for some kiddies. The R-rating is well deserved due to the excessive foul language(more than the first two films) and the obvious vioent aspect of the film. That's just something to keep in mind if you're turned off by cursing. I get pretty tired of it in a film if it seems to be put in just to have the character come across as tougher or meaner.
Hope you enjoy this movie, it's a fine addition to the "Blade" saga.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Changed my mind - thank goodness, March 3, 2006
I remember sitting in the theater, watching the regular release of Blade:Trinity and feeling utterly lost. What happened to his car? Why was Drake so NOT scary? Why the focus on Jessica Beale when this was Blade's movie?
Then I rented the unrated version. The extra footage completely changed the movies. I felt the connection in this film that I felt with the first two. This was a Marvel movie, this was a dark and scary hero fighting even darker, scarier monsters.
Wesley Snipes was upset with the original cut. Blade simply was not Blade. With the recut, Blade walked that sword's edge between the dark and the light.
Dominic Purcell turned in a decent performance in the original cut, but in the recut, Drake was not only scary and sexy, but also tragic. This was a Dracula who was seeing the end of his race. He was creature that was watching his people fall from the status of God's to advertisements for marital aides and Drac-Cola.
I still don't get Parker Posey as a Vampire but the sly in jokes - for instance the blonde vampire named Asher and other little in jokes peppered about certainly made up for her performance.
This was the movie that should have been released, simply because we find out what happened to the damned car!
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
What a terrible ending to a very good action franchise, January 23, 2006
Picking up at the tail end of a a great action franchise, David Goyer manages to murder it with an extreme finality. A decisively fatal blow that the incompetent, non-threatening vampire antagonists in Blade Trinity can only dream about. While it's admirable that he would attempt to 'stamp' this film with his unique style, less flattering are the realizations early and often that (a) he fails miserably in both writing and directing and that (b) realizing both roles means he only compounds his own errors at each turn.
Directed in a Michael-Bay-remakes-Torque style, Goyer hides a water thin plot behind accelerated running, slow motion walking, more one liners then 'The Last Boy Scout', and well.. random nonsensical development. Supposedly, our storyline is that Blade, long the scourge of the vampire nation, is now the victim of a sprawling conspiracy plot wherein law enforcement and the media are used to frame him for murdering a human.
Other than making blade finally turn into a vampire it was the most logical direction to conclude the franchise. Not logical is the concurrent plot that the 'original vampire, Dracula, has been found in Syria and resurrected to lead the vampire nation. This is problematic because of the limitations of Goyer's imagination, which forces the original vampire to simply be a more muscular version of Stephen Dorff from the first film, without any of the screen presence or entertaining dialogue. The same limitations apply to the vampires' plot to kill Blade which seem to rest largely on the idea of putting him in a room in handcuffs. In fact several of the sequences including the ending seem to directly contradict everything else established about him.
- If he is in fact so powerful why is he at turns treated with abject fear and simply reservation by his subordinates?
- If he decides to take care of Blade himself, why does he simply lead Blade on a homoerotic, crouching tiger influenced, building top chase to give Blade an ultimatum?
- The blood bank so crucial to vampires is guarded by.. a woman sitting at a computer?
- If Dracula is in fact a shape shifter how does he walk to a hidden fortress in his regular clothes and then assume the appearance of a man wearing a trench coat?
- Are his clothes shape shifting as well?
It's not just the suspension of belief that damns this movie, it's the suspension of interesting dialogue story, plot development, or characterization that destroys it from the beginning.
Additionally, Goyer's directing reveals a skill that certain filmmakers (spielberg and cameron come to mind) have that others seemingly never will. Scale, the creation of it, and the consistency of it are far, far beyond his skill, as is action direction. Goyer's revelation of dracula for example looks no better than a commercial for a Xena rerun. No individual characters are impressive throughout, and even the epic ending conflict feels smaller than the conclusion of the second film in the series. There are a couple of positives. One, the idea that a blind woman watches the security cameras with her young daughter is the funniest idea since the central premise of 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.' Two, Ryan Reynolds is great on screen and consistently funny in an otherwise uninteresting story. And third, Jessica Biel is gorgeous. So.. make that a few positives.
Let's hope if this series goes in the indicated "Night Stalkers track down Blade" direction, a competent person is given the charge of the story. until then just watch Underworld or the first two Blade flicks again.
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