DVD Reviews

By Patrick Luce Apr 27, 2005, 23:47 GMT

DVD Review: Blade Trinity

The basic plot of Blade Trinity is almost laughable and something that you would think was created to fool Internet spoilers from discovering what the movie was really about.The vampires, tired of losing to Blade (Snipes), decide to find Dracula and wake him from his slumber. Their plan is to have him destroy the fearless vampire hunter so that they can finally bring about their evil final plan for mankind. Unlike the first two films, where the vampires are lead by halfway cool villains, this time we get some kind of cross between yuppies and idiots which makes you wonder just why Blade has such a hard time killing these things.

Blade Trinity main menu

After falling for a vampire trap that frames Blade for killing a human, the lone warrior is rescued from his enemies and the police by a new squad of vampire warriors called The Nightstalkers – which are based another comic from Marvel. Blade, alone in a war he can’t win by himself, decides to join the group - that is led by ex-vampire Hannibal King (Ryan Reynolds) and Abigail Whistler (Jessica Biel).From there the movie becomes a downward spiral as the plot develops more holes and gets dumber by the minute. The Nightstalkers have developed a viral weapon that could kill the vampires, but only if they can first mix it with Dracula’s blood. The vampires, led by a overacting Parker Posey, convince Dracula, now called Drake, that Blade is the ultimate challenge that he has been waiting centuries to face. Before long, the good guys meet the bad guys and lots of killing and endless fight scenes follow.

Biel as Abigail

Unlike most trilogies, such as Lord of the Ring or even Star Wars, the first Blade movie was never planned to spawn two sequels despite what writer David Goyer may claim. The sequel came about after the movie proved to have a large success in the home market. Blade II, which had its own problems, had a good box office weekend, but never set up a reason for a third movie or even a glimpse that there would be one. It is obvious there was no clear story from the start by the fact that the films fail to build on each other or even have some connecting factor – other than Wesley Snipes acting monotone and killing a whole bunch of people.

Blade Trinity Disc 2 features

The bad things in Blade Trinity are almost too many to count. The movie had a lot of on-set problems, such as Snipes refusing to come out of his trailer the first day of filming, and is now experiencing post production problem – thanks to a lawsuit filed by Snipes claiming Goyer was the reason the movie stunk.The plot is laughable, the acting is horrible, and the entire movie has none of the edge of the first film or the intense action and gore of the second. Instead, we get a comical approach to vampires that almost rivals how badly the fourth Batman movie killed that franchise.There are several extreme plot holes in the movie that become annoying as the movie rolls along. While Reynolds’ performance is the one redeeming aspect of the movie, the character is not up to much. He was a vampire until he was cured. If there is a cure, then why don’t they just start shooting the vampires with that rather than trying to kill them all the time? If Blade is so easy for the police to arrest, why can’t the vampires ever catch him? The Dracula character is horrible and instead of coming off as intimidating, or even half as scary as Gary Oldman managed to be, he comes off as just plain cheesy. The acting is poor, the make-up at the end is worse, and there is really no reason to introduce the character.

Dracula bites in this movie

If there is one redeeming aspect to Blade Trinity, it is in the wisecracking laughs provided by Reynolds. He is the only thing that breaks up the dull moments in the film or even sets it apart, other than being just plain bad, from the first two movies. You have to wonder how much of Reynolds performance was in Goyer’s script and how much was him saving Goyer’s script. There were reports that Snipes was jealous of all the screen time Reynolds received in the movie and he should be because the actor steals every scene.

Reynolds faces a vampire dog

The special features include a blooper reel, an alternate ending, an inside 16-part look at the Blade series, two commentaries feature Goyer, Biel and Reynolds, but no Snipes, and a gallery that discusses the weapons used by the hunters and the film’s designing of Dracula.The alternate ending deserved to be alternate and is almost a bigger joke than the actual movie. In it, we skip ahead six months to see Reynolds and Biel taking down a werewolf – that looks like he is leftover from An American Werewolf in London. It was obviously aimed at setting up a Nightstalkers spin-off, but got axed for the one they went with instead.The blooper reel is rather funny, as they always are, and it includes some of Reynolds joking around, Biel’s mistakes, and Snipes being Snipes.Overall, I would say that Blade Trinity was a huge letdown to me. I have been a fan of the series and I had my doubts about how good it was going to be after hearing all the reports during its production. I reserved my judgment of the film because critics bashed Blade II, but I liked it. Instead of getting a Blade movie, I think we got a poor set-up for a Nightstalkers movie and another example of how to kill a franchise. I would give the movie one star out of five and that’s only because of my loyalty to the first two films.

Alternate ending featured a horror of a werewolf

Blade Trinity is now available at Amazon.com and in the U.K. at Amazon U.K. See the films database for more information

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MelApr 30th, 2005 - 01:42:10

I thought the movie was fun. I enjoyed it.

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joeApr 30th, 2005 - 16:12:14

I agree with him. The movie sucked. I just finished it and that's two hours I won't get back.

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DVDJApr 30th, 2005 - 17:31:44

Any 'reviewer' who leaves words out of sentences and doesn't know the difference between the words 'lead' (as in get the lead out) and 'led' is not in a position to call any movie 'horrible.' Learn to be more literate before passing judgment on others, please.

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DanaMay 4th, 2005 - 12:42:19

My husband made me sit through Blade Trinity last night and I hated every dull minute of it. I haven't been the biggest fan of any of the Blade movies, but this one was really bad. I don't think it deserved even one star.

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KenMay 10th, 2005 - 02:41:01

I enjoyed this movie. I t was one of those: turn off your brain and just watch movies. Of course not as good as 1 or 2 but definatly a fun movie. I thought it was very Comical. I laughed alot. But then again i watched a crappy movie this weekend the Chronicles of Riddick ....... Blade Trinity is a Hell of Alot better than that!

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ScottJun 16th, 2005 - 16:18:11

I thought it was terrific on all levels! I was a fan of the previous Blade films and am a fan of vampire flicks and thought this one was top-notch. I loved the fact that this one injected a lot of humor into the script but still managed to maintain a constant menace from the antagonists. You go walking in to see a Blade movie, don't expect to see Shakespeare. Accept it for what it is and you'll be happy.

I don't know why people who don't like the genre, the series or the actors will watch the movie and say afterwards that they hated it. Of course you're going to hate it. I don't watch an episode of Friends, a show I have no interest in that I've never seen but has apparently been on for years and has enjoyed a successful run with millions upon millions of die-hard fans and then complain how bad it sucks.

I think people nowadays have such a negative view on life that they make an effort to point out how crummy they think other things are. Stick to what you like, you'll save more time and money that way.

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PatmanJun 18th, 2005 - 21:10:44

Bang on Scott!

I agree 100%. My wife and I have enjoyed all three installments of the Blade saga. I think the point is not to expect something these movies were never inteded to have.

I haven't seen one of these movies in theatres but bought each DVD the same week they were released. I wasn't disapointed by any of them. They were exactly what I was looking for.

I wonder if the people bashing the Blade movies are raving about the Star Wars prequels.

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PatrickJun 18th, 2005 - 21:25:04

Actually, I didn't really care for the new Star Wars movie. I enjoyed parts of it, but almost fell asleep at the beginning. I liked the other two Blade movies, and the vampire genre. I just didn't care for the third Blade and thought it was a weak movie when compared to the first two films. I have recently re-watched it and liked it more than I did the first time. I agree with some of what has been said, but still think the movie could have been better. Without Reynolds, the movie would have been extremely bad, and I don't think Snipes did that great of a job in it at all. With that said, I hope they make a Nightstalkers spin-off because I liked the Reynolds character. He saved the movie.

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