Del Toro did not do too badly with the Blade franchise. Balde 2 though disappointing for many and rather abstract with it’s use of CGI was at the very least interesting and offered a decent gothic tale. Goyer wrote the screenplays for all three films, and if anything was to be criticised about the second Blade film it was the pretty average script. Del Toro is no amateur to direction.
Still, it seems that it was considered a failure in many respects and was generally considered the poorer of the two films. Now we have Blade Trinity, and finally Goyer gets to be the daddy, taking both creative control of the script once more and also directing. You have to be quite talented to be able to direct your own script, the involvement and the time it takes to do both jobs must require a lot of focus. Perhaps this is why Blade Trinity feels like a garbled bore of a mess.
Not long into the film and there’s a certain familiarity with everything. A big opening with explosions, dead vampires and Blade looking like a bad ass. A bad ass he is, and certainly looks the part, but after the thrid time, you sort of wonder if Goyer has any new ideas to offer the audience. By the start, the answer seems to be no.
The vampires are restless and have decided to resurrect the first of their kind, also known as Dracula. They ask him to lead them to a new future, one where they will be victorious and of course to destroy a certain obstacle in their path: namely Blade. Of course Blade’s woes won’t end there, as now he’s being chased by the cops having been fitted up for killing a human, framed by his enemies the vampires.
But since this is supposedly the final movie, let’s add a few more things to mix, since we only have two hours. What about the death of Whistler? Yes he actually dies this time…or does he? Then of course there’s the obliogatory lambs to the slaughter in the form of new recruits who are ordered to help Blade before Whistler’s death, led by Whistler’s bastard daughter (Jessica Biel) born out of wedlock. You can practically taste the inevitable conclusion of most of the good guys being slaughted and of course Blade and the good guys with the most lines in the script surviving to avvenge their brethren.
Goyer is pretty bad at his new job in the director’s seat – if any criticisms could be levelled in summary, they would be that the film lacks direction, co-ordination, a cohesive plot and no new ideas whatsoever. If you’ve seen the first Blade film, and the second one, you’ll wonder why you’re watching the third because with the except of cast changes, the plot is boring the same as the others. There is the addition of a wise-cracking ex-vampire turned good in the form of Hannibal King (Ryan Reynolds). It’s great to see a youth cast, but it’s all so boring, so cliched that it becomes repetitive after the first 20 minutes.
The fighting is rather unconvincing and gone are the experimental CGI effects that Del Toro employed, replaced with confusing and horribly directed close-combat action. I’m not a fan of Buffy, but by comparison the action in that series is far more entertaining. What’s more disappointing is that this film is clearly geared towards the youth market rather than geared towards providing a good plot, great acton and entertainment for anyone to enjoy. It just feels so watered-down and generic that you could quite easily mistake this for something as banal as Resident Evil 2: Apocalypse by that awful director Paul Anderson. It’s that level of B-movie quality that Trinity echoes, and more than once the words “TV movie” sprung to mind as I watched the monotony continue for two hours.
Of interest you will find Parker Posey looking positively vampish and incredible for someone hitting close to 40. Suprising what a little goth make up can do for a person. Snipes is passively watchable, but even he seemed rather bored of the whole thing. The smart sharpness from the first film is completely devoid here. Triple H does what Triple H does best: walking around like a neanderthal and beating people, just as he did in X-Men as Sabretooth. Well, can you see him in a period drama or art house film? The poor soul will be type cast for life. Purcell as Dracula doesn’t get much screen time, and his character is pretty pathetic for someone who’s meant to be the greatest of them all.
There’s a lot of pandering and keeping in with trends, with modern dance hits, iPod’s for show, and many slow motion moments simply to show Biel sticking earphones in. If ever there was a modern action film (aside from the Matrix) and of the Blade series that was concious of it’s target audience and being considered “cool” it would be this turkey, guided by the mishapen hand of fate wielded by one David S Goyer – decent script writer and pretty crap director.
Trinity is the worst of the three and a tragic way to end a mostly decent action series. It offers nothing new, with the same action scenes, the same boring plot and the same high body count and predictablity. You’re better off buying the toy figures or better yet, use Play-doh and make your own Blade movie; it certainly can’t be much worse than this effort.
Verdict: Self-concious medocrity from an eager-to-please director. The equivalent of pooping your pants and not caring