Review of Blade: Trinity (2004) by Tim C — 25 Dec 2015

I think the first mistake was New Line handing a major franchise picture to a rookie inexperienced director. David Goyer has nourished this series thru his scripts, but that doesn't mean he could stand toe to toe with a very well done Blade 1 by Stephen Norrington or the insane vision of Blade 2 by cinematic wonderkind Guillermo Del Toro. Goyer just doesn't possess the skill of directing action nor does he have a highly imaginative visual eye that the prior directors had.

The second mistake was having two totally out of place cast members like Jessica Biel and Ryan Reynolds. Blade has always had a very gritty urban edge with a nice mixture of goth and hip hop. Biel and Reynolds does not fit at all. They belong in teen comedies and yuppie suburbanite style fare. Another casting blunder is that of Dominic Purcell as the big daddy Dracula. He had the look and menace of an underwear model. The film needed a larger than life actor with charisma.... and something to actually do in the movie!! Trinity had none of that for ole Drac.

In making these mistakes resulted in a dull Blade movie with choppy action scenes full of boring explosions, bland set pieces, and barely adequate fight choreography... if you can catch any of it through all the shaky cam close ups and constant fast editing. You also get Reynolds trying like hell to be funny.... the entire movie, and Biel trying her best to act like a badass. Reynolds succeeded only sometimes while other times he came off strenuous and forced. Biel acted like she was still in a training session or a sparring match during her fight scenes. She didn't look convincing in the slightest especially in the shadow of Wesley Snipes who can pull it off effortlessly.... like he gets paid to kick ass..... Oh wait.

Speaking of Wesley Snipes, it was quite clear he didn't want to be part of this movie. Other than the well documented tension behind the scenes, Snipes phoned in his performance and looked more annoyed at being on that set. I don't really blame him either, because he was almost completely monopolized by his caucasian co stars. The title says BLADE, the fans want to see BLADE, and Goyer betrayed both Snipes and the fans.

I would get more into Kris Kristofferson's role in this movie, but it barely registers as anything but a slap in the face. I mean you die in Blade 1 only to get resurrected in Blade 2.... just to die again in a very underwhelming way in Blade 3? His character arc turned out to be a pointless sham.

Overall Blade Trinity is not a totally awful film. its just an awfully dull and misguided effort full of opportunities wasted by the studio and the filmmakers involved. It's a bad sign when the only spark of entertainment value you get from a "Blade" movie is Ryan Reynolds cutting it up with his likability and humor. Had New Line Cinema actually waited for Guillermo Del Toro to make his Hellboy movie, then as Del Toro said he "would have been on board for Blade 3". We would have gotten a much more satisfying conclusion to the Blade Trilogy.