Blade: Trinity (2004)
The Cast
Wesley Snipes .... Blade
Kris Kristofferson .... Whistler
Dominic Purcell .... Drake
Jessica Biel .... Abigail Whistler
Ryan Reynolds .... Hannibal King
Parker Posey .... Danica Talos
Mark Berry .... Chief Martin Vreede
John Michael Higgins .... Dr. Edgar Vance
Callum Keith Rennie .... Asher Talos
Triple H .... Jarko Grimwood
Natasha Lyonne .... Sommerfield
Directed by David S. Goyer of many a comic book movie fame, Blade: Trinity is the third instalment in the Blade franchise, based on the Marvel Comics character. Wesley Snipes returns as the Daywalker, Blade, & is joined by two new characters, Hannibal King (Reynolds) & Abigail Whistler (Biel), daughter of Blade's mentor, Whistler (Kristofferson). In this movie, a band of vampires led by Danica Talos (Posey), awakens Dracula (Purcell) from his self-imposed exile in Iraq (how topical).
Blade, King & the hotter Whistler, end up teaming together as Night Stalkers in an attempt to finally put an end to the vampires throughout the world. With the help of a blind scientist Night Stalker (Lyonne), they create some sort of genetic weapon to be used on Drake (as Dracula is being called nowadays apparently), which would then, in effect, wipe out the rest of the vampires. Okay, got all that?
I've never really had much use for Snipes as an actor, due to my feeling he has all the charisma of a wet cloth. Therefore, the character of Blade seems suited for him, as rarely does he have to emote anything more than a primal scream when someone close to him is killed. He's a cold-blooded vampire assassin & has no time for feelings, other than to bottle them up & unleash them on an appropriate blood-sucking target.
Reynolds & Biel do their jobs perfectly well, Biel as a vengeance-seeking vampire hunter, & Reynolds as a wise-talking vengeance-seeking former vampire, now a vampire hunter. Man, I'm making this unnecessarily wordy for a comic book movie. Reynolds is so damn good at the ass-kicking part, that he even gets Triple H to sell for him. Still, if they make another Blade movie or spinoff the King / Whistler duo, I'll bet Trips no-sells death. & Jessica Biel, my goodness, she is one of the hottest creatures this planet has ever produced.
Terribly mis-cast is one Parker Posey, spending most of the movie staggering around like a junkie looking for her next fix. Which isn't a good thing when you're supposed to be the leader of a badass group of vampires. I liked her better when she was starring Christopher Guest & Richard Linklater movies. The rest of the cast are pretty interchangeable, though I did like Callum Keith Rennie's top notch smugtastic portrayal of a vampire.
In most respects, it's kind of a brainless action / vampire movie, but a good one. The visuals are fantastic, the score (composed by the RZA) is awesome & keeps you on the edge of your seat, & the action flows like a well-designed video game. A gorgeous-looking movie, with Biel & Reynolds as the scene stealers & Snipes pretty much phoning in his cardboard cutout performance. In some respects, you could argue that the Blade Trilogy is the best comic book movie trilogy ever. For all it's mindless action sequences, Blade: Trinity still highly entertained me for two hours. 4 outta 5.