Overall Rating
  Awesome: 7.41%
Worth A Look: 9.63%
Average: 40%
Pretty Bad: 31.11%
Total Crap: 11.85%
11 reviews, 69 user ratings
|
|
| Blade: Trinity |
by Scott Weinberg
"It's not a great movie (or even a great sequel), but it sure isn't dull."
|
This third installment in the "Blade" series uses the Play-It-Safe approach, a mindset that was pleasantly absent from Guillermo Del Toro's "Blade 2." It was a Part 2 that screamed of a filmmaker trying something new while still maintaining what made Stephen Norrington's "Blade" such an underground smash. And now comes the inevitable third entry, which is fairly rote, more than a little predictable, and ends up feeling like a hollow echo of its predecessors. On the other hand, the action is plentiful, the vampires are bloodthirsty, and there are plenty of wild performances to feast your eyes upon.Screenwriter David Goyer is extremely gifted at bringing comic book characters to cinematic life. His screenplays for Blade and Blade 2 were laden with ultra-violent slickness and dry humor delivered at a brisk clip. Goyer's also been behind sci-fi flicks both underrated (The Puppet Masters) and drop-dead brilliant (Dark City)...plus he's currently at work on next summer's maniacally-anticipated Batman Begins. So clearly this a guy who wanders through stacks of Isaac Asimov and Stan Lee before settling down to bang out a screenplay. He's a solid genre screenwriter.
So after making truckloads of money for New Line, the studio rewarded Mr. Goyer by offering him the director's chair on Blade: Trinity...but only after Guillermo Del Toro said "no thanks" to the gig. After seeing Goyer's directorial debut (the drug drama Zig Zag, which stars Blade (Wesley Snipes) himself) and his sophomore effort Blade: Trinity, my only advice, from a fan to a filmmaker, is this: Dave, stick to the screenwriting.
Blade: Trinity feels like not much more than an all-new collection of...excerpted highlights from Blades 1 and 2 - only brought to life with a lot less creativity and visual flair. But hey, sometimes those highlight reels can still prove pretty entertaining.
The plot sees....well, what's the point, really? It's Blade vs. an army of undead bloodsucker beasties. (You were expecting Ordinary People?) And since Mr. Goyer obviously does not want to rock the franchise boat, Blade: Trinity never once deviates from the established formula. In lieu of a new plot concept or anything that might rile the Blade-faithful, Goyer just deposits a bunch of "colorful" side characters into the equation. One could complain that the numerous action sequences in Blade: Trinity are too strobe-heavy and decibel-reliant, but I found them pretty invigorating for the most part. Then again, after quick-cut action castratos like Van Helsing and Riddick, perhaps I'm just grateful for an action scene laden with actual money shots. (Most, PG-13, action, sequences, feel, like, this, sentence.)
It's not really all that interesting to note that "Dracula has been reawakened from a thousand years of slumber in Iraq" or that "a modern coven of vampires needs some ancient vamp DNA to spread a virus that will blah blah..." Blade: Trinity is interested in only two things: action scenes and hot young actors. The moments of mayhem are as frequent as they are generally incomprehensible, but there's no denying the movie displays a pulpy pulse once Blade starts kicking some ass. And as far as the hot, young actors go...let's just say it's a mixed bag. Apparently Blade needed a pair of sexy "Nightstalkers" to kick ass alongside, and all things considered, Abigail and Hannibal could just have easily been played by...Mena Suvari and Matthew Lillard. So thank Hollywood for small favors.
The achingly lovely Jessica Biel (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) is clearly having a ball playing a pumped-up vamp-smasher, but there's not much behind her character that we can root for. She's hot, cut, and full of fury, but Biel's Abigail Whistler is basically just another Lara Croft. All sexy style and no substance. Abby's partner in crime is Hannibal King, as played by Ryan Reynolds (Van Wilder) as if he's auditioning for the next Fletch sequel. Reynolds reminds one of Jason Lee back when Jason Lee was scruffy, funny and smoothly likable. But Reynold's Hannibal King character is written as an overflowing quip machine; there's not one moment in the film when Reynolds is not cracking wise. Several of his jabs earn their chuckles, but after a while Hannibal King starts to feel like that smug jerk at the office party who's just sure he's the pinnacle of all things hilariously sarcastic.
A special shout-out is due to indie darling Parker Posey for delivering one of the year's most uproariously overbaked performances. Ms. Posey sinks her fangs into the scenery at every opportunity as she creates one of the vampiest vampiresses ever caught on film. Some call it overacting; I call it a bona-fide hoot.
Almost as entertaining on purpose as it is by accident, Blade: Trinity is equal parts kinetic mayhem and bloody burlesque. But it moves real quick and it sure isn't boring.Fans of the Blade series will undoubtedly want to check this one out for themselves, and most will have a pretty good time with chapter three. But I find it very unlikely that "Blade: Trinity" will ever be called "the best of the three". Hell, even "second best" is pretty much out of the question. But Goyer earns a few brownie points for delivering doses of campy, gory goodness and for presenting a "Part 3" that doesn't just flat-out suck.
link directly to this review at http://www.efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=11192&reviewer=128
originally posted: 12/08/04 23:00:37
![[printer]](/images/icon/printer.gif) printer-friendly format
|
Marvel Characters: For more in the Marvel Characters series, click here.
|
 |
USA
08-Dec-2004 (R)
DVD: 26-Apr-2005
UK
N/A
Australia
26-Dec-2004
|
|
Articles 
subscribe to this feed![[AllPosters.com]](/images/icon/ap.gif){kind=icon}
