| Blade Trinity completes the Blade trilogy with this more-of-the-same action thriller that has half-human, half-vampire Blade (Wesley Snipes) out to annihilate the vampire race. Because the team of vampires led by Danica (Parker Posey) and Jarko (Triple H), wants to rule the world by infecting humanity with the "vampire virus". To achieve this they "need better DNA, from Dracula's blood", thus they search for-and find-the original Dracula (Dominic Purcell). Knowing how potent Blade is, the vampires, with some of them in the FBI ranks, convince the media and the FBI that Blade is really the one responsible for over 1,182 murders. Soon Blade is captured and imprisoned but is rescued and is later backed up by ex-vampire Hannibal King (Ryan Reynolds) and Abigail Whistler (Jessica Biel), a super archer who turns out to be the long lost daughter of Whistler (Kris Kristofferson) who had raised Blade from the cradle.
If you're looking for a good old-fashioned Dracula horror flick, dig up your archives for old VHS copies made before the computer was invented. Dracula here doesn't sport tuxedoes or in any case those satin lined capes for dazzling evenings. Neither does he wear ghoulish make up nor flash overdeveloped fangs a-drip with blood. Dracula here-aptly given a modernized name, Drake-looks like a cross between a menacing robot and a weightlifter whose aura bears a disturbing resemblance to Rambo's. The plot is thin, but anyway, with all those gizmos to look out for who cares about the plot? Snipes is a brooding Blade-especially made so with long lingering close-ups of him-but seems convincing enough as a cool human vampire who'd rather be human than vampire. His fight scenes are okay although in many shots Biel's high-kicking moments come across hotter than Snipes'.
One wonders why the movie theater would be filled to almost capacity for a forgettable movie like Blade Trinity. (The highlights are practically all CGI [computer generated images], and about the only unforgettable thing there-because it's so in-your-face ridiculous-is the Pomeranian whose jaw splits up to reveal a tongue designed to pluck your eyes out). Perhaps the audience liked Blade I and Blade II and expected Blade III to be superior. But really-all this movie is a showcase for choreographed fight scenes and more CGIs. It's not even offering enough moral conflict to challenge the viewer. In the end that feeling of been-there-seen-that creeps over you-and you sort of regret paying 80 bucks to get bored.
(Date
Reviewed: January 7, 2005)
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