[home] [news] [reviews] [features]

HORROR POSSUM She speaks her mind, in five words or less. Her verdict on this movie: "Surprisingly good!"

BLADE: TRINITY (2005) Director: David Goyer. Hacktors: Wesley Snipes, Ryan Reynolds, Jessica Biel, Kris Kristofferson. Rating/5: The lowdown: It's third time out for the ass-kicking, superfly vampire/human hybrid. This time, the vampire world sets Blade (Snipes) up to kill a human, which naturally incurs the wrath of the FBI. Just for good measure, the vamps also exhume Drake, the first ever vamp, better known as - drum roll, please - Count Dracula. Clearly in need of back-up, Blade is joined for this romp by Whistler's daughter Abigail (Biel) and the wise-cracking Hannibal King (Reynolds). Good points: Catching up with this movie late (about eight months after its cinema release), I fully expected the worst. Blade: Trinity came and went in the blink of a bloodshot eye, hardly registering a media breeze, let alone a storm. And yet it's a really enjoyable movie: guess the malaise which greeted it was more symptomatic of 'sequel fatigue' than the picture's actual merits. Sure, it's got problems (see below), but myself and Horror Possum (see left) enjoyed it more than Blade 2. That first sequel had great visuals, courtesy of the excellent director Guillermo Del Toro, but was just too damn long and convoluted. Blade: Trinity is leaner, meaner and seems to feature more straight-forward, down-and-dirty action, with pretty decent CGI throughout. Reynolds deserves special mention among the cast, making a strong comic foil to Blade's deadpan demeanour. In fact, he downright threatens to steal the movie. Bad points: Putting aside a slightly weary performance from Snipes himself (he's clearly not nearly as excited about being in third Blade movie as Reynolds), the main problem is Dominic Purcell as Drake/Dracula. While the script is clearly at pains to distinguish its new Dracula from Bram Stoker's cape-flapping icon, Purcell just doesn't look - or act - right. The climactic sword fight between he and Blade also just doesn't scale the heights of excitement that you'd expect - it's certainly no match for the original movie's battle between Blade and Stephen Dorff's villain. Lastly, there's downright embarrassing product placement: hey, Abigail likes to listen to her iPod while in combat! Aoart from the cringe factor there, let's get this straight: she's a fighter who likes to deprive herself of the key sense of hearing during a punch-up. Sweet Jesus... DVD Details: In the US, both 'R' and 'Unrated' editions are available. Only the latter two-disc edition has audio commentaries and also includes the R-rated cut (the UK release has both, too). There are plenty of extras, starting with a 16-part behind-the-scenes epic, dealing with the likes of sets, costumes, weaponry and everything you'd possibly want (or not, if you really can't be bothered - behind-the-scenes featurettes are becoming less and less essential, don't you find?). Two audio commentaries (tellingly minus Snipes), an alternate ending, blooper reel, galleries, trailer and a rather indulgent featurette in which writer/director David Goyer interviews himself. Overall: Overlooked and generally under-rated, Blade: Trinity is well worth a blast if you've ever enjoyed the franchise. Release Date: Out now. [Check it out at Amazon US] [Check it out at Amazon UK] [Reviews Menu] [Home] © Copyright Slasherama 2002-present