X
- 2004
- Unrated
- New Line Cinema
- 1 h 53 m
- 2004
- Unrated
- New Line Cinema
- 1 h 53 m
Summary Wesley Snipes returns as the iconic vampire hunter Blade in this third installment of the hit film series. (New Line Cinema)
Directed By: David S. Goyer
Written By: Marv Wolfman, Gene Colan, David S. Goyer
- 2004
- Unrated
- New Line Cinema
- 1 h 53 m
- 2004
- Unrated
- New Line Cinema
- 1 h 53 m
Blade: Trinity
38
3.0
Where to Watch
Summary Wesley Snipes returns as the iconic vampire hunter Blade in this third installment of the hit film series. (New Line Cinema)
Directed By: David S. Goyer
Written By: Marv Wolfman, Gene Colan, David S. Goyer
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 30 Critic Reviews
38
7% Positive
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
53% Mixed
16 Reviews
16 Reviews
40% Negative
12 Reviews
12 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 30 Critic Reviews
38
7% Positive
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
53% Mixed
16 Reviews
16 Reviews
40% Negative
12 Reviews
12 Reviews
Thankfully, Reynolds (bearded, looking a bit like Jason Lee) adds some scrappiness and humor to a series that might otherwise have collapsed under self-parody.
Should reasonably please fans of the genre before assuming its place in the horror section of your local video store.
User Score
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 306 User Ratings
3.0
15% Positive
46 Ratings
46 Ratings
27% Mixed
82 Ratings
82 Ratings
58% Negative
178 Ratings
178 Ratings
User Score
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 306 User Ratings
3.0
15% Positive
46 Ratings
46 Ratings
27% Mixed
82 Ratings
82 Ratings
58% Negative
178 Ratings
178 Ratings
All 3 Blade movies are awesome in my opinion. This one is my favorite out of the series. It introduced at the time a different type and kind of vampire. This is movie is freakin' awesome.
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Blade: Trinity. Long live the most important vampire! The third film holds the level and remains as dynamic and aggressive as ever. But there are weaknesses, this is what happens with Whistler and the second main antagonist of the film who is presented as the coolest vampire, but in fact he is the level of Deacon Frost.
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But there's just enough comforting familiarity mixed with refreshing new characters to hold the casserole of a plot together.
Has a surprising number of problems: dire scripting, sloppy plotting and coffee-jittery editing, for starters. But its biggest problem is that Blade himself takes a back seat to a host of new and mostly uninteresting characters.
Kris Kristofferson, as a scaled-down old gray mentor to Blade, still looks like the visual equivalent of your five worst college hangovers.
There's nothing beneath the flashy editing and self-consciously cool production design but a soulless adrenaline machine that's never scary and rarely engrossing.
If ever there was a case for quitting while you're behind, this "Blade" is it -- ready to be buried in a vat of garlic.
I mean it is messy as a movie, but it is so entertaining that I can't give it a mixed or negative rating.
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To many side characters taking up Blades space. The Vampire boss and sub bosses were so lame. When Blade and the big guy was on screen this movie rocked. Shame those moments were few and far between.
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The narrative and character development in the last installment of the Blade Trilogy are by far the poorest. This Blade movie veered away from the mystique of the comic book hero and leaned more in the direction of an A-team of misfits or vampire hunters. By focusing on more colourful personalities rather than a darker mood, the picture was really damaged by bringing in this big league ensemble, which is truly big league. The arch-villain Dracula, who didn't look all strong and was inadequately acted by Dominic Purcell, was maybe the worst letdown. The brutality and fighting styles also looked to have a harsher edge, and the movie might have easily been PG-13 if cut differently.
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Blade Trinity.... It's a piece of **** that blew any chance of seeing Blade in theaters in the short to medium term.
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If you're going to make a vampire movie, here's a piece of advice: leave Dracula out of it. The character is so iconic that virtually no cinematic interpretation will do him justice. Unfortunately, that's not something that writer/director David S. Goyer recognizes. So, in order to give vampire-hunter Blade a "worthy" adversary for his third outing, Goyer elects to pit the hybrid superhero against his old comic-book nemesis (on the written page, Blade first debuted in "Tomb of Dracula"), with unfortunate results. Take away the film's attitude, and you're left with Son of Van Helsing.
Blade: Trinity is more of the same. Blade (Wesley Snipes) sees vampires. Blade kills vampires. Blade reloads and goes back for more. The only ones he has any real trouble with are human beings. For some inexplicable reason, they're more difficult to dispatch than the undead. The storyline makes less sense than the ones embraced by Blade and Blade II, if that's possible. This time, Blade is given two sidekicks: the irritating Hannibal King (Ryan Reynolds), who has a wisecrack for every occasion, and the sexy Abigail Whistler (Jessica Biel), who is the daughter of Blade's old friend, Whistler (Kris Kristofferson). These three must go up against the king of vampires, Dracula (Dominic Purcell), who has been awakened by the toothy Danica Talos (Parker Posey) to implement the vampires' "final solution."
Those who are looking for variations on a theme won't find any here. Blade: Trinity is a carbon copy of its predecessors. It's all kick-ass attitude and style without any substance to back it up. Yet, where the first two Blades satisfied on a visceral level, this one doesn't. That probably has something to do with the portrayal of Dracula, who, in human form, looks more like a body builder than a vampire. When he reverts to this "true" likeness, he comes across like a rip-off of the alien from Predator. And, since all really bad guys like nicknames, he goes by the moniker of "Drake." I guess "Vlad" doesn't work these days.
Although the vampires in Blade: Trinity aren't scary, at least they are not emasculated by the romantic notions applied by writers such as Ann Rice. These are cold-blooded killers, which allows Blade and his cohorts to dispatch them without blinking an eye. The film features dozens of vampire destructions, many of which occur during the film's frantic, frenzied opening battle, which is big on loud music, quick cuts, and violence. Much of the movie is like that, and what starts out as energetic quickly becomes tiresome, then boring. Besides, we have seen this before - twice, to be exact. (Although, to be fair, Biel is a lot hotter than Snipes when high-kicking her way through a hoard of fanged bad-guys - at least from this reviewer's perspective.)
The plot is dumb and dumber, so the less said about it, the better. It's really just a clothesline upon which to hang the fight scenes, but that doesn't keep it from dangerously resembling the lame storyline of Van Helsing. (And no movie wants to be compared on any level to that particular blockbuster dud.) This is Goyer's directing debut (although he had scribed all three movies), and he steals liberally from previous directors Stephen Norrington and Guillermo Del Toro (who was offered the job on this one, but decided to make Hellboy instead). The music is just as loud as in the previous films, and the gags and one-liners are more often lame than funny. (Although I chuckled at the fate of the dogs.)
The movie's bedrock is Snipes, who takes Blade to a new level of coolness. Radiating frost, Snipes struts his way through the movie, never allowing the viewer's attention to veer from him. Jessica Biel, who has the toughness and sex-appeal but not quite the same presence, holds her own, but the fatuous Ryan Reynolds (Van Wilder himself) falls on his face. As Dracula, Dominic Purcell is a putz, and represents one of the worst villain casting decisions of the year. Kris Kristofferson is as stiff as the walking dead - thankfully, his screen time is limited. Then there's Parker Posey, who plays her role as a lady vampire with all the campy subtlety of a drag queen.
The target audience for Blade: Trinity is the same as it was for the previous two incarnations, and it will probably be met by pretty much the same reaction in all corners. As a character, Blade is a terrific property, and the films have enhanced the creation of Marvel Comics legends Marv Wolfman & Gene Colan (both of whom are "honored" by an in-joke in this film, when an issue of the old "Tomb of Dracula" gets screen time). Snipes has made Blade his perfect cinematic alter-ego. Now if only someone could give the character a story worth telling, the pieces might all be in place for a great action/horror thriller. But, although the saying goes "third time's a charm," that's not the case here.
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Production Company
New Line Cinema,
Shawn Danielle Productions Ltd.,
Amen Ra Films,
Marvel Enterprises,
Peter Frankfurt Productions,
Imaginary Forces
Release Date Dec 8, 2004
Duration 1 h 53 m
Rating Unrated
Tagline Where it began so it shall end.
Awards
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA
• 1 Nomination
