"Blade" Falls on Its Sword

Not like the Blade films starring Wesley Snipes are ever going to be confused with high art. They’re loud, obnoxious, thinly plotted and, especially in the case of the first, overly reliant on below-average CGI effects. Twenty years from now, no one is likely to be talking about them when discussions turn to the early millenium’s resurgence of comic book films, not with series as good as X-Men and Spider-Man out there to steal the thunder.

So why, pray tell, am I so saddened by the disappointment that is Blade Trinity? I walked out of the theater crushed, almost on the verge of tears, my heart aching as if someone had just mangled Shakespeare or Mamet. Truth be told, for all their faults there is something about the Blade franchise that makes them intoxicating, and watching this one fall flat on its bloody sword is almost more than I could bear.

Set an undisclosed time after events in part two, half vampire/half human Blade (Wesley Snipes, as sexy and smoldering as ever) prowls the big city streets dispatching vampires and their human Familiars the only way he knows how: One at a time. But mentor and weapons expert Whistler (Kris Kristofferson) worries Blade is taking far too many chances, being far too public with the slaughter, and sooner or later he’s sure all his nonchalant vigilante tactics are going to bite him in the butt.

Sooner than he thinks, for thanks to the vampires the FBI is hot on the Daywalker’s trail, tracking him to his riverside hideout. When the dust settles, Blade is arrested and his most trusted ally gone. Enter the Nightstalkers, a band of vampire hunters led by Whistler’s daughter Abigail (Jessica Biel, a long way from Seventh Heaven) and former creature of the night Hannibal King (Ryan Reynolds, slim, trim and oozing with sex appeal). They save Blade from Danica Talos (Parker Posey) and her vampiric cohorts just in time, taking him to their lair and, once there, revealing the full extent of her nefarious plans.

You see, deep in the deserts of Iraq Danica discovered the final resting place of the original vampire, a completely amoral creature with awesome powers that just might eclipse Blade’s. It’s Dracula (Dominic Purcell), and through his blood the vampires hope to modify their genetic code thus allowing them to exist in daylight and proceed in their plans for domination over a clueless humanity. But the Nightstalkers have a plan of their own, a lethal virus that could take out the bloodsuckers in one single stroke. Only problem, to work the virus also needs Dracula’s blood. Worse, it could kill Blade, taking out their biggest weapon in the fight against evil.

In spite of all their flaws, and lord knows they have plenty, there is something about the first two Blade films that really works for me. They are dark, edgy and violent, but with just the right touches of pathos and cynicism to make them interesting. Better, Snipes has been perfectly cast as the title character, lending humor, tragedy, drama and character to a comic book hero who works far outside of society’s norms. The second movie, in particular, was a real feast for the senses, powered by the thunderously simple and gothically straightforward direction of Mexican maestro Guillermo del Toro.

Now writer of all three films David Goyer takes over in the director’s chair, and while he shows adequate chops behind the camera it is ultimately his screenwriting that does this final chapter in. I applaud Goyer for upping the ante for Blade and company this time around, I commend him for crafting a more complex narrative, but there is unfortunately far too much of it and, as a director, Goyer hasn’t a clue how to make it all work. There are at least five different main story lines going on and he gives short shrift to all of them.

Shame, really, for the introduction of Dracula into the mix is simply ingenious. The father of all vampires, far more demon than human, he is the perfect foil for Blade and Purcell plays him expertly. The dynamic between the two is exquisite, their common traits for more unsettling for the sword-wielding hero than he would care to admit. Their story, their conflict, is the one I wanted to see and instead Goyer keeps it bubbling on the backburner, almost forgetting the character entirely until Blade and Dracula enter into their final smackdown.

The other plot threads, while initially intriguing, are dropped so quickly they ultimately can’t help but lose their interest. James Remar’s FBI agent has potential, but blink and you’ll be sure to miss him. Then there is a gruesome subplot about the vampire’s ultimate goal for humanity. Unsettling, sure, and Snipes’ growing distaste at seeing this frozen food blood bank is palpable, but it doesn’t go anywhere other than to a quick joke. And while said joke does indeed illicit a chuckle, it also earns sighs for this whole detour ends up being nothing more than another missed opportunity on Goyer’s part.

His eye for casting isn’t any better, however. Putting Posey in the role of villainous seems like nice idea on paper, and while she certainly looks the part (love the revolving hairstyles and smudgy eye makeup) the veteran indie icon does nothing more than phone in her performance band pick up a paycheck. Biel on the other hand looks simply lost. Sure, physically she’s more than up to the task, but give her an emotional moment and it falls flatter than an IHoP pancake. In fact, of all the newbies other than the aforementioned Purcell, only Reynolds seems ready to be in this movie, but he’s so quick with a one-liner or an adlib you’d swear the actor thought he was starring in Blade as if directed by Mel Brooks.

Only at the end does Goyer rise to the occasion, staging a final battle that’s almost worth the price of admission on its own. Where one and two went wrong was with the over-reliance on CGI, making their final fights look like nothing more than two computer gamers playing around on their X-Box. Not so this time, Goyer instead choosing to bring his characters back into the real world staging one of the most punishing fights this side Ali-Frazier. It is a brutal, blow-by-blow conflict and it’s rousing entertainment, so much so it only makes the rest of the film’s flaws all the more fatal.

In the final analysis, the Blade series is one I fight my own continual battle. On the one hand, it’s a hackneyed series full of plot holes and imbecilic narrative marred considerably by an over-reliance on computer-generated effects. On the other, they boast some of the decade’s most entrancing and brutal fight sequences, their world’s are beautifully and organically realized, and they are gifted with a central character so enthrallingly played by Snipes they can’t help but hold interest. Of them all, Trinity is the only true letdown and, even then, I’m sure I’ll question my own judgment there.

Only time, kind or otherwise, will tell.

Film Rating: êê  (out of 4)