Cineanalyst
I'm coming to "Blade: Trinity" at the end of my quest to see a bunch of Dracula movies since reading Bram Stoker's novel. The movie itself is a mess: the usual choppy action-movie editing, ridiculous fighting moves, lots of posing to look cool, inane dialogue complete with mumbo-jumbo science-y speak, a noisy soundtrack and a banal story. There are plenty of good reviews on IMDb and elsewhere that dwell more on the movie's problems and how it relates to the Blade series at large, but my focus is on its Dracula.Recently, I also viewed "Dracula Untold," which basically made Dracula into a dark superhero, or anti-superhero at worst. Another Batman. "Blade: Trinity," at least, gets that Dracula is not a sympathetic hero; he's a supervillain. Otherwise, he's nothing like Stoker's Dracula, and the movie goes to some length to explain this to the audience, so much so that it begs the question of why they'd use Dracula in the first place. He's an archetype. His long history of media representations, which the movie subsequently rejects, nonetheless, lend the movie a gravitas totally unbefitting of it. Dracula is old, evil and strong. That's all that really matters for his purposes here. Beyond that, this Dracula is a dull character.Stoker's novel and the rest of the real history of Dracula's media representations are incorporated into the movie's world, right down to Count Chocula cereal. In one scene, Dracula attacks a couple clerks running a store dedicated to Dracula and vampire merchandise. "Dracula 2000" similarly set-up Dracula this way so as to reinvent him, as well as its Van Helsing character. The Dracula of "Blade: Trinity" is remade as a typical, if underdeveloped, burly action-movie baddie. He's given a history stretching back to ancient Sumer, where he was the original progenitor of Hominus Nocturna--cue laughter. The Babylonians called him "Dagon," pronounced Day-Gone. Get it? Many other Dracula movies only go back as far as Vlad the Impaler. One went as far back as Judas, and others have made connections to Satan, which I guess would be the only ones to have an older Dracula than the one in this movie.This Dracula is supposed to be, at least according to Ryan Reynolds's character, stronger than the fictional one. Yet, his shapeshifting powers are limited to humanoid forms and to being a giant devil-looking monster. As per Stoker, but contrary to many Dracula movies since, this Dracula doesn't die from sunlight; moreover, it doesn't seem to limit his powers, as it did Stoker's Count. He's more irreligious, as he explains to a child that there is no afterlife (although, inconsistently, he also talks about Jesus dying for mankind's sins), but he still seems to dislike crosses--he orders a fem vamp to remove hers. The coffin and home soil stuff is dropped, though, so I suppose that would make this Dracula significantly stronger just for the increased mobility and security that would afford.As far as a character, this Dracula lacks motive and isn't especially interesting thematically. There's one scene where Dracula strangely bites into a fem vamp that implies sex, but that's as close as this movie comes to linking vampirism to sex, which is the most basic of connections any decent Dracula or vampire movie should make. The religion, infidelity, xenophobia, or subtext of vampirism as venereal disease from Stoker are absent. And the movie barely offers a clue as to why Dracula was in hiding in Iraq and what his reasons are for joining a vampire gang. This Dracula may be physically stronger than Stoker's Dracula in some ways, but his will apparently isn't.(Mirror Note: Also unlike Stoker's Dracula, this one casts reflections. His reflection appears in a sword in one brief clip, and his image is also reflected in the glass windows of the vampire store.)
Python Hyena
Blade: Trinity (2004): Dir: David S. Goyer / Cast: Wesley Snipes, Kris Kristofferson, Jessica Biel, Ryan Reynolds, Parker Posey: About as much fun as having indigestion and three times as stupid as the average vampire film. Half human half vampire Blade is caught on camera after slaying numerous vampires but one victim happened to be human. Dracula is resurrected to bring immortality to vampires and to destroy Blade. Amounts to 90% violence where director David S. Goyer sets out to do nothing more than showcase various ways to kill vampires. Special effects freely replace story for any writing ability given was surely sidelined by the action. Wesley Snipes again plays Blade who slays vampires even though he is half vampire himself. Kris Kristofferson returns as Blade's aid in his war against vampires. Jessica Biel and Ryan Reynolds enter and free Blade when he is in police custody. Biel is Kristofferson's daughter but she is really there for sex appeal. Reynolds is there for comic relief although the only thing funny here is that he felt this was a good career move. Parker Posey isn't exactly making a big leap forward with this crap either. None of the performances spark much flair and they could have been replaced by puppets from Sesame Street. While the special effects work, this is still mindless junk that someone should ram a stake through. Score: 1 / 10
