High expectations, but ‘Blade’ bores

The Blade series is hip with the times. Take the rave scene at the beginning of “Blade” ― the school-uniform-clad Japanese singers in a nightclub ― or the genetic engineering in “Blade 2,” the visual style of its fight sequences (taking place in the post-“Matrix” era) and the multiple locations (mentioned are Prague, Moscow and Romania).
The third in the series, “Blade: Trinity,” tries to achieve that level. It takes place in the United States, with a mention of the ultimate bad guy, Dracula, being spotted in Iran, and features an iPod-toting female warrior ― she likes to listen to music as she’s pulverizing bad guys. So what? If Blade is really going for that rebellious attitude, how about trying iRiver?
“Blade: Trinity” rides a high wave of expectations. Blades 1 and 2 had plenty of style and attitude and touched upon issues of humanity. The bad guys had a sleek elegance, from Deacon Frost’s sneer and attempt to destroy the status quo of “born vampires” with a new race of “turned” vampires (that age-old fight of the born wealthy versus the nouveau riche), to Damaskinos’s betrayal of family and Nyssa’s sense of righteousness (with hints of drama that would be appropriate in an epic Homer or Shakespeare tale).
The vampires in “Blade: Trinity” are led by Parker Posey. Yes, Parker Posey, an actress who chose to appear in “Josie and the Pussycats.” Elegant is not the first adjective that comes to mind. Blade is a flat enough character; he doesn’t need an enemy who annoys each time she appears on screen. She sounds lame and is not interesting to watch.
Posey plays Danica Talos, who wages a PR campaign against Blade (Wesley Snipes). Apparently, he has killed more than 1,000 humans, albeit sidekicks to the vampires. The FBI thinks he’s a psychopath, and comes after him.
To make his life even more difficult, Talos, along with her compadres, wakes up Dracula (Dominic Purcell) and asks him to finish off Blade. Dracula looks like a beefed-up wrestler. Only toward the end of the movie does Dracula become a worthy enemy ― for the span of one conversation with Blade.
Meanwhile, Blade is outnumbered, and teams up with a young crew of Nightstalkers ― Abigail Whistler (Jessica Biel) and Hannibal King (Ryan Reynolds). King may look cool, but his wisecracking lines are also annoying. Abigail is the saving grace of any of the characters in this movie, although her existence is explained with yet another dumb line: she was born out of wedlock. The explanation is necessary as her father, Whistler (Kris Kristofferson), had said in “Blade 1,” with a flashback scene in “Blade 2,” that he became a vampire hunter after his family was butchered and extinguished by them.
David S. Goyer is credited with writing the screenplay, and directing “Blade: Trinity.” For a director who wrote the screenplay for “Dark City,” and the two previous Blades, Goyer takes a disappointingly blunt and unedited approach, seemingly approving all ideas uncritically.
The movie starts with attitude, but becomes boring. The soundtrack may be exciting, but it’s not enough to save the film. If this is how the Blade series ends, it’s a disappointment.

Blade: Trinity
Action, Thriller / English
112 min.
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by Joe Yonghee