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Dom Robinson reviews
Entertainment in Video
Blade Trinity: 
Extended Version:
Blade Trilogy:
- Cert:
- Cat.no: 3627801000
- Running time: 108 minutes
- Year: 2004
- Pressing: 2005
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 22 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 EX
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: English for the hearing impaired
- Widescreen: 2.35:1 (Super 35)
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £19.99
- Extras:Inside the world of Blade Trinity, Goyer on Goyer, Alternate Ending, Blooper Reel, Galleries, Trailers
Director:
- David S Goyer
(Bldae Trinity, The Invisible, The Unborn, X-Men Origins: Magneto, Zigzag)
Producer:
- Peter Frankfurt, David S Goyer, Lynn Harris and Wesley Snipes
Screenplay:
- David S Goyer
Music:
- Ramin Djawadi and RZA
Cast :
- Blade: Wesley Snipes
Abraham Whistler: Kris Kristofferson
Drake: Dominic Purcell
Abigail Whistler: Jessica Biel
Hannibal King: Ryan Reynolds
Danica Talos: Parker Posey
Chief Martin Vreede: Mark Berry
Dr Edgar Vance: John Michael Higgins
Asher Talos: Callum Keith Rennie
Jarko Grimwood: Triple H
Ray Cumberland: James Remar
Sommerfield: Natasha Lyonne
Zoe: Haili Page
Hedges: Patton Oswalt
Bentley Tittle: Eric Bogosian
Blade Trinitytakes its name not just because it’s the third in the series, but because he’s joined by others to help him in hisendless task to rid the world of vampires.
For the final Blade film in the trilogy, they’ve gone for the Daddy of all vampires – Dracula himself, except this time he’sgoing under the moniker of Drake (Prison Break‘s Dominic Purcell). He’s got a plan that makes the averageblood donor seem very conservative by comparison and, naturally, our hero wants to stop it even though you think normally hemight have gone for it, given that he also has vampire roots.
Amongst the opening fight, Blade’s set up to kill a human and it’s all caught on camera, ready to discredit him and hisvampire-killing ways. After that, inbetween bits of chat here and there to help with the flow of the film, there are lots of shoot-outs and bodies turning to ash. There’s also the presence of one of the characters’ kids which just isn’tnecessary – just like any other action film that throws one in, and the overall jokey tone takes it down a notch from thefirst two films which were a lot more bloody. Here, when a human gets shot and killed there’s no blood most of the time,but the enemy can die any kind of death because it’s not real. This is the way Hollywood’s gone over the past few yearsand it does seem a bit odd if you pay any mind to it, but on balance in this case it’s not as bad as it sounds.
The team Blade is forced to join up with, before too long, are a group who call themselves the Nightstalkers, which heinstantly dismisses with “Sounds like a reject from a Saturday morning cartoon”. However, the two main members,Hannibal King (Ryan Reynolds) and Whistler’s daughter, Abigail (Jessica Biel), equip themselves well, withBiel clearly having had a Madonna-style workout before shooting – although it works when you’re in your mid-20s and notwhen you’re pushing 50!
Of course, all the goodies and baddies have their massive hideouts and in the case of the latter, Parker Posey makesfor an interesting and semi-violent nasty in her role as Danica Talos, with support included from WWE wrestler Triple Has meathead Jarko Grimwood. Dominic Purcell is okay as a bad guy, but after seeing him as a goody two-shoes in Prison Breakhe’s certainly no Dracula. Biel is always watchable and Reynolds provides most of the comic relief, which certainly worksmore often than it should, since there are times when this film does seem like Carry On Blade. And for Wesley Snipes,himself? He’s the same as he ever is in these films – clearly enjoying it, and there’s a lot of physical action to the part,but on the whole it seems like an easy pay-cheque, albeit one with a very entertaining result for the viewer.
Oh, and there’s fairly brief appearances from James Remar, as FBI bod Ray Cumberland, who’s best known recently asMichael C. Hall’s father in the excellent TV drama Dexter. He orchestrates the arrest of Blade following the humanfatality, and has him taken in for a psychological evaluation, but we all know you can’t treat Blade like a normal human being.
An extended version of Blade Trinity with an extra 9 minutes is also available on DVD, but whereas I don’t think it needs that extra time, theDTS soundtrack it contains would be welcome. The full details (with spoilers) can be foundhere.
The picture’s great for most of the time although some dark scenes do show up some pixellation. However, the entire 2.35:1anamorphic ratio is used to great effect and frequently. The sound comes in Dolby Digital 5.1 (EX, apparently) and reallydoes shine in the noisy action sequences. There are no disappointments in the latter case.
The extras are all on disc 2 and are as follows:
- Inside the World of Blade: Trinity (1:46:39):Split into so many different parts that it takes almost as long as the movie itself to play out, this covers story development,the casting, set and costume design, cinematography, stunts and action, visual effects, sound design and even the future ofthe Blade series.
Split into indvidual chapters, there’s too much going on here to watch before posting this review online but from what I haveseen you get the idea that this piece covers all the different topics in great detail. It’s all of great interest and there’sno filler at all.
- Goyer on Goyer (5:10):David Goyer both wrote and directed it, and he interviews himself… It works on some levels, and gives some useful informationbut on the whole it’s mostly a split-screen gimmick.
- Alternate ending (1:09):Six months later, how are the Nightstalkers getting on? A spin-off could be in the works…
- Blooper Reel (10:31):Does what it says on the tin. I liked the one, early on, of a bad guy who loses the bottom half of his jaw 🙂
- Galleries for Visual Effects Progressions and Weapons:Designs for the former is for Drake and the dogs, while the latter covers descriptions on all the weapons featured.
- Trailers:There are two for this film (Teaser – 1:15; and Theatrical – 2:11) and a track listing for the Soundtrack.The latter also includes a DVD with an animated short called Blade: Blood Thirsty, for which included here isa 50-second preview.
The film contains 22 chapters, subtitles are available in English for the hearing-impaired and the main menu is staticwith music from the film behind it.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALL
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.