2008 Woodie Awards
Blade and his Holy Trinity
Mike Sangregorio
Issue date: 12/8/04 Section: Arts & Entertainment
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Blade and His Holy Trinity
This Christmas Wesley Snipes returns for the third installment of the Blade saga. This anti-Buffy, vampire hunter, based off characters from the Marvel comic book Tomb of Dracula, slays the scientifically engineered (religious artifacts do not hurt them) night dwellers while normal humans are none the wiser. "Trinity" most likely refers to the team Blade works with in an attempt to finally bring his war to a close.
The film's main attraction is Ryan Reynolds, who portrays the former vampire Hannibal King. Reynolds' essentially reprises his earlier character Van Wilder, except this time he has thirty-five pounds of sculpted muscle and guns. Not that this takes away from the film at all, in fact quite the opposite. Most movies in this genre lose their flair after the first ninety minutes but Blade has been able to hold onto fans. Credit is due in part to writer/director David S. Goyer's (writer on Blade and Blade II) understanding of the medium. Blade is a franchise whose first two films saw the death of every single character shown on screen except the title character and one supporting character (and that is not counting Whistler's resurrection). While Blade II saw a more action oriented approach with many characters and "evolved vampires," Trinity brings the storyline home while still managing to up the "I can't believe they just did that" factor.
Rounding out the trio of "Nightstalkers," which is the name the underground cells of vampire hunters use (taken from Blade's comic book team), is current "it" actress Jessica Biel. Playing the heretofore-unknown daughter of Blade's mentor, Abigail Whistler. Trinity rounds out its story by subtly using its own continuity to explain certain details. Hannibal was converted using the "cure" developed in the first film, while a seamless flashback/origin scene ties Abby back to the established lore. Goyer almost defies fans to find fault with his train of thought, but in the end he delivers gold. Abby and King are presented as characters that understand their strengths and weaknesses. They play the rookies to Blade's needless "loner with seniority" (a touching scene involving Kris Kristofferson's Abraham Whistler invokes the end of The Empire Strikes Back) while still managing to pull off the finest looking stunts in the film.
This Christmas Wesley Snipes returns for the third installment of the Blade saga. This anti-Buffy, vampire hunter, based off characters from the Marvel comic book Tomb of Dracula, slays the scientifically engineered (religious artifacts do not hurt them) night dwellers while normal humans are none the wiser. "Trinity" most likely refers to the team Blade works with in an attempt to finally bring his war to a close.
The film's main attraction is Ryan Reynolds, who portrays the former vampire Hannibal King. Reynolds' essentially reprises his earlier character Van Wilder, except this time he has thirty-five pounds of sculpted muscle and guns. Not that this takes away from the film at all, in fact quite the opposite. Most movies in this genre lose their flair after the first ninety minutes but Blade has been able to hold onto fans. Credit is due in part to writer/director David S. Goyer's (writer on Blade and Blade II) understanding of the medium. Blade is a franchise whose first two films saw the death of every single character shown on screen except the title character and one supporting character (and that is not counting Whistler's resurrection). While Blade II saw a more action oriented approach with many characters and "evolved vampires," Trinity brings the storyline home while still managing to up the "I can't believe they just did that" factor.
Rounding out the trio of "Nightstalkers," which is the name the underground cells of vampire hunters use (taken from Blade's comic book team), is current "it" actress Jessica Biel. Playing the heretofore-unknown daughter of Blade's mentor, Abigail Whistler. Trinity rounds out its story by subtly using its own continuity to explain certain details. Hannibal was converted using the "cure" developed in the first film, while a seamless flashback/origin scene ties Abby back to the established lore. Goyer almost defies fans to find fault with his train of thought, but in the end he delivers gold. Abby and King are presented as characters that understand their strengths and weaknesses. They play the rookies to Blade's needless "loner with seniority" (a touching scene involving Kris Kristofferson's Abraham Whistler invokes the end of The Empire Strikes Back) while still managing to pull off the finest looking stunts in the film.