Blade: Trinity Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		2.5

Blade: Trinity Blu-ray Movie Review

The Goyer Touch of Death

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf July 7, 2012

While some movie trilogies shine like a diamond, most tend to peter out by the second sequel. Think “Spider-Man 3,” “RoboCop 3,” and “Beverly Hills Cop 3.” “Blade: Trinity” is a classic example of a franchise running at top speed into a brick wall for its third installment, collecting a series of dismal ideas, poor characterizations, and iffy filmmaking ability into a glacial, joyless enterprise that essentially ignores what made the previous pictures connect with audiences. Although ripe with potential, “Blade: Trinity” is a trainwreck set to a booming soundtrack, turning vampire hunting into a screen chore while it almost intentionally torches the macabre groundwork laid down by the first two features.

After losing the battle for humanity to Blade (Wesley Snipes) numerous times, the vampires, led by Danica Talos (a woefully miscast Park Posey), have called upon their ultimate weapon, Dracula/Drake (Dominic Purcell), to destroy their archenemy and engineer a solution to the troubled bloodsucker takeover of the living. Losing partner Whistler (Kris Kristofferson) after being framed for murder by Danica, Blade finds help from further police and vampire interests in the form of Abigail (Jessica Biel) and Hannibal (Ryan Reynolds), a pair of warriors part of a larger resistance movement known as the Nightstalkers. Armed with high tech weapons and the makings of a virus intended to obliterate the arrogant vampire nation, Blade and the Nightstalkers launch an assault on Danica and Drake, coming face to face with ferocious demon powers and temptations during this final showdown between the superheroes and an army of fanged parasites.

The worst thing to happen to “Blade: Trinity” is David S. Goyer, who just happens to be the man directly responsible for bringing Blade to the big screen in the first place. Accepting his chance to helm a big-budget feature for the first time, Goyer seems overly excited to stuff the film with ideas he’s been sitting on for ages, regardless if they fit the framework of “Trinity” or not. He’s like a kid in a candy store, introducing weapons, villains, and new heroes, leaving a disturbing lack of focus to the feature, wrecking any prayer for narrative momentum. The idea of Dracula as an antagonist for Blade is dripping with potential, yet Goyer doesn’t have much in the way of vision for his movie, leaving the effort disjointed and bizarrely inert. Despite the creator’s enthusiasm to roll around in this vampire sandbox, “Trinity” is a disorganized picture that flies in the face of what was accomplished in the previous sequel.

Of course, “Blade II” was directed by Guillermo Del Toro, a geek-approved filmmaker who put a sticky sense of horror back into this comic book-based character. Del Toro also treated the material with respect, even questing to bring an epic feel to what is basically a martial arts extravaganza occasionally interrupted by bloodsucking freaks and light mythmaking. “Trinity” casually trashes everything Del Toro worked hard to achieve, finding Goyer replacing ghoulish fun with heaps of numbing blow-em-up material and clunky editing. And it’s not just the fight sequences that lack a sense of timing, but static dialog exchanges as well. It feels as though Goyer is sloppily trying to cover deleted story points, as sequences aimlessly bounce across the frame without much reason. “Trinity” is a fragmented and headache-inducing experience right from the start, when, in actuality, a “Blade” film shouldn’t feel like that until the last 20 minutes. The movie opens with a noisy, bafflingly conceived opening credits sequence and it just gets worse from there.

Another criticism comes with the title. The picture is called “Blade: Trinity,” yet our friendly neighborhood vampire killer is hardly the focus of this sequel. It’s almost hilarious to see Snipes standing around in the background, waiting for something to do as Goyer tends to the individual interests of the Nightstalkers (Hannibal being a former vampire slave, while Abigail deals with her place as Whistler’s daughter), or his incessant need to have everybody strut around in slow motion. Blade isn’t the main character of “Trinity,” which is confusing to the franchise, leaving the viewer with a participation gap the first two films were careful to avoid.

And who decided that Dracula, that king of kings when it comes to nightmares and brutality, should be played by Purcell in a manner that resembles an Eastern European nightclub bouncer? “Trinity” can never quite overcome that critical casting mistake.

“Trinity,” unexpectedly, is also something of a comedy, with the Nightstalkers led by Hannibal King, nicely played by compulsive jester Ryan Reynolds. The actor is here to have some fun, and his ad-libs work for the most part due to his snarky delivery and general ease with playing a macho vampire hunter. Reynolds saves “Trinity” with his special timing. Faced with the likes of Posey as a chic vamp goddess (who can’t spit out her dialog while wearing oversized vampire teeth) and Blade “coochie-cooing” an infant, we’ll call this an easy lay-up for Reynolds, but his presence is welcome. If Goyer had the gumption at the time to spin-off the franchise and make a sole Nightstalkers movie (which, to be honest, is all “Trinity” really is), that would’ve been the best idea to come out of this unsteady franchise yet.

Blade: Trinity Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The AVC encoded image (2.35.1 aspect ratio) presentation looks very crisp with some minor filtering, befitting a movie shot with an enormous amount of visual effects and post-production tinkering. Fine detail is quite good, with the viewer able to examine the nuances of the costuming and vampiric menace, with facial close-ups displaying satisfying textures. Gore zone material is also very clean and direct. Colors are strong, balancing a colder palette of cityscapes and evening adventuring with brighter interiors, enjoying a more direct appreciation of various hues. Grain is subdued but evident, while a few noisy patches remain in lower-lit locations. Some banding is detected. Skintones are accurate and invitingly gothic, while blacks run a little too thick at times, darkening out distances and intricate shadow play.

Blade: Trinity Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 6.1 DTS-HD MA sound mix is a noisy sonic experience, with a ripe representation of body blows and booming beats. Soundtrack selections cause the greatest concern, sounding a touch too hot at times, smothering dialogue exchanges and sound effects, although the music carries an exhilarating force when needed, triggering a pleasing low-end rumble with throbbing techno and rap tunes. Locked in horror mode, and the track provides a clean range of voices and various levels of urgency, with satisfactory separation and a commendable frontal force preserving exposition needs. Surrounds are geared more toward atmospherics and chaos, finding action sequences working directional activity to satisfaction, with the mix taking advantage of the whooshing weapons and sizzling vampire bodies. Echo is well preserved, while scoring remains lively and supportive.

Blade: Trinity Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary #1 with writer/director David S. Goyer and actors Ryan Reynolds and Jessica Biel carries a lighter tone, as to be expected with these jocular participants. The talent is excited about the project, but there's little substance here that carries for the entire movie. Dead spots are routine, though I credit Goyer for attempting to maintain concentration on the film. However, the humorous atmosphere pervades the track with mixed results.

• Audio Commentary #2 with Goyer, producers Peter Frankfurt and Lynn Harris, cinematographer Gabriel Beristain, production designer Chris Gorak, and editor Howard E. Smith is the more technical track, pulling the frame apart to inspect the details and craftsmanship required to bring the movie to life. The mood is conversational, with the participants sounding like a group of friends marveling over their own work. It's the preferred commentary exploration of "Blade: Trinity."

• "Daywalkers, Nightstalkers & Familiars: Inside the World of 'Blade: Trinity'" (114:09, SD) is an exhaustive, comprehensive look at the making of the second sequel, led by Goyer as he discusses various elements of production. Although the interviews are recorded on-set (lacking a critical post-mortem take on the picture), the slick featurettes add up to a larger understanding of the creative process. Nothing is shared about the BTS troubles that plagued the feature, but that's to be expected. Looks at story, direction, costume design, cinematography, stunts, weapons, editing, visual effects, music, sound design, and post-production tinkering are included, along with reel of the film's numerous crew cameos. It's a big package, but cruelly, there's no Play All function to ease navigation and flow. A shame.

• Visual Effects Progressions (6:21, SD) collects three key moments of vampire transformation, walking viewers through the steps toward final CG-animation.

• "Goyer on Goyer" (5:11, SD) is a jokey sit-down with the writer/director, who interviews himself, covering the challenges and highlights of "Blade: Trinity" with a pronounced wink.

• Alternate Ending (1:22, SD) catches up with the Nightstalkers in Shanghai, where they face off against a new threat: werewolves.

• Blooper Reel (10:59, SD) is an extended look at the mix-em-ups and improvisational jags that littered the shoot.

• A Teaser Trailer (1:25, SD) and Theatrical Trailer (2:24, SD) are included.

Blade: Trinity Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

For the finale, "Blade: Trinity" crumbles into a thousand tiny pieces. Characters introduced are quickly forgotten, what little logic there is (and should be expected of a "Blade" film) falls completely by the wayside, and there's an odd, almost impressionistic ending that neither provokes nor answers any questions about the resolution. Goyer was simply the wrong man to set loose in this world, and now the once promising "Blade" franchise has been crippled permanently by his unfortunate, misguided tinkering.