Superhero Media: Blade Trinity

Sometimes, a superhero film I haven't seen for years turns out to be better than I remembered; sometimes, I get Blade Trinity. Almost nothing in this film actually works, which is astonishing, it's rare to see such a complete failure of a film; who directed this mess? Oh, David S Goyer you say? And he wrote it too? There we go. I honestly find it hard to believe that the guy wrote Dark City, given how shallow the rest of his output tends to be. Sure, he wrote The Dark Knight, but it's not really the script of that film which everyone is still talking about, is it? Some years[?] after the events of Blade II (which are never referenced or referred to), Blade and Whistler are continuing their war against vampires, with the conflict escalating as vampire numbers dwindle. After an elaborate car chase, Blade is framed for the murder of a police officer and a major manhunt begins. I mean, I'm pretty sure Blade killed a cop in the first film and it didn't result in this, but whatever. Whistler is killed in a police raid and Blade captured, meaning the best character in the franchise has left the building. 

When a pack of uninteresting vampires is about to kill Blade, he is suddenly rescued by Whistler's illegitimate and never before mentioned daughter and Ryan Reynolds. I know Reynolds is meant to be playing obscure Marvel character Hannibal King, but this is really one of his roles where he's just playing Ryan Reynolds in an odd circumstance; not that I didn't enjoy it or anything. Much like Typhoid Mary in Elektra, Hannibal King is an obscure character I have some fondness for and was shocked to see on the big screen before Iron Man and Thor got there. I feel that King's identity apart from the Reynolds interpretation would be interesting enough to bring to the screen again, should there be a place for vampires in the MCU in the future. For those who are looking for the origins of the Reynolds Deadpool, look no further than Blade Trinity, as soon as this film was finished, the process of getting the Merc with a Mouth to the screen began; it would take more than a decade. No, we're not counting X-Men Origins Wolverine, why even ask that? The casting on this film is nuts, Jessica Biel, Parker Poesy, Triple H and Patton Oswalt are all in there, not to mention that Dracula is played by Dominic Purcell, of all people. 

Dracula, or "Drake", is probably the weakest point of the film, Purcell is just a terrible cast, not really making sense in the role, and the presence of the character is baffling. Drake is reawakened because of Blade's continued success as a vampire-slayer, but I thought the plan was to get him arrested? Also, the Nightstalkers are out there too, so is the idea that there are too many Vampire hunters out there emboldened by Blade? None of this is clear and I'm probably just reading into it too much. The film ends with Blade almost dying to a designer virus made to wipe out Vampires, but resurrecting on the autopsy table and running off into the night. The voice-over from Hannibal implies that Blade started a new generation of vampires and the hunt began again, but this too, is not clear. This film is a mess, and I honestly can't recommend it beyond the need for completion or as ideas for an alternate Vampire: The Masquerade game. A poor end to what was a great series for a couple of films.