Media: DVD.
I'm probably a bit crazy to see three vampire films back to back, but ask anyone who is a fan of the Twilight series of movies and they'll tell you something else.
The Blade movie trilogy does its best to work Wesley Snipes as the title character and does so rather well, but only for so long. The first movie focuses on the world of dhampir (half-human, half-vampire) Blade whose sole purpose it seems is to rid the world of vampires. Buffy Summers what the hell out... This bastard doesn't do bubble-gum horror.
Blade in itself is a great movie and while a few scenes are clearly CGI, the movie itself is great to gain a basic grasp of the mythology behind the Marvel comic book character created in 1973. Stephen Dorff plays the ruggedly handsome Deacon Frost, Blade's nemesis in the movie, while the near immortal Kris Kristofferson plays Abraham Whistler, a kind of fatherly Van Helsing type character with a limp. This movie has a few areas which defy belief, for example; a vampire can tolerate sunlight provided they have an ample supply of high-strength sunblock.
Blade seems to have more credibility in this film than he does in the sequels, probably because of the lack of many other characters to tell the story... Wesley Snipes is a great choice for the character and I can see why the choice was made. It's a bit of a pity that he's currently serving time. I'm giving Blade 4 stars for a great film with plenty of action and the occasional blood-sucking vampire!
Okay, now for Blade II, in which Blade decides to join up (somewhat unwillingly) with what he hates the most, vampires; to hunt down an even greater threat, a mutation of vampires known as Reapers, only to find out there's a little conspiracy going on within the ranks.The movie contains a few actors who, in retrospect are quite familiar with partaking in roles within horror-based movies... The godfather of horror, Ron Perlman, who seems to be a lot more handsome when he's playing Hellboy than when he did playing a Jewish gangster in Drive; and Tony Curran who played Markus Corvinus, the "first vampire" in the Underworld movie series.
I was pleasantly surprised to find Danny John-Jules (the guy who played Cat in the Red Dwarf) series also present, as I was a big Red Dwarf fan when I was younger, but have since not found him playing any major roles in anything. Luke Goss plays Jared Nomak, the original Reaper who is out to seek revenge for his father creating him. Goss's character is very much not necessarily an anti-hero, but more of an anti-villain... He didn't want to be the baad guy, but he.. just is... You kinda feel sorry for him in the end. The movie seems to have less distinguishable CGI, which to me is great, because you don't want to watch a movie and knowingly see CGI occurring... but the movie kinda ends a little sappily when Blade's co-hunter, Nyssa who's been bitten by Nomak wishes to "see the sun again one last time"... Blade seems to share what appears to be a quasi-intimate moment with her as she starts turning to ash as the sun rises. I've given this film 3½ stars for being able to continue the Blade franchise.
Lastly, Blade: Trinity... I think after six years the team at Marvel kinda started losing their touch with the series and decided to throw two new stars in the mix, the ever luscious Jennifer Biel, and the ever-wisecracking entity that is Ryan Reynolds. These two play Abigail Whistler and Hannibal King who are part of a vampire-fighting force known as the Nightstalkers. Their foe? Why only Count Dracula himself, who calls himself "Drake" nowadays... Guess Dracula... Drake likes to keep with the times!
The movie kinda gets a bit ridiculous at times, I'm not sure whether it's because Reynolds' jokes become a bit routine but are funny enough to keep the momentum going, or whether it's because of the somewhat hammy acting of Dominic Purcell, or the somewhat hammier acting of Parker Posey who plays one of Drake's minions, Danica Talos. I did manage to watch the film from start to end in one sitting... but I've come out of it somewhat disappointed... The movie seemed to end a lot quicker than normal, even though I was watching the extended version of the film... I guess what I can say is, that if Marvel do decide to do a reboot of the series, and that they do decide on say, Idris Elba, (of whom has expressed interest in the title role should there be a reboot), that they will have learned their lesson from this previous series... I guess this will be a matter of time as to whether this comes to fruition. I'm giving this 2½ stars due to it still being a somewhat reasonable film... but if it weren't for Jessica's good looks and Ryan's humor throughout the film, I probably would have not watched it.
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