Blade Trinity (5 Stars)

This is the third film in the Blade film series, made in 2004, after "Blade" (1998) and "Blade 2" (2002). The three films don't build a trilogy, technically speaking. In a trilogy three films work together towards a goal, such as Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy which had the underlying plot of showing the resolution of the problems between Peter Parker and Harry Osborn. In the case of the Blade films the only connection between films, plot-wise, is Wisher's vampire condition between the first and the second film.

"Blade Trinity" is about the return of Dracula to Earth. He's spent hundreds of years trapped underground in Syria, supposedly in voluntary exile. He seems to have decided in a moment of clarity that the human race was better off without him, but when he's released his survival instinct takes over and there's no way he wants to leave again.

Dracula's return is announced in Tomb of Dracula, which was published by Marvel from 1972 to 1979. So Blade lives in a world where Marvel comics are published? This is a problem for the apologists who want to fit all of Marvel continuity – comics, films and television series – into one well-defined Marvel multiverse. Our world is called Earth-1218. Marvel as created by Stan Lee in the 1960's is Earth-616, even though he obviously wanted to base his stories in our world. The Blade films take place in Earth-26320, which isn't where the recent MCU films take place; the Marvel Cinematic Universe takes place in Earth-199999. That's where the latest Spider-Man lives, but Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man lived (and presumably still lives) in Earth-96283, while Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man lives in Earth-120703.

You can find the official list of the Marvel alternate universes in the Marvel Database. If you think all of this sounds stupid, I agree with you. The explosion in the number of alternate realities was an attempt by Marvel (the company) to claim that there was still continuity in their stories, even though continuity irrevocably broke down between the late 1970's and early 1980's. In other words, it was a lame attempt by second-rate writers to excuse their errors.

But I digress... the reason for bringing back Dracula is that the vampires consider themselves degraded, since they've grown genetically weaker over the centuries. They think that by infusing themselves with Dracula's pure blood they can grow stronger again.

A band of vampire hunters that call themselves the Nightstalkers, led by Hannibal King and Agigail Whistler (the daughter of Blade's friend Abraham Whistler), has built the prototype of a new weapon called Daystar, which can destroy vampires in a wide area. They believe that the weapon can only be perfected by adding Dracula's blood, so they ask Blade for assistance.

I never knew that Ryan Reynolds had been in Marvel films before he was Deadpool. He's an exciting super-hero, a good representation of Hannibal King in the comics. The only difference is that he has more humour in the film. Well, it's Ryan Reynolds, isn't it? He likes telling jokes non-stop, which is why he was the perfect actor to play Deadpool.

I was impressed by the muscularity of Jessica Biel as Abigail Whistler. I've seen her in films before, but I never realised she was so strong.

I said that "Blade 2" was an improvement over "Blade", but "Blade Trinity" is the best of the three films. The action is more thrilling than in the previous two films, but most of all we finally see the emotional side of Blade. In the previous film he showed hints of emotion, but in this film his face is torn, especially after Whistler's death, and we expect to see him cry. No, he doesn't start crying, but the emotion is so intense that we can almost smell the tears. Wesley Snipes has grown into the role. There should have been more Blade films. It was too soon to stop. Wesley Snipes said in a recent interview that he would like to play Blade again, because he thinks he would be able to play the character differently now. I don't know what he means by that, but I think he should be given another chance. It has to be now, before he gets too old.

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