Blade: Trinity

Blade: Trinity
Promotional poster for Blade: Trinity
Directed by	David S. Goyer
Written by	Screenplay: David S. Goyer Comic Book: Marv Wolfman Gene Colan
Starring	Wesley Snipes Kris Kristofferson Ryan Reynolds Jessica Biel Dominic Purcell Triple H
Music by	Ramin Djawadi RZA
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release dates	December 8, 2004
Running time	113 min.
Languages	English Esperanto
Budget	$65 000 000

Blade: Trinity, is a 2004 vampire action film, written and directed by David S. Goyer, who also wrote the screenplays to the first two Blade films. It is the third and final film in the Blade trilogy, following on from Blade and Blade II and it is based on the Marvel Comics character Blade, played by Wesley Snipes. The title alludes to the trinity formed between Blade, Hannibal King and Abigail Whistler in the movie. The story continues on in Blade: The Series.

It was originally expected that Guillermo del Toro, who directed Blade II, would direct. He passed on the project, however, to work on his "dream project" Hellboy.

Plot

The vampires succeed in framing Blade for the killing of a human (a familiar being used as bait when posing as a vampire). Blade, now in the public's eye and wanted by the FBI, is forced into hiding with his mentor, Abraham Whistler. A few days later, the FBI attack the hideout. During the siege, Whistler destroys the hideout after being mortally wounded, killing him in the ensuing explosion. The loss of his mentor allows Blade to be captured easily.

As the police prepare to hand Blade over to a group of vampires, Blade is rescued by Hannibal King and Abigail, Whistler's daughter. The two head a group of vampire hunters called the Nightstalkers, formed by Blade's mentor to assist him. Blade reluctantly joins the group after learning King was once a vampire. King and Abigail reveal that Danica Talos (Parker Posey), who was the vampire who bit King, has located and resurrected the ancient first vampire, Dracula (Dominic Purcell) (who is referred to as Drake throughout the film). Talos hopes that by resurrecting Dracula, he (Drake) will help save the vampire race and eliminate Blade. In his first confrontation with Blade, Drake shows a sort of affinity for the "Daywalker", as they are both "honorable warriors" (somewhat ironically, while Drake is delivering his speech about honor, he is hiding behind a newborn baby he has taken hostage). During the beginning of the chaos, King is incapacitated by Drake.

Blade eventually learns of a bioweapon the Nightstalkers had created called Daystar. The weapon is capable of killing any and all vampires in a nearby area. However, there are two catches: The first is that Drake's blood must be infused with the virus. As he is the first vampire, his DNA is still pure, which, infused with Daystar, will make it work to its maximum capacity. The second: the virus has a possibility of killing Blade, as he is a half-vampire.

Blade and Abigail learn of the vampire "final solution", which involves several hundred human beings being kept alive in a comatose-like state in body bags. This keeps in line with vampires needing live food sources if the entire vampire race were to take over the world. Blade kills the head of the factory the humans are kept in, then coldly has all of them killed, destroying their "final solution."

The two return to find the Nightstalkers have been all but wiped out. The only exception is King, who has been kidnapped by Drake (disguised as Blade's mentor, Whistler), who had also killed the rest of the Stalkers; and kidnaps a young girl named Zoe, the daughter of one of the Nightstalkers. Blade and Abigail have no choice but to rescue King from the Talos building where he had been chained and tortured for information, and where Drake also is hiding.

Meanwhile, King is tortured for information about Daystar. When this fails to get any information from him, Talos instead tells King that she will bite him again and leave him to feed on Zoe. Blade and Abigail eventually enter the building and the fighting begins. Abigail kills Danica Talos' brother, Asher (Callum Keith Rennie) and King kills Jarko Grimwood (Triple H) while Blade engages Drake in a sword battle. In the end, Blade impales Drake with the Daystar arrow, which draws his blood and releases it into the air, killing all the nearby vampires, including Danica Talos. Drake dies after promising Blade a "parting gift." The disease subsequently appears to kill Blade as well. The FBI later discover Blade's body and call off their search. However, the corpse turns back into Drake's at the morgue. The film ends with Blade driving off into the sunset to continue his war against vampires.

Alternate Endings

The DVD release of Blade: Trinity contained two alternate endings:

• Director's Cut Ending: The body captured by the FBI is Blade, but he's not really dead. He sits up abruptly in the morgue, attacks the FBI agents, and appears ready to bite a nurse on the neck. The ending is ambiguous as to whether Blade retains his humanity or gives in to his vampiric thirst, thus becoming the new vampire messiah as Drake predicted. The short scene following features a voiceover about Blade not actually dying but his heart just slowing down. The scene ends with Blade replacing his sword and riding off on his motorcycle. Commentary on the DVD indicates it was the ending director Goyer intended.

• Werewolf Ending: The Daystar virus circles the globe and wipes out all vampires. Blade walks off into the sunset after throwing his sword into the ocean from a cliff, his long battle finally over and his Daywalker status non-existent. The final shot is of the Nightstalkers battling a new enemy... werewolves. This version of the ending was used in the novelization of the film and is included on the DVD as an extra, however it was rejected for use in the film itself early on in production, due to similarities to the vampires vs. werewolves film Underworld, the discontinuity with the backstory, and for simply being too silly in Goyer's opinion.

Cast

Actor	Role
Wesley Snipes	Blade
Jessica Biel	Abigail Whistler
Ryan Reynolds	Hannibal King
Dominic Purcell	Dracula / Drake Bell
Kris Kristofferson	Abraham Whistler
Parker Posey	Danica Talos
Callum Keith Rennie	Asher Talos
Triple H	Jarko Grimwood
Natasha Lyonne	Sommerfield
Haili Page	Zoe
Mark Berry	Chief Martin Vreede
John Michael Higgins	Dr. Edgar Vance
Patton Oswalt	Hedges
James Remar	Ray Cumberland
Steve Braun	FBI Agent Wilson Hale
Christopher Heyerdahl	Caulder
Scott Heindl	Gedge
Cascy Beddow	Flick
Paul Anthony	Wolfe
John Ashker	Campbell
Eric Bogosian	Bentley Tittle
Ron Selmour	Dex
Françoise Yip	Virago
Kett Turton	Dingo
Michel Cook	SWAT Member

Reception

The film's American box office take proved disappointing, at only around $50 million. Internationally it was somewhat more successful, pulling the film's overall gross to $130 million, matching the first Blade's take but coming behind Blade II, which grossed $150m worldwide. Critics typically thought that Trinity was unbecoming of the rest of the series and lacked the quality of the previous films; Rotten Tomatoes, a site which takes an average of critic reviews, only shows a 57%.

Many believed that the film is an example of "style over substance." In addition, many believed that the film was too light-hearted in comparison to the first two films and criticized the film because of Blade's lack of screen time in the film.

Soundtrack

A soundtrack was released by New Line Records

1. "Fatal" by The RZA
2. "I Gotta Get Paid" by Lil' Flip Feat. Ghostface Killah & Raekwon
3. "When the Guns Come Out" by WC, E-40 & Christ Bearer
4. "Thirsty" by Ol' Dirty Bastard AKA Dirt McGirt & Black Keith
5. "Daywalkers" by Ramin Djawadi & The RZA
6. "Party in the Morgue (Club Mix)" by Thee Undatakerz
7. "Skylight" by Overseer
8. "Awaken" by Disturbed
9. "This Blood" by Black Lab
10. "Bombs Away (Danny Saber Remix)" by Paris Texas
11. "Weapons of Mad Distortion" by The Crystal Method
12. "Hard Wax" by Manchild
13. "Blade's Back" by Ramin Djawadi

References to Previous films

Blade

• In the first film, Whistler states that they are trying to keep the war against vampires from getting onto the street. In this film, the war has become public knowledge and is disbelieved by the public.
• Whistler dies in both films.
• Blade and Drake first meet during the day, similar to his meeting with Deacon Frost.
• Blade kills Drake by injecting him with a chemical, similar to the way Deacon Frost is killed.
• The Vampire "Final Solution," filmed but not shown in the first film, appears in a more updated fashion.

Blade II

• A Pomeranian and two rottweilers are seen possessing Reaper-like jaws. Drake also has these jaws in his true form.
• During his fight with Jarko Grimmwood, Hannibal King snaps his arm, only to have Grimmwood snap it back into place, mirroring a scene during Blade's fight with Jared Nomak.
• One of Danica Talos' goals is to have Drake "save" the vampire race. Eli Damaskinos' central plan in Blade II was to use other vampires' strengths to create a legion of daywalkers.
• Blade joins forces with a group dedicated to eliminating vampires or a group of vampires.

External links

• Official site
• Blade: Trinity on Marvel.com
• Blade: Trinity at IMDb
• Blade: Trinity at Rotten Tomatoes
• Template:Shh
• Detailed Comparison between Theatrical Version and Extended Version

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