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This Month's Featured Equipment Reviews |
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Past DVD Hardware / Software News |
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Blade: Trinity (Unrated Edition)
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DVD Action-Adventure
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Written by Abbie Bernstein
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Tuesday, 26 April 2005
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title:
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Blade: Trinity |
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studio:
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New Line Home Entertainment |
| MPAA rating: |
R |
| starring: |
Wesley Snipes, Kris Kristofferson, Jessica Biel, Ryan Reynolds, Parker Posey, Dominic Purcell |
| film release year: |
2004 |
| DVD release year: |
2005 |
| film rating: |
Three Stars |
| sound/picture rating: |
Three-and-a-Half Stars |
| reviewed by: |
Abbie Bernstein |
Based on the Marvel Comics character created by Marv Wolfman & Gene
Colan, the “Blade” movies have always been more action than
horror-oriented (director Guillermo Del Toro came the closest to making
a scary one with “Blade 2”). The series chronicles the adventures of
vampire-hating, half-vampire Blade (Wesley Snipes), a “Daywalker” with
the ability to do what the title suggests. Rather than run-ins with
individual vamps, the films focus on Blade’s confrontations with
various aspects of the fairly intricate vampire establishment. This
time, writer David S. Goyer, who also scripted the previous two
editions, is at the reins. He brings in something that is reasonably
entertaining yet doesn’t do much to deepen either the main character or
the overall mythology.
In the “Blade” universe, the vampire community is a big, evil,
competitive underground affair, with denizens at each other’s throats.
They never seem to run out of ideas that could have been cooked up by
Wile E. Coyote in terms of backfiring potential. This time, a vamp
squad digs up a pyramid to retrieve an ancient monster who turns out to
be Dracula himself (Dominic Purcell), the original progenitor of the
blood-sucking species. Although Dracula eats other vampires, the new
fang regime feels it’s a worthwhile risk if he’ll just take out their
nemesis Blade. Meanwhile, in a Chapter 2 sequence that commences with a
great big explosion as a vampire body detonates across the screen and
into the left rear, Blade’s existence gets even more uncomfortable when
he’s tricked into publicly killing a “familiar,” one of the humans who
helps vampires. The setpiece has swell action, atmospheric foley and
very punchy gunshots, as well as convincing car motor sounds and
suitably massive impact as a vehicle flips, skits and hits a pillar.
The fallout sees Blade becoming Public Enemy Number One. He gets help
from a surprising source – a little band of vampire-hunting humans
headed up by fast-moving Abigail Whistler (Jessica Biel), who’s the
daughter of Blade’s mentor Abraham Whistler (Kris Kristofferson), and
regular-guy ex-vampire Hannibal King (Ryan Reynolds).
As might be reasonably expected, “Blade: Trinity” contains plenty of
neat stunts and enjoyable martial arts fights. When Biel’s Abigail
takes on a vamp gang in a subway in Chapter 5, it’s a truly impressive
fight and Chapters 19 and 20 are lots of smash, punch, kick, shoot and
detonation-type fun for action fans of all preferences. The
comparatively amiable humans make a nice contrast to Blade’s continued
surliness, though some of the banter tries a little too hard. The film
seems a little unbalanced at times, as Dracula’s fearsome abilities,
which get all the billing and build-up, seem less troublesome for Blade
than the intervention of the human authorities. There is also a crucial
bit of miscasting with one of the supporting villains, played by Parker
Posey. In the supplemental materials, everyone speaks highly of her,
and apparently she was a lot of fun to work with, but she seems to be
viewing the proceedings as such a romp that she reminds us we’re
watching a movie rather than allowing us to get into it every time she
appears. The upside is that this underscores how deft most of the other
actors are. Snipes snarls with conviction, Biel moves smoothly and
Reynolds is game as a guy who’s in slightly over his head but sees no
alternative. Purcell is dignified and never overdoes it as the master
vamp.
There
are two discs in this release. The first contains both the theatrical
cut of the film and the unrated version, which is ten minutes longer
and a bit sexier and bloodier. The longer cut comes with two audio
commentaries. The one with writer/producer/director Goyer and actors
Biel and Reynolds is agreeable, though they tend to get caught up in
what they’re watching and fall silent (the soundtrack comes up at these
junctures). The other commentary, with Goyer, producers Peter Frankfurt
and Lynn Harris, appealingly profane cinematographer Gabriel Beristain,
production designer Chris Gorak and editor Howard E. Smith, is both
quite informative about the filmmaking process and a good conversation
to listen in on.
The second disc contains a set of
featurettes that, when viewed consecutively, add up to a feature-length
documentary, covering virtually every aspect of making “Blade,” with
segments on sound design and color enhancement that should be of
particular interest to tech-minded viewers. The explorations of the
actors’ physical training and stunt set-ups are lively and engaging.
There’s some brief but pleasant interview footage with Snipes
(considering that he’s suing New Line over his unhappiness with various
aspects of the film, both financial and creative, this is more than
might be expected). There’s also an amusing split-screen interview
where Goyer as writer interviews himself as Goyer the director, an
alternative ending, a blooper reel and galleries on visual effects and
weapon design.
In its clear desire to keep the franchise going, “Blade: Trinity”
doesn’t sum anything up and it lacks the mythic resonance that seems
intended, but it’s still overall a fun exercise in flying fists, feet
and fangs.
| more details |
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sound format:
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English 5.1 DTS; English 6.1 DTS |
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aspect ratio(s):
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2.35 |
| special features: |
Unrated
and Theatrical Cuts of Film; Audio Commentary with
Writer/Director/Producer David S. Goyer and Actors Jessica Biel and
Ryan Reynolds; Audio Commentary with Goyer, Producers David Frankfurt
and Lynn Harris, Cinematographer Gabriel Beristain, Production Designer
Chris Gorak and Editor Howard E. Smith; Inside the World of Blade:
Trinity – Featurettes on Story Design, David Goyer, Casting, Cast
Training, Set Design, Costume Design, Cinematography, Facts, Weapon
Design, Stunts, Editing, Visual Effects, Music, Sound Design Color
Enhancement and the Future of Blade; Goyer interviewing Goyer;
Alternate Ending; Bloopers; Galleries on Visual Effects and Weapons;
DVD-ROM Features; English and Spanish Subtitles |
| comments: |
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| reference system |
| DVD player: |
Kenwood DV-403 |
| receiver: |
Kenwood VR-407 |
| main speakers: |
Paradigm Atom |
| center speaker: |
Paradigm CC-170 |
| rear speakers: |
Paradigm ADP-70 |
| subwoofer: |
Paradigm PDR-10 |
| monitor: |
27-inch Toshiba |
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