Even Buffy took her job more seriously than Blade does.
The first two installments of the “Blade” trilogy had funny moments. But they were essentially serious action films. “Blade: Trinity,” on the other hand, is a straight-up comedy. Really. It is.
This time around, Wesley Snipes’ vampire saga is told with an overt sense of satire, almost as if it’s critiquing the seriousness of the superhero genre.
Blade, a half-vampire, half-human warrior, beat the hell out of the Vampire Nation in the first two films. So this time, the vampires have called for reinforcements.
They go to Iraq, of all places, to find their most powerful champion – Dracula. There he lies, buried in a cave. Yes, an Iraqi cave.
The vampire lord is the newest weapon of mass destruction to terrorize the Western world and the vampires’ only hope to kill Blade.
Jessica Biel (from the WB’s “Seventh Heaven”) and Ryan Reynolds (“Van Wilder”) team up with Blade, creating one of the more absurd trios in pop culture.
Abigail (Biel), a fashion-conscious vampire hunter, stalks her prey with a bow and arrow while decked out in spaghetti-strapped tank tops and her trusty iPod. Hannibal King (Reynolds) is a former vampire and an arrogant jokester who always has something sarcastic to say.
Blade, in contrast, is the emotionless, anti-social superhero whose facial expressions never seem to change. At one point, King asks Blade if he ever blinks.
The main flaw with the first two “Blade” films was the action scenes were so ridiculous, audiences were not sure if directors Stephen Norrington (“Blade”) and Guillermo Del Toro (“Blade 2”) were intentionally looking for a laugh.
“Blade: Trinity” has the advantage of being written and directed by David S. Goyer, the writer of the first two films. With this advantage, “Trinity” is able to be just what Goyer had in mind from the start.
This time, there’s no question the film is supposed to be funny. What other superhero vampire slayer is going to fight through hordes of bad guys just to get his trusty sword back? Not many. And certainly not Buffy.
But Blade will. And that’s funny.
