Although X-Men and Spider-Man are widely credited with starting the modern comic-book movie boom in 2000 and 2002, respectively, there’s an argument to be made that it was actually the original Blade movie in 1998 that got the ball rolling. Superhero movie fans don’t know how good they have it now because there was a time when Marvel couldn’t get a decent movie out of any of its franchises. Case in point: The Punisher movie starring Dolph Lundgren and the infamous Howard the Duck.
Blade was a game-changer in that it took a little-known Marvel anti-hero, placed Wesley Snipes in the title role and delivered a fun action flick. Stephen Norrington helmed the first film, and Guillermo del Toro stepped in to direct the sequel, Blade II, which was an even bigger success.
That brings us to the final Blade movie, Blade: Trinity. This film was a case where almost everything that could go wrong did. Blade: Trinity made slightly more money than the first film with $132 million, but it also had a higher budget — $65 million — and it made such a mess of the franchise that there were no more theatrical sequels.
This wasn’t the outcome that anyone involved with the film wanted. So where did Blade: Trinity go wrong? There’s plenty of blame to go around for this one.
The problems start at the top
David S. Goyer wrote the first two Blade movies, and he was given the chance to helm Blade: Trinity after German director Oliver Hirschbiegel passed on the project to make Downfall, a German World War II movie that’s been endlessly meme-ed because of its Hitler rant scene. There should probably be one of those Hitler rant memes for Blade: Trinity because Goyer turned out to be the wrong choice to follow two experienced directors on the franchise. This was only Goyer’s second film as a director, and it shows. The sense of excitement from Norrington and del Toro’s movies is missing, and it lacks a human touch as well.
While speaking with The Hollywood Reporter in 2021, Goyer said, “I don’t think anyone involved in that film had a good experience on that film, certainly I didn’t. I don’t think anybody involved with that film is happy with the results. It was a very tortured production.”
It couldn’t have helped that one of the biggest problems Goyer had on the set was with his leading man, Snipes.
Call me Blade
In 2012, Patton Oswalt shared some wild stories from his time on Blade: Trinity during an interview with The AV Club. Of particular interest for this retrospective is Oswalt’s account of the breakdown in relations between Goyer and Snipes. Oswalt claims that at one point, Snipes actually tried to strangle Goyer over one of their disagreements.
The actor went on to say that Snipes was increasingly withdrawn, and he only came out of his trailer to shoot close-ups. Oswalt also said that Snipes stopped speaking to Goyer and only communicated through Post-it notes that he signed as Blade.
Snipes categorically denied Oswalt’s account in a separate THR interview. However, Goyer hasn’t refuted Oswalt’s story and said that he still counts the actor among his friends. He also noted that his friendship with Snipes ended during this troubled production.
Blade: Trinity sidelines its title character
One of the gripes that Snipes has shared about Blade: Trinity is that the film shuffles his character to the side in favor of elevating the Nightstalkers as equal co-stars with an eye toward giving them their own spinoff movie. Snipes isn’t wrong about that. The movie loses its focus quickly by killing off Kris Kristofferson’s Abraham Whistler in the first act — after the second film went through the trouble of resurrecting him and restoring him as Blade’s partner and mentor.
To replace Whistler, the film introduced an original heroine, Abigail Whistler (Jessica Biel), who is kind of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer of this movie. She’s also a character who doesn’t have much to do, nor does she possess a very engaging personality. Abigail was one half of the Nightstalkers, and the other half was Hannibal King, as played by future Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds.
Deadpool 1.0
Former vampire Hannibal King is not an invention of this movie, and he really was a co-founder of the Nightstalkers with Blade — alongside another character named Frank Drake — in the comics. However, King’s portrayal in this movie is pretty far from his dour character in the source material.
Instead, Reynolds slips into his usual comedic persona and gives King the same quippy nature that made Deadpool so successful. There’s a time and a place for comedy in these films, and Reynolds’ sense of humor overpowered what little drama this movie had.
Dominic Purcell’s Dracula lacks bite
Prison Break‘s Dominic Purcell was wildly miscast as Dracula in Blade: Trinity. And for some reason, the film insists on calling him “Drake.” Blade has a long history with Dracula in the comics, and it was inevitable that they would cross paths in a movie. But this version of Dracula just doesn’t capture the final boss energy that the king of the vampires is supposed to have.
Paul “Triple H” Levesque — a former wrestler turned WWE executive — has a small supporting role in this film as another enemy vampire, Jarko Grimwood. And if you’ve ever wondered why Triple H’s Hollywood career didn’t take off like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s did, look no further than this movie. Jarko is played for laughs, but his material isn’t that funny, and Triple H just doesn’t have the charisma to pull off the role. The only villain in this film who feels remotely threatening is Parker Posey’s Danica Talos.
Blade: The Series
Because Blade: Trinity performed so poorly, there were no sequels after this one. However, two years later, Goyer developed Blade: The Series for Spike TV, with Kirk “Sticky Fingaz” Jones taking over the title role from Snipes. The series does act as a follow-up to Blade: Trinity and it gives Blade a new ongoing threat in the form of the vampires from the House of Chthon.
One of the more intriguing aspects of the show was the way it introduced Krista Starr (Jill Wagner), a recently turned vampire who acts as Blade’s informant within the House of Chthon. Krista was transformed into a vampire against her will, but she eventually develops some feelings for the vamp who made her, Marcus van Sciver (Neil Jackson). That complicates her loyalty to Blade.
The show ended its first season without fully resolving that subplot, and the series’ cancellation means that it didn’t get a proper conclusion. With no other Blade projects on the horizon, the rights reverted to Marvel in 2012.
“There’s only ever gonna be one Blade!”
If you watched Deadpool & Wolverine in a theater this summer, then you probably know that one of the biggest audience applause moments came when Wesley Snipes came out for an extended cameo as Blade. Snipes and Reynolds even jokingly refer to their formerly tense relationship on-screen, but the actors must have reconciled in the intervening years in order to reunite for this film.
It’s also ironic that Snipes’ brief return to the role came as Marvel continues to struggle with its Blade reboot. Mahershala Ali has been attached to star in Marvel Studios’ Blade since 2019, but the project has suffered several delays and setbacks before it was recently taken off the release schedule. Maybe Snipes’ quote from Deadpool & Wolverine was right after all: “There’s been only one Blade! There’s only ever gonna be one Blade!”
Watch Blade: Trinity on Pluto TV.
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