Blade: Trinity

A gratuitous, wisecracking sidekick and a tummy-baring, tight-top-wearing, eye-candy vampire hunter have been added to the cast of this half-awake action-horror second sequel, but it's the gal (Jessica Biel) who gets most of the laughs--albeit unintentionally--with her lethargic, ludicrously inept kung-fu fighting. The logic-bereft plot concerns the now-tiresome cliché of über-Goth vampires pouting around in slick skyscraper hideouts and digging up their long-dormant leader (c.f., Underworld, Queen of the Damned), who appears to be a Slovakian runway model enamored of bare-chested couture. His revival is part of their "final solution" to turn all mankind into a vast, Matrix-like comatose blood bank, but apparently he's also the only one with the fighting skills to take on the "daywalker" Blade (Wesley Snipes)--a human-vampire hybrid who destroys bloodsuckers with monotonous ease and expensive spontaneous-combustion special effects. For those who don't mind their Goth-vampire-kung-fu action movies all looking the same (leather, eyeliner, stiletto heels, poor lighting), sounding the same (rap and rave tunes), and having the same sequel-baiting finales, Blade: Trinity may barely pass muster. But this one proves the subgenre is completely out of new ideas. Not recommended. [Note: Available in either unrated widescreen or R-rated widescreen or full screen versions, DVD extras on this double-disc set include two audio commentaries (one with writer/director/producer David S. Goyer and costars Ryan Reynolds and Jessica Biel; the other with Goyer and various crew members), both the theatrical version and a 10-minute longer extended version, a 107-minute “Inside the World of Blade: Trinity” “making-of” documentary, a blooper reel (11 min.), a “Goyer on Goyer” self-interview featurette (5 min.), an alternate ending (2 min.), a visual effects and weapons gallery, and trailers. Bottom line: a whopping extras package for a run-of-the-mill film.] (R. Blackwelder)