• Tag Archives vampire
  • Canister X Movie Review #19: Blade: Trinity (2004)

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    Blade: Trinity (2004)
    Written by David S. Goyer
    Directed by David S. Goyer
    Runtime 113 min.
    3.5 out of 5

    Things come to a head in this thrilling final chapter in the Blade Trilogy, pitting Blade against Drake aka Dracula, the king daddy of all vampires. Teaming up with Hannibal King and Abigail Whistler, the trio seeks to take down Dracula before he can create more daywalkers and eliminate Blade forever.

     

    If you’re going to bring things to a head and have a final showdown between the good guy and a major bad guy, you need to ensure that your major bad guy is a big deal and you don’t really get any more big deal than Dracula. Created by Bram Stoker and based on the historical and infamous Vlad the Impaler, Dracula was the first vampire ever and has since become not only the most famous one, but has tons of media under his namesake including movies, books, TV shows, cartoons, songs—everything. And that’s just him never mind the countless media sporting all the vampires he inspired. Taking a vampire hunter like Blade and putting him up against Dracula makes good sense to me.

    Except the Dracula in this movie is pretty so-so, which doesn’t cut it, in my opinion. I was expecting an ultra-powerful vampire, one that would give even the Reapers in Blade II a run for their money in terms of villain awesomeness. Instead, I was given a strong vampire, but not the ultimate vampire. Too bad, too, because having him as a bad guy is an awesome idea.

    As always, Wesley Snipes leads the flick as the titular hero, picking up right where he left off in Blade II and staying consistent in character start to finish.

    Having Ryan Reynolds as Hannibal King—I’m a Reynolds fan. Put him in the right role and you’re guaranteed something good. Not sure how he stacks up against his comic book counterpart, but for this flick, not only was he tough as all get out and kicked all sorts of butt, but the comedic elements he brought had me laughing out loud more than once and yet such jokes worked in this movie and didn’t seem out of place.

    Jessica Biel as Abigail Whistler—who doesn’t like a strong woman who can hold her own and fight vampires? I appreciated the seriousness she brought to the role and was a nice counterbalance to Hannibal King.

    Kris Kristofferson was briefly back as Whistler, Abigail’s father. Won’t say more as I don’t want to spoil anything for those who haven’t seen the flick yet.

    This movie has solid action throughout, but I wish the climactic battle between Dracula and Blade was more epic. Seemed average, but that could just be me. Really liked this movie on the whole, though. It was the Dracula angle that brought it down a notch solely because there was more they could’ve done in terms of raising the stakes with such a villain.

    In the end, it’s a decent send-off for Blade and a pretty good bookend to the trilogy.

    Go check it out.


  • Canister X Movie Review #18: Blade II (2002)

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    Blade II (2002)
    Written by David S. Goyer
    Directed by Guillermo del Toro
    Runtime 117 min.
    4 out of 5

    A major virus is sweeping the through the vampire community and transforming its hosts into creatures called Reapers, who have a thirst for blood worse than vampires, are near invulnerable, and who can also pass the virus on to victims of their own. Worse, they feed on both human and vampire alike. Desperate to stop these creatures, the vampire community strikes a truce with Blade and gets him to help them fight these awful creatures. As Blade carves his way through the Reapers, he finds out their sinister origin and must put a stop to the Reaper vampires once and for all.

     

    The thing with sequels is you gotta go bigger and better than the first one. It’s not always easy and usually fails, however there are exceptions and Blade II is such an exception. Instead of just simply pitting Blade against more vampires, he now has to fight alongside them and stop a common enemy. How does that go? “The enemy of my enemy is my friend”? That’s what’s happening here and is a unique take on the vampire mythos and takes Blade to the next level.

    Wesley Snipes is back as the Daywalker, and does everything right in this flick like he did in the first movie: tough, sweet action, martial arts, swordplay, solid acting and more. It’s always great when you can see the actor enjoys what they’re doing—or convinces you they are—instead of merely phoning it in as is sometimes the case when an actor keeps reprising a role.

    Kris Kristofferson is back, too, which is awesome because Whistler is a big part of the first movie and this one might’ve felt hollow without him. How they bring him back after what happened in the last movie was also clever.

    The Reapers—total killers with sweet SFX, brutal savagery and they make the regular vampires look like a bunch of modern day angsty vamps by comparison. Always a good thing when you up the ante on the bad guy.

    I really liked this sequel, especially because, like I said, it had a fresh take on the slayer-vs-vampire mythos and I’m all about fresh takes. The story moved along at a good clip, kept me engaged, and makes me have a good time every time I have a Blade movie marathon.

    Awesome stuff, Blade II.

    Recommended like the first.


  • Canister X Movie Review #17: Blade (1998)

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    Blade (1998)
    Written by David S. Goyer
    Directed by Stephen Norrington
    Runtime 120 min.
    4 out of 5

    Half-human/half-vampire Blade makes war on the undead—that’s the vampire undead, I’m talking—and tries to dismantle the vampire underworld piece by piece. He soon meets Karen, a hematologist, who was bitten by a vampire. Before the change occurs, she researches how a possible cure can be attained. Meanwhile, Deacon Frost, a rising star in the vampire community, believes he can become even more powerful by awakening the blood god La Magra. The problem is he needs the blood of the “daywalker”—Blade—to achieve it.

    Blood and carnage ensue as Blade tries to stop the vampire world from rising to supremacy while also battling the bloodthirsty vampire within himself in this thrilling monster superhero movie extravaganza.

     

    For me, Blade was the “prequel” movie to the start of the superhero box office comeback, which would later be kicked off by X-Men. It was almost as if studios were testing the waters with a serious superhero movie using a lesser known character and disguising him as a “slayer” to see how audiences would react. That’s my superficial first impression, but then when you get into Blade and watch it you soon find out there is far more here than just a slayer-vs-vampire flick. Is he a superhero? Yes, but not your conventional one. There is no secret identity, no costume per se—though he does sport a cool trench coat and sword—and no standard supporting character in the vein of a love interest. Instead, you get a conflicted man who’s part vampire who’s trying so desperately to tame the beast within while also doing what’s right: killing vampires and helping those who get caught in the crossfire. Sounds like a superhero to me.

    Wesley Snipes as Blade is sheer awesomeness. He’s tough as nails, got the martial arts moves, is dark and handles himself like someone who has the weight of the world on his shoulders. Which is true, of course, as he’s doing his best to keep the vampires at bay, namely the ambitious ones who would seek to subdue, even eradicate, the human race.

    Kris Kristofferson is dynamite as Whistler, Blade’s father-figure, friend and mentor. Talk about a tragic origin for this guy and one that tugs at the heartstrings. He’s the perfect example of a man trying to make things right because something so wrong was done to him and those he loved. Plus “Kris Kristofferson” is a cool name so he gets points just for that.

    I liked Stephen Dorff as Deacon Frost, a cocky villain who knows how powerful he is and is tired of others trying to “keep a good vampire down.” He’d make an amazing Bat-villain, in my mind, just by the way he plays villains—confident, dark, a tad witty—maybe Riddler? I mean, the real Riddler, the one who’s serious and not a slapstick goofball like in Batman Forever.

    Blade’s exciting from start to finish, with action sequences and slayer-vs-vampire moments that make you want to hit the rewind on the remote and watch ’em again. I’m really glad they made two other sequels because Blade’s a character with endless story possibilities because both him and his universe go beyond the simple slayer-vs-vampire motif. Like a Transformer, there’s more to him than meets the eye and this flick does a great job of showing that. No wonder it did so well at the box office and earned about triple its budget.

    Recommended.


  • Canister X Movie Review #15: The Batman vs Dracula (2005)

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    The Batman vs Dracula (2005)
    Written by Duane Capizzi
    Directed by Michael Goguen
    Runtime 83 min.
    4 out of 5

    What starts as a treasure hunt by the Penguin soon turns into a near-apocalyptic ordeal when he accidentally revives the legendary Dracula. Immediately, the prince of darkness begins to feed, snatching innocent citizens of Gotham from its streets.

    Darkness blankets the city and the Caped Crusader is all who stands in the way between Dracula and the city’s doom.

     

    Wow. That was my first reaction when watching this. This direct-to-DVD release doesn’t view as your standard Batman cartoon. This truly is a monster tale and views more like a horror movie than a superhero flick.

    The vampires in this film are scary, looking like something between a vampire and a zombie. Dracula himself is neat, trim and suave, yet carries a presence of death.

    This DVD also introduces Batman’s love interest, Vicky Vale (who appeared both in the comics and in the 1989 movie). I have yet to discover how much of a role she will have in the half-hour episodes of The Batman series (I have only watched up to season three), but it was great to see her on screen. It was also wonderful to see Bruce Wayne dealing with a female lead in a realistic way and having once again come face-to-face with Batman getting in the way of his personal life.

    A surprising touch to this film was the Joker, not so much the character but what happens to him. Cool indeed.

    This is a solid Bat-flick, one which is definitely meant for an older audience, not for kids. Thirteen or fourteen and up, I’d say.

    This flick is a keeper, one every true Bat-fan should have.