Blade: Trinity Adds Three Slices of Storytelling

By Glenn Bossik 12/15/04

Writer/Director David Goyer transforms the story of Blade, a Marvel Comics character, into a multifaceted film in Blade: Trinity.

In this film, Blade (Wesley Snipes), a superhuman man, leads a group of vampire hunters known as the Nightstalkers in a life and death crusade against vampires led by a female vampire, Danica Talos (Parker Posey).

Danica resurrects the legendary, ancient vampire, Dracula, who is named Drake (Dominic Purcell) and battles against Blade.

David Goyer refers to Blade as an antihero. "He is a hero in spite of himself, but he's a conflicted hero and not even a particularly nice guy," says Goyer.

Blade faces three conflicts in his battle against the vampires. He must reluctantly accept help from the Nightstalkers, who are vampire hunters. He must fight the FBI, which has been alerted to his existence by the vampire leaders. And he must fight the vampires and the newly resurrected father of all vampires, Drake (Dracula).

As these three conflicts transpire, we learn that the vampire hunters have three leaders and the vampires have three leaders.

The leaders of the vampire hunters include Blade and two members of the Nightstalkers: Abigail Whistler (Jessica Biel) and Hannibal King (Ryan Reynolds).

The leaders of the vampires include Danica Talos, Asher (Callum Keith Rennie), and Grimwood (wrestler Triple H).

Actor Wesley Snipes describes his showdown with the supreme vampire, Drake, as part of Blade's destiny. "It is his [Blade's] most difficult challenge yet," says Snipes.

Writer/Director David Goyer says that Blade is "forced to accept the help of [the vampire hunters], Hannibal King and Abigail Whistler," after being exposed to the FBI by the vampire leaders.

Producer Peter Frankfurt adds that Hannibal was once turned into a vampire but was able to cure his vampirism and change himself back into a human.

Actor Ryan Reynolds describes his character, Hannibal, as someone who "basically lives to kill" Danica Talos, the female vampire who originally turned him into a vampire.

Hannibal's cohort is Abigail, daughter of Abraham Whistler (Kris Kristofferson), the man who taught Blade how to hunt vampires.

David Goyer speaks highly of Actress Jessica Biel, who plays Abigail. "Her character is a woman of very few words," says Goyer. "So, she has to imbue that character with a lot of physicality and a lot of presence….She does it very well."

Jessica Biel was indeed required to play a very physical role. "Abigail is smart, tough, and incredibly skilled in boxing, martial arts, and all different types of fighting," says Biel.

Actress Parker Posey plays Danica Talos, the vampire leader who resurrects Drake (Dracula), a powerful vampire who is able to walk in the daylight and is the creator of the vampire species.

Posey has traditionally starred in independent films. Writer/Director David Goyer believes her character is a good onscreen contrast to the Wesley Snipes character, Blade. "Parker's energy is completely different from Wesley's," says Goyer, "so when the two of them are together, it is interesting to watch."

Professional wrestler Triple H plays one of Parker's onscreen cohorts, a vampire known as Grimwood. Triple H defines Grimwood as "the Terminator of vampires." "You can shoot him, beat him, do whatever you want, but he's just going to keep coming back," says Triple H.

The story of Blade: Trinity emphasizes contrasts between the vampires and the Nightstalkers. According to David Goyer, the Nightstalkers (Abigail and Hannibal) are much different than vampires such as Danica and Grimwood. "Because the Nightstalkers are disenfranchised humans who don't have as much money as the vampires, they lead a more ragtag existence," says Goyer. He adds that the vampires are "the institution and have all the money [and] much cleaner worlds influenced by a lot of modern architecture."

The climax of Blade: Trinity is a scene in which Blade and the Nightstalkers battle the vampires in the Phoenix Towers, a spectacular glass and steel building that is the vampires' headquarters.

The film focuses on the confrontation between vampires and humans, and develops the main characters by showing the actions they take to survive and triumph.