As a great fan of the Blade franchise I was somewhat disappointed with this (final?) installment of the series. A thin plot concerned the unearthing of the shape shifting Drake, the original Daywalker and daddy-of-all-vampires from his crypt in the deserts of Syria by yet another bunch of smooth dressing corporate vampires (seems to be at least one cabal in every movie) with the intent of using him to take out Blade, while simultaneously trying to 'out' Blade to the public, painting him as a psychopathic serial killer who believes himself to be a vampire.
Losing Whistler in an assault by a SWAT team on their HQ, (a scene which should have been a moving and heroic farewell to a wonderful character but was rather done in the blink of an eye, Blade is rescued from custody by members of the Nightstalkers, a group of human vampire hunters which include Whistler's daughter Abagail (Jessica Beal) and King (Ryan Reynolds), a former vampire himself.
Blade's by now cliche grouchy ol' man act and unwillingness to join the Nightstalkers is under-used and glossed cheaply over when he learns off the group's efforts to develop a virus capable of wiping out vampire-kind, and possibly him to boot, though there is no indication of turmoil whatsoever over this news, merely a blank acceptance (bad acting rather than stoic acceptance on Wesley's part in my opinion). The potency of this virus will also be boosted by it's introduction to Drake's blood, thus setting up the two opposing sides for an inevitable clash. This is hastened by Drake wiping out most of the Nightstalkers and his taking hostage of an injured King and a little girl for 'emotional impact'.
Marching on their high-tech glossy office tower, Blade and Abagail infiltrate it (akin to so many other more memorable action movies eg MI:2, all of which did it with far more style and panache), free King and the wee girl, wipe out the vampire squad and face Drake in a 'climatic' showdown, a singularly boring sword fight considering Drake's a mythological beastie never bested in combat to date, as is Blade. This is a fight they've both lived for their whole lives, yet it's over rediculously quickly, with little if no dialogue and no memorable moves from either side. With Drake's death, preceded by a speech that hinted at an interesting character who wasn't given screen time to develop (ditto for Blade), the remaining vampires in the vicinity are wiped out by the virus, leaving Blade unscathed and the fate of the rest of the worlds' vampires uncertain. The end.
For me the problem with the film was that it was disjointed in it's structure, not following the formula perfected by Hollywood of the hero and his nemesis by which tension is built up through gradual encounters until a showdown where all scores are settled. Blade:Trinity failed in this, squandering screen time with too much filler and not allowing this tension to develop adequately. Perhaps the worst failing, and greatest strength of the film was the characterisation. Blade had none of the intensity of his previous outings and remained boringly one dimensional, the vampire squad was cardboard, Drake was as threatening as one of the vampire dogs running around the stronghold (funny touch), and as mentioned, Whistler was dispatched quickly and without much sentiment (if you can call Blade's catatonic state 'emotion').
However, we were introduced to Abagail and King who in my opinion was the saviour of the film. Reynolds, who perfected his sardonic humour in 'Van Wilder', delivers some hilarious one-liners which left the audience in stitches and is the perfect foil to Blade's tired grouchy old man persona. He's also surprisingly sporting a body on him that nearly rivals Brad Pitt in Fight Club (something for the ladies), while Abagail provides some eye candy as a hard-assed slayer out to avenge her friends and father. Having the lions' share of screen time, this leads me to the suspicion that Blade:Trinity was more a vehicle for a potential spin-off from this two and less a fitting finale for Blade.
As a stand alone movie, Blade:Trinity is average, as part of the franchise it is poor, with little to call it's own. Maybe it'll fare better on the small screen, as many do, but for me and my high expectations it provided a let down.