La Ron S. Readus
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Blade (VIDEO SCRIPT)
🕑 Added 2021-02-18 00:00:02 +0000 UTCBlade, Blade 2, and Blade Trin...
The first movie is praised for being the movie that both saved Marvel Entertainment from bankruptcy and placed superhero movies back in a positive spotlight in the late 90’s, the second movie is praised for its direction, practical and digital effects, and the third movie...exists.
But whatever your opinions are about where Blade Trinity falls on the trash meter, we have its existence to thank for us being able to qualify the Blade film franchise as a trilogy. But is it a proper trilogy? And if it’s not, then how can we make it one? Let’s find out.
INTRODUCTION
Blade was released in 1998. It was written by David Goyer, but his script was made watchable and enjoyable thanks to Stephen Norrington’s direction, Theo van de Sande’s cinematography, and Wesley Snipes passion for the role.
After New Line Cinema acquired the rights to the character and was talked into taking the franchise seriously instead of making it a spoof franchise as they originally intended, Snipes was chosen for the role from a shortlist that consisted of himself, Denzel Washington and Laurence Fishburne. Y’know, the only black actors that EXISTED in the late 90’s, according to Hollywood.
Stephen Dorff being cast as Deacon Frost as the result of beating Scream’s own Billy Loomis himself Skeet Ulrich, and martial arts master Jet Li turning down the role to star as the main villain for Lethal Weapon 4
/And you all know the story of Blade 98 from there; Eric Brooks -- codename Blade -- a vampire/human hybrid capable of surviving daylight -- thus the term Daywalker -- after a vampire bit his mother while she was pregnant with him, is a vampire hunter with all of their strengths and none of their weakness outside of their thirst for blood, which he uses a serum to subside it. He has to stop Deacon Frost from performing a ritual based on the ancient writings of the vampire house of Erebus that would plague the world in a vampire apocalypse by summoning La Magra -- the Blood God -- once learning that his blood is the key to his awakening./
The way the movie plays out, Goyer has gone on to say, was inspired by Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman, and you can definitely see it in the final product.
/Everything from starting Blade off established as opposed to the “zero to hero” origin model made popular thanks to Richard Donner’s Superman and Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man, to tying Blade’s arch nemesis Deacon Frost immediately to his origin like the Jack Napier’s Joker being the one that killed Bruce’s parents./
/And it paid off. Because with a budget of just over 40 million dollars, Blade took home over 130 million in the box office and helped place superhero movies back on the map./
Blade II was released 4 years later in 2002. It was once again written by Goyer, but his script was made watchable and enjoyable once again by Wesley Snipes’ passion for the role, and THIS time thanks to the direction of Guillermo Del Toro, Gabriel Beristain’s cinematography, and the various and spectacular set and make up designs used throughout this film.
No, you are absolutely correct; I refuse to give David Goyer any credit for the success of these two movies.
/This time Blade and his mentor-slash-partner Whistler have to work with an elite group of vampires called the Bloodpack under the orders of pureblood vampire overlord Eli Damaskinos to find and hunt the Reapers, vampires that have been afflicted with a ravenous thirst for human and vampire blood alike after being infected by a virus that can turn vampires into the creatures just as easily as a human can turn into a vampire. Of course this is all part of a ploy to capture Blade since the Reapers were the result of Damaskinos’ efforts of creating a stronger deadlier vampire with his son Nomak as patient zero, with the intention of dissecting him to learn the secrets of his Daywalker capabilities while ridding the world of his reject experiments. And as you could imagine, that doesn’t work out that well for him./
Now for the lot of us, Blade II was the first Guillermo Del Toro film we’ve seen and was our initial introduction to how he utilized practical effects, creature makeup and overall set design into his work before seeing such classics as Pan’s Labyrinth and 2004’s Hellboy, which he immediately went to work on afterward.
/And it was the combination of the creative vision of he and his team along with Wesley Snipes deep understanding and passion to play blade that Blade II became the stylized and, while dated in places, benchmark classic that it is today. Earning 155 million in the box office on a budget of 54 million./
But, like I stated earlier, Del Toro was unavailable for the inevitable third installment of the franchise due to finally finding a studio that was willing to let him and Mike Mignola bring Hellboy to the silver screen in 2004 in the form of Sony’s Columbia Pictures.
But contrary to popular belief, New Line never considered bringing Del Toro back for a third Blade in the first place. Instead, they opted to save money and made the decision to hire Goyer as both writer AND director of the next installment back in 2001.
And thus, the trainwreck that is Blade Trinity was born (exhausted sigh). Let’s talk about it.
THE CURRENT STANCE
/It goes without saying that -- despite making 67 million in profit upon its theatrical release, which is still a third less than the profit made by the first two each -- Blade Trinity is the weakest installment of the Blade trilogy. And the majority of that was due to New Line giving David Goyer unbridled control of the film as both writer AND director./
Now back in the day, the media tried to paint Wesley Snipes as the main culprit behind the reasoning as to why Blade Trinity didn’t work, due to his non cooperation with Goyer.
But after seeing plenty of works by Goyer since Blade Trinity in which his scripts weren’t revisioned by other writers that are BETTER than him, along with the numerous TV series he was the showrunner for that failed within the first two seasons, along with the reveal of Goyer just being an absolute tool thanks to the Martian Manhunter fiasco of 2014, I’m more inclined to take Snipes’ side regarding how things went down on the set of his final Blade movie.
You see, because David Goyer was both the writer AND the director of Blade Trinity, along with no other writer being brought on board to just make his script...BETTER -- similar to what Jonathan Nolan did with his script for The Dark Knight -- it allowed Goyer’s script and his vision for Trinity to be 100% his own, which was 100% a mistake.
/That vision involved the vampires framing Blade as a murderer to the public eye, while awakening the first vampire Dracula -- aka Drake -- to lead them into a new age and help them become Daywalkers while springing up blood farms across the world ala Daybreakers to prepare. Meanwhile Blade teams up with a new group of vampire hunters who need the blood of Drake to perfect Daystar -- their bio weapon against the vampires -- that would give them a cutting edge of ridding the world of them once and for all./
Now I will be the first to say that yes; all of these are good ideas to feature in a Blade movie.
And if worked in a way that made sense -- either by a more competent writer that can flesh these ideas out in a proper story, or a director that’s capable of transcending what Goyer was able to provide on paper like in the previous two installments -- Trinity would have provided a proper sendoff that’s worthy of the character.
/And if you need any proof that David Goyer is a great idea generator but can’t write scripts worth a damn, Blade Trinity as it currently exists is a perfect example of what he’s capable of. Because JESUS CHRIST, THE DIALOGUE/
(pause) I legit have never watched a movie that made me want to punch the writer’s throat in, until I saw Blade Trinity
I would say that’s an accomplishment, but rewatching Blade Trinity -- especially with the knowledge and affinity I now have when it comes to storytelling -- just constantly reminds me of how much potential the movie had and how it was wasted because of the amount of control David Goyer was granted
Including the thread he brought over from the first movie and chose to use Trinity to expand on it.
Yes, Readers. As it currently stands, the Blade trilogy is in fact a proper movie trilogy. But the thread he chose to bring over from Blade 98 to expand on in Blade Trinity was fucking lazy. Allow me to explain.
THE THREAD
/While there was, in fact, a thread that was brought over from Blade 98 to Blade Trinity, it was one that didn’t involve Blade directly. It involved his mentor and partner Whistler, played by Kris Kristofferson. The scene in question involved Whistler and the female lead of the movie who acts as our gateway into the world of vampires, N’Bushe Wright’s Dr. Karen Jenson -- the uncredited creator of the cure for turned vampirism./
Yes, I’m salty that it’s never acknowledged in 2 or Trinity that she found the cure for afflicted vampirism in this universe, considering how much they constantly use it.
/Anyway, during a conversation the two have about Blade’s hybridization after escaping the House of Erebus upon learning about the Blood God ritual, Whistler shares with Karen the story of how he became a vampire hunter./
Now for those of us who have seen it, we know that this was the thread that was chosen and expanded upon in Blade Trinity.
/Because in that movie we’re introduced to a new character once Blade joins the Nightstalkers after Whistlers For REAL This Time death named Abby/ (Whistler’s daughter)
The explanation for her existence is that while what Whistler stated about him losing his wife and daughters to a vampire drifter was in fact true, Abby didn’t belong to that family. She was born out of wedlock.
They had an on again off again relationship off camera that happened in a comic that came with the DVD trilogy set, but none of it is ever referenced in the movie.
/And because Abraham was killed off right as Abigail was introduced, along with Goyer failing to develop her character outside of being the ass-kicking vampire hunter with a bow, we never really get an explanation./
Now the reason why this TECHNICALLY works as an element of the thread brought over from Blade 98, actually goes back to the point I made in my Karate Kid video. The only way introducing a new character works as a result of using the thread from the first film to do so, is if there is proper setup for them in the first installment.
/In Blade 98, Whistler only told Karen about his immediate family; his wife and daughters. Blade Trinity used Blade’s confusion about Abigail’s existence to expand on that knowledge, by saying that Abraham had another lover outside of his family around the same time. So technically, it follows the protocol of properly expanding on the thread to make Abigail’s presence in Trinity come full circle with Blade 98./
Honestly, if Goyer would’ve properly set himself up in Blade 98 with having Whistler say something similar to “I got around back in the day” while injecting Blade with his serum or something like that, his decision to use Abby as the bow that ties the trilogy together wouldn’t be up for debate.
But the reason why I say that using Abby as the result of the thread David Goyer brought over from Blade 98 was lazy, is because while it's an interesting thread to explore from the first movie, it’s not the STRONGEST one. Nor is it one involving Blade, the main character of the trilogy.
In my opinion, the best threads to bring from the first movie to expand on in the third are the ones that always involve the main character first and foremost. That way it feels like it's properly wrapping up an arc that involved the character in question.
/That’s why it worked with Sidney’s relationship with her mother Maurine in Scream, that’s why it worked with Bruce’s involvement in The Dark Knight, and that’s why it worked with Luke in the original Star Wars trilogy./
Because Blade doesn’t have a connection with Abigail like he did with her dad when they interact with each other on screen, there really aren’t any connections the two have outside of killing vampires that makes Abby a necessity to Blade’s development or story.
Going back to The Godfather, Vincent Mancini is not just the bastard son of Sonny Corelone; he actively involves himself in the life and machinations of his uncle Michael Corelone -- the main character of the trilogy -- by having an insestuous relationship with his daughter.
/We also have to keep in mind that Blade Trinity is an unfiltered creation of David Goyer. Meaning unless someone looks its over and makes it better, this is the most “character development” Abby was ever going to get./ (Use it)
So if Abby’s reveal as Whistler’s illegitimate daughter is too weak, then what is the better thread to tie the trilogy together? Easy. La Magra, the Blood God.
/More specifically, the role he unwillingly played in order for Deacon Frost -- a character he already has history with -- to acquire the powers OF the Blood God./
Blade’s ties with the Blood God are already incredibly strong, considering the fact that Deacon Frost was directly responsible for making Blade a Daywalker so that he could use his blood in the ritual to acquire his powers; regardless of whether biting his mother to do so was merely coincidental or planned from the start.
/And considering the new lore Goyer gave Dracula -- aka Drake -- in Blade Trinity regarding being vampire perfection, 100% pure, and capable of TRULY turning vampires into daywalkers without having to create a new BREED of vampires, like the Nosferatu-looking Reapers like in Blade II, linking Drake to the Blood God from the first movie and finding a way to associate it with his eagerness to fight Blade would’ve been a no-brainer for any other writer in the world./
But as I was watching the first movie and that thought crossed my mind, I had to remind myself that this is David Goyer we’re talking about. OF COURSE he couldn’t comprehend those possibilities.
Thankfully, I can. And I have. Let me break it down for you.
THE RECONSTRUCTION
/In Blade 98, Blade has to stop Deacon Frost -- the new head of the House of Erebus after dethroning the pureblooded elders, and the one who bit his mother resulting in his hybridization -- after performing a ritual involving 12 pureblooded vampires and his own Daywalker blood to obtain the powers of La Magra, the Blood God.
In Blade Trinity, Blade with the help of the vampire hunter group the Nightstalkers have to stop Dracula -- aka Drake -- the first vampire, after being awoken by vampire leader Danica Talos with the goal of curing them of their weaknesses and to go toe-to-toe with Blade, while the Nightstalkers require Drake’s blood to complete their experimental bio weapon the Daystar./
So let’s make La Magra and Drake one and the same, and make Drake and Blade’s connection stronger than just two adversaries duking it out.
The new information that we’d use Blade: Trinity to reveal about the thread we’re bringing over from the 1998 original is that the founders of the House of Erebus were the ones who trapped La Magra and created the ritual after finding a way to siphon his power.
/Meaning that when Deacon Frost obtained the powers of La Magra via said ritual, he pulled them straight from Drake himself while he was sleeping in his tomb in Iraq./
/Frost KNEW this, but because he was the only vampire in House of Erebus that was successful in translating the Book of Erebus, he let everyone else think that the ritual intended on awakening La Magra to bring about a vampire apocalypse while he was free to claim La Magra’s power for himself, with Blade -- the blood of a daywalker -- as the key to the lock./
Fast Forward to Blade: Trinity. With the defeat of Deacon Frost, the house of Erebus -- in this reconstruction -- has been reformed to the House of Frost with Danica Talos as the head.
/While she represents the more liberal side of the generational vampire hierarchy when it comes to purebloods vs turned -- since the majority of the house since its restructuring consists of turned vampires -- she’s not as selfish as its namesake./
She knows that Deacon basically tricked the turned vampires into thinking he was gonna UNLEASH the Blood God after properly translating the Book of Erebus on her own and discovering that La Magra is, in fact, the first vampire.
/So the reason why SHE seeks Drake is that she wants to make good on the false promise Deacon Frost made to vampire-kind 6 years ago, and provide a savior to her people in the form of a god that can properly rid them of all of their weaknesses without turning them into blood-frenzied monsters./
The only thing is, despite Drake being perfect, thanks to Deacon’s ciphering of his power back in 1998, he no longer is at his prime in order to succeed where Damaskinos failed in creating a breed of vampires that weeded out the weaknesses regularly associated with them; including surviving daylight.
/In order for Drake to properly become La Magra once more, he must drink the blood of the Daywalker that allowed Frost to steal his power in the first place. He must drink the blood of Blade./
Not only does this up the stakes in the overall necessity of the Nightstalkers hunting Drake -- which never really felt that severe over the course of the movie in the first place -- but it also makes Drake’s pursuit of Blade less busywork and more personal, instead of making it feel like he just found a worthy adversary.
It also adds more weight to Danica’s efforts in framing and capturing Blade in act one of Trinity.
/Yes, doing it because he’s Blade and he’s been a nuisance to all of vampire-kind is motive enough, I know. But Drake drinking the blood of Blade in order to have the power to turn all vampires into Daywalkers is definitely a worthy reasoning for the head of a vampire house to acquire the hunter that’s been a thorn in their sides for YEARS./
Now that doesn’t mean we still can’t have the film’s ACTUAL thread that is Abby Whistler be in this reconstruction as well. It just can’t be fucking lazy.
The way I’d go about this is that I’d have Abraham and Abby actually meet and interact for a while on screen. That means he doesn’t die during the FBI raid in the first act. He dies LATER, and I’ll show you where in a minute.
/But for now, Whistler is arrested and detained just like Blade is, and I’d have it so that Hannibal King broke him out first before reaching Blade./
Then when everyone congregates for the hallway fight, Whistler can notice a bow drawn Abby, go “Abby?” and right before taking out a vamp she’d reply with a “Hey dad.”
That way when the reveal of Abby not being part of the initial family Whistler told Karen about in Blade 98 happens, the angle of Whistler not wanting this life for her can actually be properly fleshed out. Because now that Whistler is alive for it to happen, both sides of that narrative can be explored.
Hell, let’s not stop there; let’s dive even deeper. Let’s explore how the two butted heads during the time Abraham begrudgingly trained her and how the fact that he never gave her the same treatment as Blade caused a split in their relationship before their dispute is worked out.
That way those who never read the tie-in comic can still see the state of their relationship and what needs to be addressed about it without feeling that they missed a huge chunk of exposition because of how quickly the movie introduced her upon the death of her father.
And I say “worked out,” because eventually they WILL start to bond again as both he and Blade work with the Nightstalkers in their search for Drake to finish the Daystar bioweapon. And only when the bond has been restored between father and daughter, will it be time for Whistler to die.
/And where I’d kill him off is when they meet Drake for the first time in Dr. Vance’s office./
Blade, Whistler, Abby and Hannibal all go to his office, find the shape-shifted Drake there after Hannibal discovers Vance’s body, and go on the attack. But after uttering the word Daywalker, Drake pounces toward Blade in an attempt to bite him right then and there.
At this point, Blade doesn’t know that Drake needs his blood to once again become La Magra; they find that plotpoint out in Vance’s office afterwards in the form of notes and computer files.
But acting off of a sense of reflex and protection inspired by a BETTER WRITTEN version of his speech to Blade in the first act of the movie, Whistler gets in between Blade and Drake and gets bitten instead. The combination of Blade and Abby’s reactions drives Drake to make the bite more violent, then to the point where Whistler doesn’t turn from the bite, but straight up DIES.
/Blade has a few flashbacks to finding Whistler broken and bloody when Frost left him for dead in Blade 98, and then the two have their chase across rooftops and apartment buildings./
Hey, it’s just like Randy said in Scream 3. It’s the finale; anyone -- including the main character -- can die. I’m just trying to make this one mean something.
Having Drake kill off Whistler mid-movie does so much more for both Abbie and Blade than just killing him off 30 minutes into the film.
/First of all, it makes it so that Drake transforming INTO Whistler when he infiltrates the Nightstalker base makes a hell of a lot more sense, since there’s no other explanation for how his shapeshifting works outside of having to see what the person he’s turning into looks like before he can copy them./ (Dude, you’re dead)
Secondly, not only does the time he spent with Abbie give her character more development and personality, but the sudden robbing of Abraham just when things felt like they were in reach of reconciliation makes the resolve to kill Drake that the movie TRIED to make us feel for her near its end actually feel genuine.
Also, the trust between her and Blade when the two end up working together in unearthing the blood farms and rescuing both Hannibal and Zoe in the final act feels a lot more believable than what Goyer allowed his final edit to be.
/Bonding this way with Blade would also act as the element that’s necessary for her to break free of the jealousy she feels for Blade due to Abraham never treating her the same as him during her training and their previous time together, now that we’ve properly implemented that angle from the comic into the actual story/
/And to make things better, considering it happened after their first encounter with Drake, this stylized shot of Abbie sulking in the shower would make SO MUCH MORE SENSE IF SHE WAS GRIEVING THE LOSS OF WHISTLER, OH MY GOD!/
CONCLUSION
In a way, these slight changes to Blade Trinity, do, in fact, help properly tie the entire trilogy up in a neat little bow. It also allows Hannibal’s opening statement in Trinity about how it BEGAN with Blade and ENDED with Blade to hold true.
And while it wouldn’t necessarily fix EVERY problem with the movie that’s just FATED to have problems with it considering who was in charge, it would at least be watchable in a way that allowed the titular character to TRULY have under its belt a proper movie trilogy.
Right now you can stream the entire Blade trilogy on HBO Max. But if you want to own the movies and help financially support the channel, I’ll have affiliate links in the description down below.
So with that being said Readers, your homework assignment for the day:
Write in the comment section below what YOU think of the Blade trilogy if you’ve seen it.
Also, if you can think of any other movie trilogies -- superhero or otherwise -- feel free to list them in the comment section as well.
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But until then, this is Readus 101. Class dismissed.
