2004's Blade: Trinity was an infamously bad threequel, but of all its various sins, the worst was Drake, an absolutely dreadful take on Dracula. Years before the X-Men and Spider-Man franchises began what has become an unstoppable onslaught of superhero blockbusters, 1998's first Blade movie offered fans an R-rated mix of horror elements and comic book action, which was met with applause from the masses. A few years later, Blade II, directed by Guillermo del Toro, met with even higher levels of acclaim.
Then, Blade: Trinity brought the whole enterprise down, effectively killing the big screen portion of the overall Blade franchise. Only now, over 15 years after Blade: Trinity's release, does Marvel Studios have an MCU version of Blade in the works, with Mahershala Ali set to play the lead. There are multiple reasons why the film turned out so bad, including well-publicized clashes between star Wesley Snipes and writer/director David S. Goyer. In his defense though, Snipes hated the script, and he wasn't wrong to do so.
While Blade: Trinity sports multiple contenders for the title of worst mistake, the most egregious transgression is what the movie does to Dracula, the most famous vampire in pop culture history. Dracula is a legendary figure, and has been portrayed in many worthwhile ways by many talented actors. Then, there's Drake.
As depicted in Blade: Trinity, Dracula, called Drake for some reason, is the progenitor of all vampires, and can walk in the daylight like Blade. He's woken up from thousands of years of hibernation by modern vampires in the hopes that he can take out Blade and reestablish vampire dominance. That's all fine enough in theory, but the actual portrayal of the character is just plain terrible.
Former Prison Break star Dominic Purcell plays Dracula, who's now a muscled-up, snarling bruiser who looks like he just got done asking Frankenstein if he even lifts, bro. Classically, Dracula is powerful but also highly intelligent, and is just as happy to manipulate and entrance prey as get physical. He's usually handsome, fashionable, and coldly calculating. By contrast, Drake seems like he'd hit the gym alongside co-star Triple H, and ridicule other vampires for not being powerful enough. Despite all that focus on strength, he still arguably gets defeated way too easily.
Additionally, beyond the changes to Dracula's basic characterization, Blade: Trinity has Drake transform into a monster, which would be fine, as most Dracula's have a monstrous form. The problem is that Drake turns into a towering, but far from scary red-skinned demon that looks kind of like the product of an unholy union between Satan and Red Skull, with a dash of the aliens from Species mixed in. While the filmmakers get points for making this monster a practical effect, it doesn't change the fact that it looks really, really lame. A movie centering on Blade vs. Dracula could be great, but Blade: Trinity showcased how not to do it.
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