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redfiona99(Warning: this gets long. Like ridiculously long.)
The Statement For The Prosecution:
Comes in two parts.
Blade was the first film from Marvel Studios. It laid the groundwork for the glorious Marvel Cinematic Universe we have now. It never gets mentioned because this film messed the series up so badly. It's a proper franchise killer.
Blade is also the only black superhero to get his own film (I know that Black Panther is in production but it's now 2016, and 18 years later). And yet, in this, which is supposed to be a Blade film, he's not even the primary character. And he's been replaced by yet another identikit (mostly-white) gang of kidults.
Which (justifiably) pissed Wesley Snipes off. Leading to the leading man resorting to the kind of passive-aggressive behaviour more normally associated with some of my university friends. Either which way, all this leads to a bad and disjointed set, which leads to a bad and disjointed film. I know the one doesn't always follow from the other, but on this occasion, it really did.
Having David S. Goyer as your writer is not always going to lead to a terrible film but it should probably be taken as a sign of his limitations when he's amazed that a film he was involved with (The Dark Knight) was as artistically successful as it was. And I don't think it was false modesty.
For the various reasons in the previous lj-cut, the lead actor basically refused to appear on camera unless his character was speaking so there's no chemistry between him and everyone else.
They don't seem to know what to do with Dracula, whether to make him actually evil or a noble demon. And either would work. But Dominic Purcell (who, bless him, I like) is not an actor who can do shades of grey, or rather he can do shade of grey but he can't do four of them in one scene without help from script. No one gets any help from this script.
Then there's the Nightstalkers. And I can see what they're trying to do with them. Note that, I accept the story they're trying to tell. They want to have a world where there is a human resistance to the vampires so you can tell a different story. We'll ignore that that doesn't fit in with the rest of the films. I can be cool with that. Really, I would be.
It's just the idea that Whistler's kept all that from Blade. Or not that he's kept it as such, because Whistler is capable of secrecy when he thinks it's for the greater good, but imagine the use Blade could have made of a network like that, imagine how many more vampires he could have destroyed. I can't imagine Whistler passing that opportunity up.
The film as a whole misuses Whistler, because where his sacrifice in the first film worked, in this we've not had him back long enough to care again.
I don't like how they choreographed Abigail Whistler's fights. In between her putting her earphones in, because taking away one of your senses is such a good idea when fighting against enemies more powerful than yourself, and the fact that you can tell that the stunt co-ordinator is a man, over six foot with the general size and strength of a tree trunk. Because her fighting style is that of someone of those facilities.
As I'm more than passably fond of Triple H, I don't mean the following to sound as mean as it has come out, but it's noticeable that he's not the worst actor in this. Nor is Parker Posey and her wildly over-the-top Danica Talos (and film, you have Callum Keith Rennie, why do you not use him for more than the occasional evil smirk. I know he's a superb evil smirker but still.). No, that title goes to Ryan Reynolds as Hannibal King. At no point does he convince me that he's playing a human being; and the obnoxious jerk he's playing mostly makes me long for glorious vampire victory. This is not a good thing in a film where the vampires are the bad guys. Matters would be helped if the film didn't treat him as a good guy, and Blade as wrong for being growly with him. I am on Blade's side on this one.
The Scene Itself:
Much though I am tempted to go for the scene of Triple H with the vampire Pomeranian for wrestling in-joke related reasons, or indeed, the scene with the vampire Dobermen, no, the scene I wish to highlight is the scene where Dracula tries to scare Zoe. Sadly I can't find a video of it.
Dracula: Do you know who I am?
Zoe: You're the Gnome King.
Dracula: Ah. The Gnome King. How sweet. Tell me, child, do you want to die?
Zoe: I'm not afraid. I'll go to heaven.
Dracula: There is no heaven. No God, no angels. The only thing in your future is nothingness. But what if you could change that? What if you could remain a child forever? Wouldn't you like that? Wouldn't you accept that gift?
Zoe: (pause) My friends are coming to kill you.
Why the Scene is so Good:
Other than Dracula failing in his attempt to intimidate a 6 year old girl, it's how the scene is played.
Zoe has no idea *who* Dracula is, as such, she just knows that he's a bad person. And she's just seen him kill her mother and all/most of her mother's friends. But she doesn't back down. She's scared, but that doesn't stop her standing up to Dracula. Because Zoe has been taught you never back down from evil. And because Zoe, and by reference, her mother Sommerfield, is awesome.
Dracula meanwhile is ... amused. And I think that's part of what saves Zoe. Because Dracula terrifies everyone (except Blade, who by this point is running on cold-burning rage and therefore doesn't count), even the vampires who have resurrected him. And Dracula enjoys that fear, and the respect that goes with it. I still think the lack of respect for his person is why Dracula eats the shop-girl in the vampire shop.
But he also, quite clearly, doesn't like mindless fear or creeping subservience because he barely tolerates the vampires. I think this is what they've been trying to go for with Dracula for the rest of the film (that he is evil but he recognises Blade as a worthy adversary, and doesn't particularly care for the modern world or what vampires have become) but this is one of the two scenes where it actually works. Because he recognises in Zoe someone else who is a worthy opponent, or could grow into one. I think it's because she doesn't take a step back despite being scared. If she hadn't been scared, he would have thought she was stupid, and there wouldn't be that odd sort of respect.
I do think it's quite telling that she's utterly unharmed by Dracula by the end of the film.
The Statement For The Prosecution:
Comes in two parts.
Blade was the first film from Marvel Studios. It laid the groundwork for the glorious Marvel Cinematic Universe we have now. It never gets mentioned because this film messed the series up so badly. It's a proper franchise killer.
Blade is also the only black superhero to get his own film (I know that Black Panther is in production but it's now 2016, and 18 years later). And yet, in this, which is supposed to be a Blade film, he's not even the primary character. And he's been replaced by yet another identikit (mostly-white) gang of kidults.
Which (justifiably) pissed Wesley Snipes off. Leading to the leading man resorting to the kind of passive-aggressive behaviour more normally associated with some of my university friends. Either which way, all this leads to a bad and disjointed set, which leads to a bad and disjointed film. I know the one doesn't always follow from the other, but on this occasion, it really did.
Having David S. Goyer as your writer is not always going to lead to a terrible film but it should probably be taken as a sign of his limitations when he's amazed that a film he was involved with (The Dark Knight) was as artistically successful as it was. And I don't think it was false modesty.
For the various reasons in the previous lj-cut, the lead actor basically refused to appear on camera unless his character was speaking so there's no chemistry between him and everyone else.
They don't seem to know what to do with Dracula, whether to make him actually evil or a noble demon. And either would work. But Dominic Purcell (who, bless him, I like) is not an actor who can do shades of grey, or rather he can do shade of grey but he can't do four of them in one scene without help from script. No one gets any help from this script.
Then there's the Nightstalkers. And I can see what they're trying to do with them. Note that, I accept the story they're trying to tell. They want to have a world where there is a human resistance to the vampires so you can tell a different story. We'll ignore that that doesn't fit in with the rest of the films. I can be cool with that. Really, I would be.
It's just the idea that Whistler's kept all that from Blade. Or not that he's kept it as such, because Whistler is capable of secrecy when he thinks it's for the greater good, but imagine the use Blade could have made of a network like that, imagine how many more vampires he could have destroyed. I can't imagine Whistler passing that opportunity up.
The film as a whole misuses Whistler, because where his sacrifice in the first film worked, in this we've not had him back long enough to care again.
I don't like how they choreographed Abigail Whistler's fights. In between her putting her earphones in, because taking away one of your senses is such a good idea when fighting against enemies more powerful than yourself, and the fact that you can tell that the stunt co-ordinator is a man, over six foot with the general size and strength of a tree trunk. Because her fighting style is that of someone of those facilities.
As I'm more than passably fond of Triple H, I don't mean the following to sound as mean as it has come out, but it's noticeable that he's not the worst actor in this. Nor is Parker Posey and her wildly over-the-top Danica Talos (and film, you have Callum Keith Rennie, why do you not use him for more than the occasional evil smirk. I know he's a superb evil smirker but still.). No, that title goes to Ryan Reynolds as Hannibal King. At no point does he convince me that he's playing a human being; and the obnoxious jerk he's playing mostly makes me long for glorious vampire victory. This is not a good thing in a film where the vampires are the bad guys. Matters would be helped if the film didn't treat him as a good guy, and Blade as wrong for being growly with him. I am on Blade's side on this one.
The Scene Itself:
Much though I am tempted to go for the scene of Triple H with the vampire Pomeranian for wrestling in-joke related reasons, or indeed, the scene with the vampire Dobermen, no, the scene I wish to highlight is the scene where Dracula tries to scare Zoe. Sadly I can't find a video of it.
Dracula: Do you know who I am?
Zoe: You're the Gnome King.
Dracula: Ah. The Gnome King. How sweet. Tell me, child, do you want to die?
Zoe: I'm not afraid. I'll go to heaven.
Dracula: There is no heaven. No God, no angels. The only thing in your future is nothingness. But what if you could change that? What if you could remain a child forever? Wouldn't you like that? Wouldn't you accept that gift?
Zoe: (pause) My friends are coming to kill you.
Why the Scene is so Good:
Other than Dracula failing in his attempt to intimidate a 6 year old girl, it's how the scene is played.
Zoe has no idea *who* Dracula is, as such, she just knows that he's a bad person. And she's just seen him kill her mother and all/most of her mother's friends. But she doesn't back down. She's scared, but that doesn't stop her standing up to Dracula. Because Zoe has been taught you never back down from evil. And because Zoe, and by reference, her mother Sommerfield, is awesome.
Dracula meanwhile is ... amused. And I think that's part of what saves Zoe. Because Dracula terrifies everyone (except Blade, who by this point is running on cold-burning rage and therefore doesn't count), even the vampires who have resurrected him. And Dracula enjoys that fear, and the respect that goes with it. I still think the lack of respect for his person is why Dracula eats the shop-girl in the vampire shop.
But he also, quite clearly, doesn't like mindless fear or creeping subservience because he barely tolerates the vampires. I think this is what they've been trying to go for with Dracula for the rest of the film (that he is evil but he recognises Blade as a worthy adversary, and doesn't particularly care for the modern world or what vampires have become) but this is one of the two scenes where it actually works. Because he recognises in Zoe someone else who is a worthy opponent, or could grow into one. I think it's because she doesn't take a step back despite being scared. If she hadn't been scared, he would have thought she was stupid, and there wouldn't be that odd sort of respect.
I do think it's quite telling that she's utterly unharmed by Dracula by the end of the film.
