The first movie in the Blade series is by far the best; the last is certainly the worst. But Blade: Trinity, which is directed by the writer of all three films, David S. Goyer, is not horrible--in fact it has the strongest dialogue in the series. What makes Trinity generally inferior is this: It's really two films instead of one--two films that are not at all complementary.

The first of the two films in Trinity is clearly connected with Blade II (directed by the great Mexican director Guillermo del Toro) and Blade (directed by the ordinary Englishman Stephen Norrington). The mood in these initial films was shadowy and deadly serious--as is the first film in Trinity, which involves a final combat between somber Wesley Snipes and noble Dominic Purcell, the most perfect vampire. The second film in Trinity is not shadowy, but almost sunny--and not serious, but funny. The lead actor in this part of the movie is wisecracking Ryan Reynolds, and his enemy is a bratty (and also batty) Parker Posey--both stealing the whole show.

Trinity also tells two stories. There is a coded story that concerns the awakening of ur-Dracula (the mother of all bloodsuckers) by a pack of desperate vampires for the purpose of destroying the deadliest vampire hunter, Blade. And when decoded, the story concerns the present Iraq war, with Parker Posey playing Dr. Condoleezza Rice (she has fangs in her vagina) and Dominic Purcell playing Iraq--the ur-Dracula is roused from the sleep of history in a temple located in middle of Iraq and brought to the middle of America, where he feasts on the blood of the young. This part of Trinity also has terrorist cells, blood factories that stand in for oil production, and biological weapons---in a word, all of the fears and facts of our post 9/11 world.