Blade: Trinity, the third instalment in the bloodthirsty Marvel Comic series, falls victim to a nasty bout of trequelitis, which also blighted The Godfather Part III, Return Of The Jedi and Jurassic Park III.

The franchise's adrenaline-pumping fusion of gravity-defying martial arts, expert swordsmanship, conflicted heroes and wry one-liners now looks long in the tooth - or should that be fang?

Having twice been thwarted by Blade (Wesley Snipes), the vampire hordes gather deep in the Syrian Desert to orchestrate their most daring plan yet: to resurrect Dracula, the progenitor of their race.

A small team led by Danica Talos (Parker Posey) successfully reanimates the awesome vampire, now called Drake (Dominic Purcell), who possesses the rare ability, like Blade, to exist unhurt in the daylight.

The bloodsuckers also launch a sustained smear campaign against Blade and his mentor Whistler (Kris Kristofferson), bringing both men to the attention of tenacious FBI agent Cumberland (James Remar).

Under attack from all sides, Blade reluctantly teams up with a renegade group of vampire hunters known as the Nightstalkers, led by Whistler's beautiful daughter Abigail (Jessica Biel) and wise-cracking Hannibal King (Ryan Reynolds).

Blade and his allies launch a sustained assault on the vampire hordes while blind scientist Sommerfield (Natasha Lyonne) races against time to find a final solution to vanquish the fanged foes once and for all.

Screenwriter David S Goyer, who penned the first two chapters in the series, is once again the creative voice behind this third and potentially final evolution of the myth.

He also directs Blade: Trinity. Unfortunately, with only one previous feature to his name, Goyer doesn't yet have the daring or the vision to bring the action set pieces to life.

The balletic bloodletting of Blade II is more of a crude bloodbath here.

Snipes still looks cool in sunglasses and black leathers but the lack of emotion from his character, half-human, half-vampire or not, is becoming a major problem.

Biel affects a scowl that passes loosely for feisty determination while Reynolds gamely assumes the role of comic sidekick, earning himself a good hiding from Danica and her compatriots with his tomfoolery. Computer generated effects are nifty throughout.

Dracula, whose jaws fan out to reveal a hidden, barbed sucker much like the Reapers in Blade II, is a formidable adversary - especially when his DNA is crossed with rottweilers to create slavering pets from hell. The bitch quite literally bites back.

Updated: 09:55 Friday, December 10, 2004