Blade: Trinity (2004)

Blade: Trinity offers an awesome new array of vampire-fighting weapons. As the leader of the Nightstalkers, Abigail has a supply of unusual weapons, which complement her martial arts prowess; they include a series of knives which flip out from the wrist and the tip of her boot and revolvers that include an unexpected seventh bullet. One of her most prominent weapons is a special compound bow with silver tipped arrows. These arrows provide a particularly nasty surprise for the vampires, as they include a small capsule of the dreaded UV light, which explodes within seconds after impact. Custom designed and manufactured by Archery Research in Tucson, Arizona, the compound bows for Blade Trinity were unique in that they were only 25 lbs. The company had never previously manufactured a compound bow under 60 lbs.

“Abigail has some very cool weapons that are really unique,” Jessica Biel explains. “The compound bow is so exceptionally strong and is so juiced up that it can penetrate almost anything, including a bullet proof vest, which is really cool. And the arrows travel at super speed.”

“She also has a UV laser arc which can literally cut people in half. She just goes, ‘shoo-shoo’ and they’re gone,” Biel adds gleefully.

Archery coach Chuck Land, who worked extensively with Jessica Biel prior to and during the filming process, was incredibly impressed with her acumen in mastering this new discipline. “I can’t say enough about Jessica Biel and her work ethic. When I teach somebody how to shoot, the first thing we discuss is technique, but more important than anything else is turning them into somebody who is very attentive to what is going on during the shot-making process. There are 12 elements in the shot making process and we trained one element at a time until we had gone through them all.”

Land joins the rest of the film’s stunt coordinators and fight trainers in their unstinting admiration of Biel’s abilities. “She is just an unbelievable athlete! I honestly wish I had twelve more like her because I would be the most famous archery coach in the world. Every session was photographed and the next day she would look at the photographs and she would analyze them herself to see her progress and elements that needed more work.”

It’s also a weapons game for the Nightstalkers’ Hannibal King, but in his case the emphasis is on super human strength and an astonishing variety of firearms. “King has some reflex memory from being a vampire, so he's a little bit more agile and a little bit stronger than your average person,” Ryan Reynolds explains.

He goes on to describe some of the weaponry, both real and created for the film, which he gets to use. “King carries about a hundred guns,” Reynolds quips. “I just feel like when they put me in the wardrobe, there's just a gun everywhere. I get out of the shower in the morning and guns are falling out of body cavities.”

“He has a couple of electronic pistols on his legs and a big ‘Beefeater’ as his sidearm. He's also got this shotgun, which is called a Bone Jack. It's a big modified version of the army's individual combat weapon, a gun that can shoot three different types of ammunition like missiles, ‘Sundogs’ that are bullets with UV detonators inside, and stakes.”

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