DRACULA UNTOLD:
WHILE THE FILM HAS
SOME DAZZLING SPECIAL EFFECTS, AN INTERESTING PREMISE, AND A PASSABLE
PERFORMANCE BY LUKE EVANS, IT FALLS FLAT WITH ITS HAMMY AND LAUGHABLE DIALOGUE AND
LEAVES A WEAK BITE!
By Nico Beland
Movie Review: ** out of 4
UNIVERSAL
PICTURES
Luke
Evans brings a new take on the classic vampire in Dracula Untold
There has been many different takes
on the classic vampire, Dracula through film, the ones that we immediately
think of is the 1931 Universal horror classic, Dracula or the 1992 Frances Ford Coppola exploitation horror movie,
Bram Stoker’s Dracula starring Gary
Oldman as the titular character. Now newcomer, Gary Shore IV brings a new take
on Dracula with Dracula Untold,
starring Luke Evans (Fast & Furious 6,
Immortals) as the bloodthirsty
monster himself.
After experiencing a dreadful new
Frankenstein movie earlier on this year, my expectations were pretty low on
this new Dracula movie, you can’t top the original and no one ever will, but
with that said it definitely looked better than I, Frankenstein by its trailer, so I went to see it on IMAX on opening day. And much to my
surprise, it was better than I,
Frankenstein…kind of.
The film definitely isn’t like the
Dracula movies made in the past, it’s a new take on the vampire and explains
his origins and what caused him to become a bloodthirsty beast of the night,
that’s pretty interesting. Also the special effects are pretty spectacular
especially when Dracula transforms into a swarm of bats, but unfortunately the
dialogue is pretty hammy and laughable, but not nearly as laughable as the I,
Frankenstein dialogue.
Set in the 1400’s in Transylvania,
the film follows a prince named Vlad III Tepes (Luke Evans) who is forced to
have his son recruited for his enemy, Mehmed II (Dominic Cooper-Captain America)’s war army. That is
until Vlad fights Mehmed’s men off and eventually causes a war between the
Transylvanian and Turkish armies.
Vlad then enters a dark cave where
he encounters the Roman emperor turned demon, Caligula (Charles Dance-Alien 3) and Vlad begs him for the power
to defeat the army and save his family and kingdom. So Caligula agrees and
gives Vlad the powers of a vampire and becomes the bloodthirsty creature known
as Dracula.
Overall, Dracula Untold is entertaining for the most part, although I’m not
sure if it’s for the right reasons. The special effects are pretty impressive
and the film as a whole kept me entertained all the way through.
However the writing and dialogue is
pretty laughable, sure I loved the premise but the writing is a different
story. Some of the characters don’t sound natural when they are saying their
lines; at least no one in the film is bland and forgettable…well, except for
Dracula’s son.
I’m sure he’s a nice kid and acted
well in other movies, but I find him to be so boring and he doesn’t really do
much in the movie, he just cowers in fear and weeps. Don’t get me wrong, I’d be
scared if I was stuck in the middle of a vampire war but I wouldn’t scream or
cry as much as this brat.
Why couldn’t he help Dracula fight
the bad guy in his time of need, but whatever I’m ranting about what it could
have been, let me go back to what I got.
It’s not as bad as I, Frankenstein and it’s an exciting
vampire action movie that knocks Twilight
out, this is a “vampire” movie, but I’ve seen better vampire movies.
If you want to see an impressive IMAX action epic and a different take on
a vampire movie, there’s a strong chance you may enjoy Dracula Untold, however if you want to watch a more suspenseful and
traditional Dracula movie, you’re not going to find it here, you should just
stick with the classic Universal
movie or Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
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