‘Dracula Untold’ is not a masterful or deep re-introduction to the franchise; but as basic genre fare, it’s relatively fun in its depiction of the monster in a different light.
A new Dracula movie hitting theaters is always a cause for celebration. I awaited DRACULA: UNTOLD with cautious optimism. The trailers teased and hinted at something truly epic. So did the film live up to my expectations? You might think this is a simple question, eliciting a simple answer. Nuh-uh.
The film looks gorgeous, the acting is fine, and star Luke Evans is a worthy Dracula. And I always enjoy the “blurring of the lines” between the historical Dracula and the vampire created by Bram Stoker. But did I like it? Actually I loved it—what there was of it. My sole complaint is not that Drac is depicted more as a superhero than a monster, or the PG-13 rating. Rather it’s that the film feels incomplete. Like there’s something missing. Which there is. An entire subplot featuring Baba Yaga, the witch of Russian folklore, was excised, as was another revealing the vampire in the cave, the one who turns Vlad, as Roman demagogue Caligula. Those missing scenes are included on the Blu Ray but not the DVD. I still haven’t seen them. Do they complete what would otherwise be an excellent movie?
I’ve really gotta buy a Blu Ray player . . .
I just saw Dracula Untold a few weeks ago and I didn’t like it. I thought it was more about selling special effects/CGI rather than trying to tell a good story. I think I liked what you referred to as “The blurring of the lines” between the historical Dracula and the fictional Dracula when Francis Ford Copolla did it with his interpretation of the original Bram Stoker book….but it should have ended there. And, yeah, I didn’t like Dracula being portrayed as a good guy. I’m tired of all this “good guy vampire” shit. I mean it was cool when they did it on Buffy with Spike and Angel getting their souls back…but I’m getting sick of it. We need to go back to the old days where vampires were evil and the only answer was to ram a wooden stake right through it’s heart.