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And now the 15th century “Dark Knight” gets his very own reboot. Unfortunately, Dracula Untold should have remained exactly that. This fangless reimagining of Vlad the Impaler’s origins is a certifiable bore, offering only fun sized Snickers for those Halloweenies silly enough to pay money to see it. Dracula as a superhero? Sure, I’ll bite.
Prince Vlad (Luke Evans) needs help in crushing the armies rising against him. It seems the poor guy can trust no one to ensure his dominance over the public, not even his own charisma to help keep up with the mighty Turkish tide after he defies them. His lovely wife, Mirena (Sarah Gadon), can only look helplessly into the blurry CGI mountains as thousands of armies march against her expertly coifed husband and sigh.
Enter a much-needed demon (Charles Dance) to charm the witless Vlad with delusions of grandeur and tempt him with sucking on his own wife’s protruding veins. Shake hands with devil and shuffle on down the road. Maybe you get your wimpy son (Art Parkinson) back from the evil sultan (Dominic Cooper). No big deal. This is one dance Vlad won’t soon shake as it transforms into a bloodthirsty vampire with the ability to transform into a million bats and stick folks on sticks.
Director Gary Shore swings the sword of action and captures battle scenes in shiny reflections of steel and blood. This is as deep and as fun as Dracula Untold gets. The poor actors in front of the camera; however, have little to do. Evans portrays Vlad as the misunderstood tragic hero. Dance has a bit of fun chewing the scenery with really silly lines about feeding folks their own intestines and slurping the screen with his engorged tongue. And Gadon gets to wear some revealing 15th century costumes.
The screenplay by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless is more concerned with battle after battle as the Turkish Empire tries to invade Transylvania after Vlad refuses to comply with their tributes and demands. The screenplay treats the whole vampire issue as if it were merely an after dinner mint. Vlad must resist the temptation to try blood himself or be doomed for all eternity. There’s your "twist" if you need one.
Shore wants his feature debut to be a vampire flick worth remembering but the constant barrage of battles, the “lifting” from Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula, and the humorless acting just sinks the whole production into the ho-hum abyss of cinematic stinkers that should have been released in January. Ultimately, the film amounts to brooding acting stitched together with witless scenes of nonstop action designed to delight only the soulless. The movie – without any awareness of humor – is as shallow as cinematic entertainment gets and the stereotypical bombastic score by Ramin Djawadi doesn’t help at all in establishing an identity.
Dracula Untold has nothing to say.
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[tab title="Film Details"]
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of warfare, vampire attacks, disturbing images, and some sensuality.
Runtime: 92 mins
Director: Gary Shore
Writer: Matt Sazama, Burk Sharpless
Cast: Luke Evans, Dominic Cooper, Sarah Gadon
Genre: Action | Dram | Fantasy
Tagline: The Legend is Born
Memorable Movie Quote: "Sometimes the world doesn't need another hero."
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Official Site: http://www.draculauntold.com/
Release Date: October 10, 2014
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: No Details available,
Synopsis: Almost an entire century after the world’s first cinematic introduction to Dracula placed audiences under his haunting spell, the studio that pioneered the genre reawakens one of legend’s most captivating figures in an action-adventure that heralds a pulse-pounding rebirth of the age of monsters. Luke Evans (Fast & Furious 6, The Hobbit series) transforms from the cursed man history knows as Vlad the Impaler to an all-powerful creature of the night in Universal Pictures’ Dracula Untold, the origin story of the alluring immortal we have come to fear as the sun sets: Dracula. Directed by Gary Shore, Dracula Untold is produced by Michael De Luca.
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[tab title="Blu-ray Review"]
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