DRACULA: UNTOLD
RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
RATED: PG-13
RUNNING TIME: 92 MINUTES
SCORE: ****/*****
PREMISE: (Via IMDB) At the turn of the century, the young lord Vlad and his family live a peaceful life ruling over their small kingdom, but when a Turk warlord demands from Vlad a thousand boys and his son to create an army Vlad seeks a terrible power that will allow him to protect his kingdom and family from the Turks at a terrible cost.
THE REVIEW:
So, I'm going to start out the reviews of movies that I owed reviews for with one that I was quite iffy about. But I must say, I was very impressed by it. As you can see this is everyone's favorite vampire, Dracula.
The new movie, which brings us the "untold origins" of Dracula, tells the story of true historic figure: Vlad The Impaler. When a Sultan from another land demands his young son for his army, Vlad fights back, and in a desperate attempt to save his family, decides to fight back. But in order to do so, he ultimately makes a deal with a demon, a deal which begins his decent into darkness, and begins his journey to becoming the most feared vampire of all time.
Let me start by saying Luke Evans was a fantastic casting choice for Vlad. I was very impressed, both by his screen-presence, and his acting. He plays a character that is sure to seduce women, as well as terrify them, and others. All qualities you need if you're going to play Dracula, and he seems to do it without any problems at all. I did like the fact his Dracula also felt more human, and less cardboard cut-out movie monster. It's a fact that works really well for the movie, and really well for this new take on Dracula.
And this is where the movie really shines: with its acting. All its stars churn out excellent performances, without a real "weak-link" amongst them. With Sarah Gordon and Charles Dance both giving stellar performances as Vlad/Dracula's wife Merina, and The Master Vampire respectively. Another one that truly stood out to me was the atmosphere, which is just so fantastic and spooky. It was very unsettling the whole way through, as a good horror film should be.
But unfortunately, for all the fun to be had, the movie does have its faults. While his origins are interesting, and his decent into darkness and madness are intriguing, the movie seems to rush them a bit. I feel as though more time could have been given to see Dracula's full transformation into the monster we know and fear. They did such a good job concocting an interesting origin for him, could they not have spent a little more time on it? Such as seeing more of Dracula honing to his new powers, or more on his relationship with his wife? Surely more could have been added to the running time to incorporate more.
On top of this, the only other complaint is that it really needed to give better use to its secondary characters. Many of Dracula's underlings seem to blend together after a while, and his son at times seems to be just there (which is too bad, as he's a great young actor). And I felt this could have really given the movie the drive it needed to be a modern day monster classic.
All this being said however, Dracula: Untold is well worth the admission price. And if you ask me, is getting far too much unnecessary hate. If this is the start of an actual Universal Monsters Cinematic Universe, I truly look forward to seeing where it heads.
IN CONCLUSION:
Dracula: Untold may not be the best Dracula movie ever made, but it is a worthy addition to the mythology. With a great cast, clever story, and creepy atmosphere, it's a fun, wild ride at the movies that, despite its flaws, is a great start to a universe I hope to see come together.
4 OUT OF 5 STARS
Very Reccomended
No comments:
Post a Comment