Remember that opening scene from Francis Ford Coppola's
Bram Stoker's Dracula in which we see Vlad "The Impaler" curse God and damn himself to walk the Earth as a vampire? Well, add a few things here and there, extend it to 90 minutes and you have
Dracula Untold.
Not that that's necessarily a bad thing mind -- especially if you're a fan of the mythology.
In what is apparently now being
touted as the first movie in Universal's planned series of rebooted "Monsters" flicks, we find reformed murdering bastard Vlad Tepes (Luke Evans) attempting to live the good life as Prince of Wallachia with his adoring wife (Sarah Gadon) and son (Art Parkinson). When the Sultan Mehmed II (Dominic Cooper) arrives on his doorstep demanding 1,000 young boys (including Vlad's) to train as soldiers, Tepes turns to an ancient horror lurking in the mountains (Charles Dance) to harness the power to stop his enemies. The creature grants him vampiric powers, but if he can resist the bloodlust that comes with them for 3 days, he will become a human again.
There is much to like here, particularly in the early goings. Luke Evans has screen presence to burn and owns the role right off the bat, and as his wife Marina, Sarah Gadon provides a strong emotional core. Charles Dance is excellent as the vampire (supposedly meant to be former Roman Emperor Caligula) that turns Vlad, but he really needs a few more scenes. The supporting characters are completely forgettable though, and the usually reliable Dominic Cooper barely registers as the main baddie. That's mostly forgiveable , because the focus was always going to be on Vlad and his transformation into Dracula and in that respect, at least, it works.
Where it falls a bit flat though, are the action scenes. They're staged well enough, and first time director Gary Shore certainly knows how to make everything look very pretty -- but should a Dracula movie be pretty? There's no doubt that the PG-13/12 rating hurts this one. There's swordplay, bat-swarms, close-quarters combat and, like I said, it all looks great -- it just doesn't have any real bite, and things begin to get repetitive towards the end. Maybe it's just my old-school horror fan frame of mind but I wanted to see....well, some old-school horror. In this, Dracula is treated more as a (super)hero, and even when he eventually succumbs to the dark side it's made out to be more of a sacrifice than him really embracing the monster within. During the Q&A session after the screening, Shore sounded very passionate about the material and is interested in making a much darker sequel, so hopefully if and when that happens the beast will be set free.
A solid debut from a first timer, with some fine performances on display. The script isn't the greatest (some of the dialogue is pretty cringe-worthy), and the rating de-fangs the material, but well worth checking out if you're in the market for a Drac-origin tale. Plus, Charles Dance threatening to open someone from groin to throat and feed them their own intestines is worth the price of admission alone.