Apparently Hollywood’s new mission is to turn all our scariest monsters int GQ cover models.
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“Dracula Untold” is a retelling of the Dracula backstory where we are asked to understand the heart of blood sucking vampire in a new way. It covers the inspiration and motivation of the man who would become the horror legend we know. So is this new look at the transformation of Vlad the Impaler a story worth telling? Well maybe, but probably not like this.
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Honestly, this story has been told so many times that to name your movie Dracula Untold is a bit like saying you invented Macaroni and Cheese. You better have the facts to back it up. I guess the untold part is the fact that we’ve never really seen Dracula the medieval battle strategist and sword fighter. And I suppose if there is something I actually enjoyed about that movie it was in those battles. The special effects were adequate and the fight choreography held my attention. This movie is basically Lord of the Rings, except replace Sauron with a blood sucking vampire, oh and then also root for Sauron, cause he’s a good looking hero now, and has just been misunderstood.
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Seriously, when can we have our villians and monsters back again? Aren’t we basically one step away from a Harry Potter sequel where Voldemort is played Chris Evans and was actually valiantly attempting to save the Potters when the whole scar thing happened? I mean I’m all for nuance and such, but something in me wishes Hollywood would quit neutering it’s big baddies. I’m guessing they went with Dracula Untold as the title because they just couldn’t pull the trigger on “Dracula, the sensitive father”. Even beyond that, the movie just doesn’t hold together. There is something a bit too Shakespearean about the acting, with all of the grandeur and over pronunciation, but with none of the cleverness and wit. I also thought the mythology of the movie seemed jumbled and unclear, leaving too many of the pieces for the audience to put together, and keeping us from understanding it completely. If you don’t have the time to fully explain or develop the inclusion of a character, leave them out. Don’t leave us wondering who they are or why they are in there for the three or four lines you gave them. But the worst thing has to be the ending, which completely shifts the movie in a way that is not only jarring but is a blatant grab for a franchise that I hope we never have to endure.
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At the end of the day, “Dracula Untold” is a poorly executed take on the famous blood sucking friend of the bats. Sure the battles look pretty, but a mess of a plot and a left field ending had me wishing the story had remained untold with a C-