Well, Halloween has come and gone but the "scary" reviews are going to keep coming with a look at the recently released "Dracula Untold!"
This was always going
to happen and we all knew it. Eventually Universal was going to want more money
and would resurrect their monsters for more movies, starting with the Prince of
Darkness, Dracula. Now, rather than simply re-telling Bram Stoker's famous
novel yet again, Universal chose to change things up and tell the origin story
of Dracula. Due to this, the character is not called Dracula until the end of
the film.
Throughout, he is called Vlad Tepes, otherwise known throughout real
history as Vlad the Impaler. Implementing a piece of real world history into a
movie about a vampire may seem strange but is actually an interesting decision
that works well for the movie, establishing Vlad's character quickly and
exactly what he is willing to do for his people and his family. The story of
the film revolves around Vlad's, played by Luke Evans, attempts to save his
family and people from a power-hungry Sultan, played by Dominic Cooper, and so
strikes up a deal with a mythological vampire, played eerily by Charles Dance,
to give him the necessary power to defeat his enemies.
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| Vlad (Luke Evans) walks into battle looking like he means business. |
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| Charles Dance portrays this creepy character who doesn't look like he's been out and about in a few hundred years. |
Luke Evans portrays this troubled character perfectly, and
brings the fury and anger to the role that would be expected and making his
fight scenes look realistic. However, some of the stand-out scenes of the movie
come from those featuring Charles Dance's unnamed vampire character who
amplifies the dark tone of the movie and creates an eerie and unnerving
atmosphere when on screen. The effects in this movie are also well done. Bats
look like bats rather than a lifeless black blob which has been lazily added
into the movie because there are vampires in it and it is impressive to see
people turn into a swarm of bats in the middle of fight scenes and then turn
back, with the attention to detail also being brilliant to watch as parts of
their bodies are missing until the other bats arrive. The is but one of the
things that those who grew up with the novel and tales of vampires will love as
this movie sticks faithfully to the set mythology of vampires.
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| Dominic Cooper plays the villainous Sultan. Strange, though. You would think he'd look a bit more scared if he knew a VAMPIRE was coming to kill him! |
However, there
is an unfortunate lack of humour amongst this darkness and you will be lucky if
you get a laugh throughout the entire movie. This film's ending also tries to
set up a sequel so much that it may downright annoy fans as there is a scene
moments beforehand that would have made a perfect ending and told a complete
story, while also subtly setting up a sequel if the film does well. All in all
however, "Dracula Untold" is a fresh story with a dark tone and fine
action sequences amongst what has been a summer of heroes, with Star-Lord,
Godzilla, Caesar and Wolverine all being present. Sometimes the world does not
need another hero. Sometimes what the world needs, for a great movie, is a
monster.
Rating : 7/10
Original Release Date : October 1st, 2014
Starring : Luke Evans, Charles Dance, Dominic Cooper, Sarah Gordon
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