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| Title: | Dracula Untold |
| Director: | Gary Shore |
| Starring: | Luke Evans, Charles Dance, Dominic Cooper |
| Genre: | Fantasy/Action |
| Runtime: | 1 Hour 32 mins |
| Music: | Ramin Djawadi |
| Studio: | Universal Pictures |
| Certificate: | US: PG-13 UK: 15 |
| Release Date: | USA: August 10 2014 UK: October 3 2014 |
| See If You Like: | Dracula, I, Frankenstein, |
Vampiric legends have existed for hundreds of years, and countless tales have been told about Dracula; the first vampire; the king of vampires; the Lord of the night; but none quite like this, as Universal have resurrected one of their classic monsters, and turned the world’s most iconic, bloodsucking, villain into a relatable hero with the release of Dracula Untold.
Foregoing the expectation to see the Count (here he’s simply known as Prince Vlad – The Impaler) as a dark virgin-biting, creature of the night, headliner Luke Evans (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug) actually begins the film as a happy family man, and ruler of the peaceful nation of Transylvania; that is until the Turkish Sultan (Dominic Cooper, Need For Speed), demands a tribute of 1000 boys (including the Prince’s own son; Art Parkinson, Game of Thrones) in order to bolster the ranks of his army.
Needless to say Vlad refuses, and knowing his refusal will mean war and death, at the hands of the Turks, he heads into the mountains to seek a mythical demon (Charles Dance, Game of Thrones), and enters into a supernatural contract which will turn him into a monster, but could just turn the tide of the war and save his wife and son.
Evans is well placed as Vlad/Dracula, though plays a character a little too similar to his turn as Bard in The Hobbit movies; he’s likeable, but gruff and distant at the same time, can handle the action no problem, and definitely has the fantasy accent covered; but really we don’t want Dracula to be likeable.
Dracula is, has been, and always should be evil, yet this Untold story simply makes him out to be a misunderstood anti-hero and, like I, Frankenstein, doesn’t quite pull it off, or ever deliver on what you want from a monster movie (namely, a monster); as not only does he constantly fail to live up to his legacy as The Impaler, but even when he’s given the perfect excuse to go nuts on the Turkish army he wastes his opportunity, and makes it through the entire movie without spilling any blood (Dracula takes on entire armies, and wins, yet doesn’t spill a drop); a Dracula film should not be bloodless.
But forget bloodless, Dracula Untold is lifeless; Vlad is the hero of the picture, and his cause is understandable, but he’s also a pretty bland character (with little flair-up or emotional range; something which finds the script at fault, and not Luke Evans), it never once feels like he, or his kingdom, are under threat (being able to singlehandedly rip-apart an entire marauding army in your first encounter means you’re already set-up as an unstoppable killing machine, and any subsequent engagement is handled with understandable ease), and the entire affair is simply handled like a teen-romance-meets-superhero origin movie.
All supporting characters are also laughably two-dimensional copies of ones we’ve seen countless times before; the concerned wife (Sarah Gadon, The Amazing Spider-Man), the wimpy and whiny first-born-son (Parkinson, who basically has one line repeated whenever he’s on screen; “Nooooooo”), the knowledgable yet scared priest (Paul Kaye, Game of Thrones), and the evil, simply because he can be, king with the huge army (Cooper; who adds yet another droll performance to his resume). The only exception being the wonderfully cast Charles Dance.
Charles Dance was undoubtedly the best thing about the film; he not only portrayed the most interesting character (the original demon, who gave Dracula his powers so he could be unleashed upon the world when Dracula eventually became a vampire permanently), but used his instantly recognisable voice and undeniable screen presence to steal every single scene he was in (and the entire film). Yet despite being the best thing about Dracula Untold, Charles Dance was utterly wasted; he was cunning, manipulative, supremely strong, and ready to wreak havoc across the entire globe in order to get revenge for past slights, his make-up was excellent, his entire persona perfect, but while Untold seemed to be setting up an epic clash, and an armageddon style unleashing of the Charles-Dance-Beast; when he finally had the ability to unleash his wroth, he did absolutely nothing (save popping up and delivering a single line which saved an otherwise pitiful finale).
Special effects around Dance’s characters, bats, backdrops, and everything else were simply stunning, and some of the world-building worked a treat (even if it felt a little generic; and copies both the 300 style and The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers format by building to a poor replica Helms Deep battle), but while the action was semi-frequent it was also tepid; thanks largely to poor direction which means it’s simply too fast to properly see what’s happening (though there are small flairs of directorial gold hidden within the chaos), and knowing ahead of time that superhero, and saviour of the known world, Dracula will be fine no matter what they throw at him.
So while the effects were good, and the casting of the two headliners was spot-on (the rest fell a little by the wayside), direction was sloppy (it’d look even worse in 3D), the action was dull, the entire story bland thanks to a poor script, and there were so many wasted opportunities hidden within Dracula Untold (not only unleashing Charles Dance, but expanding upon Dracula’s thirst for blood; which should’ve been a huge point, and could’ve been handled excellently; via a cold-turkey style heroin-craving analogy) it became hugely frustrating.
By no means bad, Dracula Untold checks all the boxes for a successful fantasy film; it just feels a little too paint-by-numbers; and tarnishes the legends we know about Dracula, failing to live up to its immense potential by keeping Vlad a hero until the bitter end, foregoing to potential for a transformation from good to evil, and frustratingly wasting a perfectly cast Charles Dance. Acceptable, but also skippable, Universal’s monster-revival isn’t going well so far; as, put simply, Dracula Untold is Lifeless.
Matt Wheeldon – @TheMattWheeldon.
