Dracula Untold

Hot on the heels of I, Frankenstein, the movie from earlier this year that re-imagined the Monster as a brooding superhero who teamed up with gargoyles to save a metropolis from demons, comes Dracula Untold.  This movie re-imagines the legendary bloodsucker as a brooding prince who gives in to darkness in order to save his family.  I have no doubt that this premise could work, but the result up on the screen is so cheesy that the film reels could be melted down to make Velveeta.

Like a lot of recent movies I've had to sit through, Dracula Untold is shot in as little light as possible.  I know I should expect this from a vampire story, but I have to ask - When did Hollywood forget how to shoot attractively dark films?  The darkness here is murky, gray and cloudy.  Smoke and fog covers the actors as they plod about gray, barren landscapes.  It looks sickly instead of foreboding.  The movie also has the distinct feeling of having made one too many trips to the editing room.  The narrative and pacing are rushed, characters act with little to no motivation whatsoever, and absolutely nothing registers.  This is supposed to be a tragic story of a man who loses his humanity, but due to how slapped together everything feels, we watch the events unfold with total indifference.

Through a rushed opening narrative, we learn of a Transylvanian Prince named Vlad (Luke Evans), who was sent by his father to fight in a Turkish army as a young boy, and became so fierce and feared in battle that he came to be known as Vlad the Impaler.  Due to the PG-13 rating, we get to see little of what earned him this name, and what we do get to see is covered up with rapid fire editing and CG.  After the war, Vlad returned to his homeland, where he rules peacefully with his wife, Mirena (Sarah Gadon), and young son, Ingeras (Art Parkinson).  But when the Turkish Sultan again lets it be known that he wants the children of Vlad's kingdom to serve in his army, including Vlad's son, the noble Prince decides to take matters into his own hands so that none of his people will have to suffer.

Vlad climbs a nearby mountain where he knows that an ancient vampire (Charles Dance) lives within a cave up on top.  He had a brief run-in with the creature in an early scene, and this is enough to convince him that becoming a vampire himself would be the best option to fight the invading Turkish forces.  That's the only motivation Vlad needs to give up his humanity.  You'd think there would at least be some second guessing or hesitation, but no.  Vlad becomes a creature of the night with super strength and the ability to transform himself into a swarm of CG bats. (A special effect shot that the movie likes to employ over and over.) He does his best to hide this from his people.  His wife is the first to discover his secret, and she takes the knowledge of what her husband has become with what can only be called serious aplomb. 

Dracula Untold makes a failed bid at creating tension by giving Vlad three days to use his newfound vampiric powers.  If he can go those three days without giving into his lust for blood, then he will become mortal once again.  The entire film hinges on this, as if we somehow don't know what's going to happen.  This is a problem that often plagues prequels or origin stories.  We already hold advanced knowledge that the characters do not, so we can't really be surprised by the outcome.  Is there anyone in the audience that's foolish enough to think that a Dracula movie is going to end with Vlad regaining his humanity, and living happily ever after with his wife and child?  The filmmakers apparently hope so.

The performances here are very workmanlike, with the actors filling the roles just enough that we know that they're trying, but not enough to actually create any real interest.  Nobody gets to create any real or interesting characters, and the movie keeps everyone as far from the audience's grasp as possible, so that we're certain not to build any personal connections.  There is a scene early in the film where Vlad makes a personal call on the Turkish Sultan, Mehmed (Dominic Cooper), in the hopes that his son will be spared from battle.  The two talk about how they used to be as close as brothers on the battlefield when they were children, but the screenplay refuses to go any deeper than that.  We never get any sense of a past relationship between the two, and Evans and Cooper never create a sense that there is any sort of bond between them.

Dracula Untold is a committee film, sanitized and whitewashed to appeal to the widest audience possible.  What they failed to realize is that by doing so, you take away the mystery and the thrill behind the story of Dracula.  It holds no desire other than to maybe lure in enough teens for a big opening weekend, only to be forgotten a week later.  That's downright cynical, especially when you think on how scary, exciting and suspenseful this film could have, and should have, been.

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