It's no secret, although probably unknown to you all, that I am a huge fan of anything vampire, werewolf or zombie. Well maybe some exceptions. So it seemed only fitting that my first movie review would be on one of the three. My holy grail. The reason I chose Dracula Untold was because it happened to be on TV and it is one of the most recent interpretations of the nefarious blood sucker that I've felt has glimpsed at the man behind the beast even if it did fall short on a few, okay, many accounts. So, let the games begin... (Yes I stole Charles Dance's line. Get over yourselves.)
The movie starts with a narrator, Vlad's son Ingeras played by Art Parkinson, telling us of the legend of Vlad the Impaler. A young Vlad is enslaved and recruited to be trained by the Turks to be unstoppable, unbeatable and unafraid. The ultimate killing machine he ploughs through the years killing on the Sultan's behalf leaving fields of impaled victims. Up until this point the movie is ... well ... on point. The opening scene is shot in such a style as seen in Spartacus (TV series) and 300. In 3D and slow motion. It makes you feel like a ghost shifting through the open battle field with its incredible attention to detail. The build up of this scene is so cleverly thought out that it leaves no space for doubt. From the gruesome sparring of young boys to the battlefield where soldiers flee and unseen force. Until you seen a body projected into the air by a spear and on the other end ... the Impaler Vlad in all his glory adorned with black and red armour boasting a fiery dragon. He is indeed Son of the Dragon.
And then the first sin is committed. Apparently ol' Vlad, played by Luke Evans, is sickened of his murderous ways and returns to his homeland of Transilvania to pursue a more humble life as prince. From there on you can pretty much imagine how the rest of the movie would play out. He goes home, snags a wife, has a son, lives in peace, offers tributes to the Sultan. Life is splendid. Until the Sultan sends a messenger to notify the prince that he demands one thousand and one young boys.
Vlad lacks a lot of things. A list which I could not even begin to make. His reformation and subsequent noble nature just doesn't fit with the image of Dracula. Evans character shows no real emotion. You want emotion? It starts in the eyes. Andy Whitfield shall forever be my favourite actor. When you saw this guy on TV enacting his role as Spartacus you felt everything with him.
Back to the movie ..,
So it's no surprise that Vlad flee's to the aptly named Broken Tooth mountain to ask for the help of the Master Vampire, played by Charles Dance, where he offers Vlad the opportunity to seek his revenge and save his family and the family of those who follow him. But there's a catch. There always is. With this magic blood that Dance's characters so emphatically serves up in a crushed skull Vlad will have three days. And then upon the rise of the fourth sun his powers will be gone. Unless he completes the transformation by drinking human blood.
Vlad goes on to stargaze, transform into bats and almost have some kinky sex with his wife. (Don't get your hopes up nothing ends up happening as Vlad starts to feel the thirst.) He sole handedly massacres a battalion of men and as he continues to defeat the Turks his own people start to question him. Rumours spread of his uncanny ability to defeat such great numbers of soldiers without the aid of any of his own men and soon it is not just the threat of the Turks to be fearful of but of his own people.
The decisive moment in this movie is when his wife, after falling to her death, tells him to drink her blood in order to finish what he started. And I stress she said, "drink my blood". This moment seals his fate as a vehicle for the darkness and also releases the Master from his prison.
After defeating the Turks and the Sultan Vlad must make the final sacrifice. He hands over his boy to Brother Lucian, who first told him about the Master, and using his magical powers clears the skies in a heroic move to kill off all the people he turned to help him kill all the Turks in turn killing him too.
Is that it?
Nope. Course not. A peasant who became obsessed with Vlad rescues him by giving him his own blood thus allowing him to live on through the years. Fast forward some hundred or so odd years and we see Vlad strolling through a very modern looking London where he once again finds his wife reincarnated. Cue another movie sin ... he baits her with his marriage poem to his first wife and they happily walk off. However the everlasting life and thirst for blood wasn't the only thing that came with the curse. The Master told Vlad he would one day ask for his help to find justice from the one who tricked him and it seems he is finally collecting on his due.
Overall it isn't a bad rendition of the legend of the Impaler. It gave us some back story, gave us a fight, gave us the transformation and all the amazing things that come with becoming a creature of the night but still it failed to really draw us in. You don't feel any of the most basic emotions; anger, sorrow, repentance, joy. We're simply sitting there watching the movie for the sake of it.
I personally would have really enjoyed seeing more of Charles Dance in the movie rather than have him almost like an extra. After all he is vital to the whole story. The movie's motto "Every bloodline has a beginning" is also very misleading as the bloodline as they call it had already originated with the Master.
Props to the creative department who came up with the movie posters. In particular the one where Evans walks through a field of corpses with his cape disintegrating in the wind into hundreds of bats. The use of bats in general was epic. Which reminds me of one more movie sin. What is it with the weird hand motions when you're using your powers? Especially that final shot of the hand turning into a fist. A bit overplayed eh?
That's my review of the movie. Let me know what you think. Have you seen the movie? Seen any of the other adaptations? If so don't forget to comment on here or on Twitter.
No comments:
Post a Comment