Review of Dracula Untold (2014) by Minosofcrete — 09 Oct 2014

Dracula Untold is a film with an intriguing premise of one man's struggle between man and monster that seems to flit between half-hearted depiction of Vlad's dark moral descent whilst somewhat absurdly portraying him as the Blockbuster action hero good guy in order to make us feel like we still have to root for the guy.

It's sad that so many more complex aspects of the film, such as the relationship between Vlad and the Turks, or even the personal relationship between Vlad and his 'Turkish brother' quickly becomes sidelined in favor of a less mature 'good guys vs bad guys' battle. There really isn't that much character development in anyone, even the supposed 'dark descent' of Dracula never really transforms his character in a plausible or sophisticated way. Everyone who knows Dracula just seems to be like, 'You're an all powerful bloodthirsty vampire? Hmm k, whatevs.' The thing is, there are actually some really good actors in this film, here and there, so I have to chalk it up to a family-friendly, Hollywood approved script that stops the characters from treating Dracula as anything more than the amoral badass who we're supposed to be rooting for rather than the brutal monster which the film insists now and again we should view him as.

If you like Dracula and vampire films, I'd say give it a go, but just as long as you realize this is a Call of Duty-esque rehash of a tried and tested formula rather than something truly innovative. If you don't like vampires, and you're into complex, emotionally powerful movies, don't be fooled, this is through and through a popcorn action flick.