Review of Dracula Untold (2014) by Rainwhole — 18 Oct 2014

Dracula Untold is composed of a couple terrific scenes, a couple terrible scenes, and a lot of filler in between them which in result makes the movie average at best. So let's start of with the best part of the movie, Luke Evans.

Mr. Evans makes for a fantastic Vlad The Impaler, but is too soon to say if he will make a good Dracula. This movie is more about the transformation of a man into a monster, not the monster itself. So again, the jury is still out for Evans as Dracula if a sequel is ever made.

Another fascinating aspect of the movie is the production design. The costumes, armors, castles, and fields are just simply perfect and fitting for this modern take on Dracula. In fact, the production design is the only aspect of the movie that reminds us of the Gothic nature of Dracula.

The action scenes are also very well handled, specially at the beginning and at the end. There's a middle section in the movie were the action is overshadowed by painfully mediocre character development. Yet, when the action is good is REALLY good and exciting.

Besides Evans, Charles Dance (aka Tywin Lanister) is not on screen often but when does appear he is truly fantastic. But nobody will expect any less from Mr. Dance. However, besides Evans and Dance the rest of the cast is truly mediocre. Maybe it was the dialogue or the acting, I can't tell. But in particular Vlad's wife and son are two particular characters that are truly annoying.

Now, the true problem with this film is the obvious attempt on making Dracula into some sort of super hero. Sure, I'm not against that at all. I'm a fan of turning monsters into some sort of anti-hero like Hellboy or Swamp Thing. But it's clear that the goal here is not to only make Dracula a hero, but to make him almost a mirror image of some of Marvel's cinematic champions.

The Universal Monsters are NOT and will never be the Marvel heroes. I love the original classic monsters, and I have my heart and mind open to see more of them in the upcoming years. Yet, I hope that Universal Studios finds their own ground in attempting to create a cinematic universe. What worked for Marvel won't work for Universal, as much as they might want to make Dracula (or any of the other monsters) compelling, they will never be Captain America. Simply because they are not meant to be.

If Dracula Untold is the first chapter of the Universal Monster's cinematic universe reboot, is an OK one at best. It has potential to be so much more, and I hope the upcoming Mummy movie really takes things in the proper direction.