Double Feature Review: Dracula Untold (2014) – Timothy

Some movies are just too big for one review. In cases like that, we present a Double-Feature Review. So here’s Timothy and Alex, each with a very distinctive take on Dracula Untold.

Dracula Untold was a tough pill to swallow, not to say that it was absolutely horrendous and unlikable, I’m just saying that it’s quite hard to see one of the most iconic monster movie villains in history to be a… loving father and above all of that he’s the hero… what gives? I was very interested in seeing a man err rather a monster wreak absolute havoc throughout the movie and show me exactly how the king of monsters came to be, but I never really got that from this film.

Dracula goes by the name of Vlad Tepes (Luke Evans) a 15th century Transylvanian prince who was taken as a child and trained to fight in the Turkish army. He gained the reputation of being called Vlad the Impaler as he would often leave his enemies on wooden spikes… a little gruesome perhaps, but like he states in the film “men do not fear swords, they fear monsters.” His mentality and actions have brought him a sliver of peace for his small kingdom. Fast forward many moons later, as his old army buddy Mehmed II, a Turkish Sultan (Dominic Cooper), wants Vlad to hand over 1000 children so that they may be trained to become soldiers as he was… and the 1000 also includes his own son. Knowing that he cannot defeat his old friend… or foe?… he decides to acquire some “gifts’ from an ancient vampire (Charles Dance) who has been trapped inside of a cave for centuries. Though this gift comes at a price, if Vlad can withstand the urge to feed for three days then he will revert back to his normal self. If he gives in to the thirst, then he will be doomed to walk the earth as an undead creature of the night.

Guess which route he takes…

The battle scenes were actually very enjoyable; Dracula is literally a one man army on the battlefield and if he needs any help he has a swarm of bats at his command, which is much more reliable than some of his human allies. Nevertheless some may find the special effects a little cheesy during parts of the film, but I really didn’t mind it.

Throughout the movie I just never got the sense that I was watching a Dracula movie. There were no scary scenes, nothing that really jumped at me. It felt more like watching a superhero movie to me than it did a monster movie. And if that is what Universal was trying to go for with this, I think they need to go back to the drawing board and come at it from another angle. I do not know what they (Universal) have planned for the other monster movie franchises but can you imagine Dracula, Frankenstein and the Invisible Man forming an Avengers-type super hero team? I really hope that is not the plan because they are off to shaky start.

Luke Evans plays a pretty convincing Vlad/Dracula; the scenes he shares with his wife (Sarah Gadon) were some of the better scenes, as we see Vlad struggle against the impulse to eat people. The only other strong performance comes from Charles Dance, he plays a very creepy vampire and I wish we could have gotten to see more of him; his last scene opens up a realm of possibilities for the future.

Director Gary Shore has taken an interesting approach to the legendary Dracula; he has made him more of a man who fights for his family and people than the monster he normally is on film. However, he never felt like an iconic character. Throughout the movie, I kept asking myself “Is this actually Dracula?” In any case, this film was a decent effort, but the movie was missing so much, with half-baked performances and a third act that was very anti-climactic. I understand what the makers wanted from this film but at the same time it just didn’t turn out as planned.