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Dracula Untold

Dracula Untold

USA 2014 - with Luke Evans, Dominic Cooper, Sarah Gadon, Charles Dance, Art Parkinson ...

The Frankfurt-Tipp rating:

Movie info

Original title:Dracula Untold
Genre:Fantasy, Action, Adventure
Direction:Gary Shore
Cinema release:02.10.2014
Production country:USA 2014
Running time:Approx. 92 min.
Rated:From 12 years
Web page:www.dracula-film.de/

Most people have probably heard the name Dracula before. And almost everyone knows the story Bram Stoker wrote about the most famous of all vampires. But the legend actually has a historical origin. For Dracula is said to be the former Romanian prince Vlad III Drăculea, called Vlad the Impaler. While Dracula's story has been told countless times in cinema, the life story of the Transylvanian ruler has so far been dealt with rather briefly, if at all. Director Gary Shore wants to change that with his fantasy spectacle Dracula Untold. But if you expect an accurate treatment of the historical background, you're sorely mistaken. Shore's film merely uses set pieces from the life of Vlad the Impaler to conjure up a visually stunning but dramaturgically bloodless historical adventure with light fantasy and horror touches.

The film centers on Vlad III. (Luke Evans), who has turned away from his cruel past as a bloodthirsty impaler to be a good leader to his Transylvanian people and a devoted husband to his wife Mirena (Sarah Gadon). But when Turkish warlord Mehmed (Dominic Cooper) demands thousands of children from Vlad to train as his soldiers, Vlad stands up to the overbearing Ottomans - not least because he would also have to surrender his own son to Mehmed. In order to be able to protect his people and his family, Vlad makes a pact with a sinister force - a pact that will expire after three days or turn him into a bloodthirsty vampire forever.

Dracula Untold has many good points, but also quite a few extremely bad ones. On the positive side, lead actor Luke Evans (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug) definitely stands out. Evans fights his way through the action scenes with aplomb and also holds his own in the dramaturgically very simply drawn moments. Granted, he's not truly terrifying as either a relentless impaler or a vampire. But as an action hero, Evans does a really good job. The film is also convincing on a visual level. The effects are decent and the images that Gary Shore and his team have conjured up on the screen certainly provide a moody atmosphere. And when Charles Dance appears for the first time as the original vampire, even for a few seconds something similar to slight creepiness sets in.

All these very positive aspects is an extremely weak script, which is bursting with horrible dialogue. As soon as a little bit of tension arises, the dialogues, which seem like pathetic calendar sayings, cause the action to take on unintentionally comical features. A lot of potential is wasted here, which takes away a lot of the film's entertainment potential. Furthermore, the British Dominic Cooper as the Turkish tyrant is not convincing at all. The threat, which should actually come from Mehmed, is not really comprehensible to the viewer at any moment.

The knowledge that historians have collected about Vlad III, would have offered in itself enough material for an exciting and rousing historical epic. That Shore took countless dramaturgical liberties to tie it all together with the Dracula mythos is not tragic in itself. That the two writers Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless in their screenwriting debut didn't take advantage of the many good opportunities this legend offered them and instead drown the story in a sea of campy dialogue is a real shame given the successful aspects of the production. Those who simply want to see a gritty, atmospheric vampire tale with decent action interludes, and don't care for dialogue or character delineation, might well enjoy Dracula Untold. But if you expect more depth or solid horror fare, you will be bitterly disappointed. Therefore: only with clear deductions still worth seeing!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp

Media:

Cinema trailer for the movie "Dracula Untold (USA 2014)"
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