Dracula
review by Bobby Blakey
Director Luc Besson has weaved in and out of every genre throughout his impressive career with films including LA Femme Nikita, Leon: The Professional, The Fifth Element, Arthur and the Invisibles, and Lucy. Now he is taking on one of the most iconic monsters in history with his latest film Dracula starring Caleb Landry Jones, Christoph Waltz, Zoë Bleu, Guillaume de Tonquedec, Matilda de Angelis, Ewens Abid, and Raphael Luce. Could this latest iteration bring something fresh and new to the dark tale, or will it fail to take a bite out of audiences?
Dracula follows a 15th-century prince who witnesses the brutal murder of his wife leaving him to renounce God and damns heaven itself. Cursed with eternal life, he is reborn as Dracula, an immortal warlord who defies fate in a blood-soaked crusade to wrench his lost love back from death, no matter the cost. On the verge of reuniting, Dracula is hunted by a relentless priest, sworn to end his immortal reign.
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I am always down for a vampire tale, especially when Dracula himself is involved. I love the chance to see how someone translates it or even twists some of the story in new directions. As a fan of most of Besson’s work and seeing the trailer I was intrigued, but also worried it was going to go in a more bizarre direction. Thankfully the end result keeps things straight forward in the story on some level, but it does feel more like a reimagining of Francise Ford Coppola’s 1992 film right down to the look of Dracula himself.
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I love that version so totally fine with him dipping into that well to do his version of the story but wish it had veered into some more new territory and brought its own voice to the film. What is here is pretty good with beautiful goth aesthetics and a great performance from Caleb Landry Jones as Dracula. The rest of the
cast are fine, but he chews up every scene sometimes over the top, but always in a way that pulls you into his torture, passion and pain.
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This is a decent enough adaptation despite its lack of originality. It brings some changes with an addition of gargoyles that would have been a lot cooler with better more sinister designs to fit the aesthetic of the rest of the film, but for me they were out of place. The use of them as his protector and some of the action of them works and could have been the highlight of the film. The strength of Jones performance makes this film keep on track and worth checking out.
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Everyone has their own views to where the story of Dracula takes you, but here it tries to build the passion of the love story in a very strange opening and then it weaves in and out of the lore and building things with all these characters to take them all to a finale that is a downer and feels like what was the point of it all. I am fine with the ending and was happy it didn’t try to infuse it with some Hollywood happy ending and preferred the downer aspect but might not work for some.
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In the end Besson has crafted a good vision of Dracula that is worth checking out whether you are fan of him or just the world of vampires itself. Decide for yourself and check out Dracula when it hits theaters on February 6th from Vertical Entertainment.