Foreign Movie
Movie Review: Dracula Untold 2014 *The Blood Legend Begins*
Ok so my friend Lewis hit me up on Monday via text and said “Yo, lets go watch Dracula on Wednesday night, tickets on me” I immediately did my read up on the title and watched the trailer and replied “Hell Yeah”.
Before that, I had come across the title but it wasn’t on my watch list, I have already seen too many Dracula and vampire stories so wasn’t sure about this. The trailer won me over immediately; it promised a lot so I had high expectations for this movie.
Dracula Untold,
With his kingdom and his family under threat from a warlord, a King makes a deal with a dangerous supernatural force whilst trying to avoid succumbing to the darkness of the power he is given himself.
Sounds pretty much plain, right? Well this is SIMPLY the BEST Dracula story I have ever seen. Yes, the movie didn’t disappoint. Who ever came up with this story line really did well. Since the idea of “Dracula” is just a mythical legend with no actual facts (that I know off) to confirm or support it, I feel this script certainly does well to give some actual meaning to this idea of “Dracula”. This one is more believable that any of the others I have seen. We get to see a man go to the very extreme for the sake of his family and his people.
The movie starts of with a young boy’s voice giving a narrative that almost immediately captures your attention and prepares you for an interesting story line. Actually the movie doesn’t stray away from its main path. The writers knew exactly what they wanted to tell and went straight for it. That made its 92mins duration seem quite shorter. If you get engrossed in the story like I was, I am very sure you wouldn’t even notice the time pass that quickly.
Luke Evans (Shaw from Fast & Furious 6) plays the role of King Vlad (Dracula). His cold and vindictive nature really suited the role. Top of my head, I can’t imagine anyone else playing this particular role better than he did. I can only guess how difficult it can be for any actor to play a “Good-Bay guy” or a “Bad-Good guy” role. I can’t fault any of the other actors in the movie as well. Dominic Cooper (the warlord) on the opposite side did an excellent job as well (his accent was so good; I almost didn’t recognize him till half way through the movie). For me the casting was right on track.
For a movie classed not just Action and Drama but Fantasy as well there would certainly be the need for some Computer Generated Imagery (GGI) to portray the fantasy element well enough. This movie did deliver on that. The visual effects were so good that at some point I thought my eyes where playing tricks on me. A 2D movie that had so much of a 3D feel. Yes it was that good; I wonder why the movie wasn’t made in 3D. In fact, the visual effects did add more spice to this movie and made its viewing more pleasurable.
Aside the fact that there too many night time scenes (Obviously necessary for the story line) which I didn’t like I hated the terrible camera angles for the fight scenes. I don’t know if it was as a result of the use of CGI ….but…. I just couldn’t follow the fight scenes and most of the time I would be left asking “What just happened or who hit who?” For me it became more like a job trying to figure out what was actually happening in those scenes. I am very much sure I would have enjoyed them better if the angles where much broader. Well lucky enough… It wasn’t that unnecessary slow motion kind of fight scenes.
Surprisingly the movie ended with a twist that left me wowed…. Looks like there is going to be a SEQUEL. From the way it ended it’s pretty much obvious that there would be a follow up title (unless they are just messing with me), and I honestly can’t wait to see it. It would definitely make it to my watch list this time without any hesitation.
Overall I would rate this movie 6/10. It would have gotten a point more if the fight scenes hadn’t let me down that much. I was really in need of something to entertain and clear my head and going to see this movie really did help…..rough days. (That’s why I am putting down this review even before I get some shut eye.)
Although this wasn’t an all round perfect movie, Lewis and I did enjoy it. You just have to see this movie for yourself and find a way to not disagree with me on how awesome it is. I would definitely love to watch it all over again and certainly get my self a DVD when it is released. In the mean time it just opened in cinemas so you should go check it out. It is worth it.
For any one who wants to just have a fun time watching a vampire movie without being either bored or scared I strongly recommend this title for you. Waste no time… Go see this movie.
Master Vampire: I have been waiting an eternity for a man of your strength to arrive. But what kind of man crawls into his own grave in search of hope?
Vlad: A desperate one.
