![[Film review] 'Dracula Untold' lacks bite](https://sc0.blr1.digitaloceanspaces.com/large/683683-cf6160fb-63e4-4c64-a64a-d4bd795f510c.jpg)
It takes a mere 92 minutes to transform Vlad the Impaler from noble count to damned bloodsucker.
No more, or less, is needed to narrate this new origin myth for Bram Stoker’s literary creation, as per which Vlad (Luke Evans) is enslaved as a child by Turk forces, grows up to be a wise administrator of a corner of the empire, swaps his life for mastery over the dark arts in order to protect the Turks from enslaving his wife, son and people, and finally rests his fangs on that nerve in the neck.
If the movie were any more efficient, it would have been a motivational video on career change.
Dracula Untold actually leaves a great deal unsaid, but the movie doesn’t have time to waste. Is it because of the sequel that is suggested by the climax? Under debutant Gary Shore’s sure-footed direction, the screenplay moves steadily and confidently from one scene to the next. There’s no space to reflect on the effects of Vlad’s monstrously enhanced powers on his family or his people and no acknowledgement of Dracula’s fascinating nature, which has resulted in adaptations and imitations the world over. It’s a watchable, bloodless affair, its disinterest in the original tale's rich symbolism and erotic possibilities conveyed by the casting of the bland and workmanlike Evans.
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No more, or less, is needed to narrate this new origin myth for Bram Stoker’s literary creation, as per which Vlad (Luke Evans) is enslaved as a child by Turk forces, grows up to be a wise administrator of a corner of the empire, swaps his life for mastery over the dark arts in order to protect the Turks from enslaving his wife, son and people, and finally rests his fangs on that nerve in the neck.
If the movie were any more efficient, it would have been a motivational video on career change.
Dracula Untold actually leaves a great deal unsaid, but the movie doesn’t have time to waste. Is it because of the sequel that is suggested by the climax? Under debutant Gary Shore’s sure-footed direction, the screenplay moves steadily and confidently from one scene to the next. There’s no space to reflect on the effects of Vlad’s monstrously enhanced powers on his family or his people and no acknowledgement of Dracula’s fascinating nature, which has resulted in adaptations and imitations the world over. It’s a watchable, bloodless affair, its disinterest in the original tale's rich symbolism and erotic possibilities conveyed by the casting of the bland and workmanlike Evans.