Dracula Untold

The newest Dracula film that will start off the Universal Monster Cinematic Universe hits us like a roller coaster as we watch a Dracula film that is rated PG-13, has minimal blood, epic fights, and a fan war.
Is Dracula Untold a Great movie? The next great Dracula? In simple terms, no. While it may not be a great film it definitely did what it set out to do and that was to establish Dracula and the world (or at least a bit of it) of the cinematic monster universe. Honestly there isn't much connection to the bigger universe as I could tell from watching it, but it does tell us the tone the films would be and that is serious. I love that this film is not campy, unnecessary blood, and lots of vampire sex from sexy vamps. They really did a great job of making the vampire myth and really turning toward the monster part again.

Because it is rated PG-13 there is minimal blood, which is strange because that is all Dracula, he should be wasting people and pouring lakes of blood around him. If you thought that then you sir (or madam) are wrong. I think that the best part of this movie was how they handled the blood, they only showed it during the really necessary times. When it came to turn Vlad into a vampire they handled that blood scene very nicely. It may be minimal, but for each scene that there is blood it has a chunk of meaning and impact to go along with it.
However because of the PG-13 rating and they can't show a lot of blood the battle scenes didn't show much. When they did show Dracula being a badass it was amazing, but for the most part the action was the annoying shaky cam. Not just any shaky cam, but too much shaky cam, you know when they shake it so much you start wondering "what's the point of this scene if I can't make it out?"

As for the rating I feel like they did a good job for a PG-13 film, definitely better than PG-13 films I've seen recently. The actor who plays Vlad/Dracula (Luke Evens) does a fantastic job of portraying Vlad as a falling king who will do anything it takes to protect his people. He is good looking enough to say that he starts out with the sexyness of a modern vampire, and then they turn him into a creature that is looked upon by fear, a look that people only give to wild beasts. Hopefully if he reprises his role he can really let out the creature within.

I applaud this film for actually showing Count Dracula before he turns into the creature that he we know today. But because we know the ending the film leaves little to be surprised about. That does not mean it is not enjoyable, but that is one of the biggest complaints I hear going around. The other being "it's not a Francis Ford Coppola Dracula" which is just idiotic because his Dracula is based of the book, this Dracula is based off the universal character. The other big complaint I hear from everyone is that Dracula is too Over Powered. I can agree that he is overpowering too much, but if anything this means that the other movie monsters need to be as powerful at least to take him on. This film has it's ups and downs but at the end of the day I enjoyed it, will buy it Blu-ray, and look forward to any more appearances of Luke Evan's Dracula in the Universal cinematic Universe. If you like a well paced film that has lots of action, and maybe some popcorn to wash it all down then I recommend this. If you have already seen this do you agree with what I have said? Did you like it?

RECOMMENDATION: Medium