Dracula Untold (2014) Review

"There is always a price for power" 

Gary Shore’s directorial début seems to be imitating what Michael Bay does with robots except with vampires, although even that may be too much of a compliment. But where Bay succeeds in fooling audiences with sizeable explosions, Shore only manages to temporarily dazzle before the inviting aura fades and the half-structured underbelly of the film is exposed.

Starting out in a similar manner to I, Frankenstein, it portrays itself as an origin story to the eponymous supernatural villain – except in this he’s not a villain at all. Falling into the horrific trope of good-guy-gone-bad, the movie tells the story of Vlad the Impaler (portrayed by Luke Evans), who wants to protect his homeland but is forced into making a deal with the Devil (who happens to assume the form of Charles Dance) to achieve this. For a film with promising dramatic plot lines it manages to be exceptionally dull at times, particularly when new characters are brought in only to die in an anti-climactic manner mere moments later.

Whilst Evans strives to make a notable impact on the film, others are not so determined or fortunate; Sarah Gadon (who plays Vlad’s wife, Mirena), fails to provoke any emotion and her character seems to be around to merely state the obvious (such dialogue gems include “you came back” and “what’s wrong”). Her dialogue is so predictable that you could create your own game of script bingo in the time that it takes her to utter out a single meaningful sentence. The character development is disappointing across the board, from Vlad’s aforementioned wife to the mysterious Turkish Sultan Mehmed II (Dominic Cooper), it is never truly clear what their motivations are and all characters appear to be grossly underwritten.

There are, however, some redeeming qualities of Dracula Untold; the visuals are remarkable and the battle sequences are gripping in a similar style to The Hobbit or Maleficent. Unfortunately, these moments provide only light relief in a film that seems intent on boring you to death with its unremarkable characters and flaky dialogue.

Whilst Shore’s directorial début may possess more of a plot than the entire Transformers series, it seems to be suffering from a distinct identity crisis. It is not gory enough to satiate those with an appetite for full-out violence and blood and not romantic enough for those looking for their new Twilight fix. Dracula Untold should be left to rest in its poorly constructed pieces.