Director Gary Shore revamps the mythos surrounding Vlad the Impaler in Dracula Year Zero, a Universal Pictures release from a script by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless. The horror tale is set to take place in Romania during the Turkish invasion as Vlad (Luke Evans) goes to the greatest of lengths to fight for his homeland -- even if it means selling his soul and becoming forever doomed as a creature of the night. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
Director: Gary Shore
Cast: Luke Evans, Sarah Gadon, Dominic Cooper.
Release Date: Oct
10, 2014
Rated PG-13 for Intense Sequences of Warfare, Disturbing
Images, Some Sensuality and Vampire Attacks
Runtime: 1 hr. 32 min. Genres: Action/Adventure, Horror
Review:
Dracula Untold desperately wants to be the start of a new
franchise. Everything about it screams
origin story, something we’ve seen countless times before in countless other
films. This take on Dracula borrows
heavily from the superhero genre mixed with a healthy dose of Lord of the Rings
style battles. Luke Evans is
appropriately grim and determined as the titular Dracula even if he can’t quite
find a solid grip on something original about the character. That’s hardly a surprise since the character
has been done so many times most children could probably recite the standard
mythology, most of which is rehashed yet again here. Still, Evans tries hardily to trudge through
the pedestrian storyline hitting all the standard notes. The film might have been strong if Dominic
Cooper had been given better material to work and made better use of the
villain. On the plus side, Gary
Shore keeps his movie moving at a
brisk pace throwing in enough visual flourishes to keep it interesting enough
to hold your attention. The ending
leaves open a massive door for future sequels which could be more intriguing
than this run of the mill origin story.
C
