Written by Matt Sazama And Burk Sharpless
Directed by Gary Shore
Master Vampire: "Why spill blood if not for the pleasure of it?"
Vlad: "Because men do not fear swords. They fear monsters. They run from them. By putting one village to the stake, I spared ten more. Sometimes the world no longer needs a hero. Sometimes what it needs... is a monster."
I've nearly gone through the majority of this month without watching a vampire movie and while there are better ones to choose from, I also found myself drawn to this one.
If you wanted a story where Vlad III "the Impaler" Dracula (Luke Evans) was the hero of the piece, you've got this one. Yup, our titular protagonist apparently didn't relish his high body count and instead was trying to keep a low profile after his infamous escapades.
Unfortunately for Vlad, the Sultan Mehmed II (Dominic Cooper) and the Ottoman army had different ideas. They wanted a 1000 boys for their battles and one of those boys included, Vlad's own son, Ingeras (Art Parkinson). Vlad and his wife, Mirena (Sarah Gadon) wasn't keen on that idea at all.
Vlad even offered himself up as a trade for his boy but when his gesture backfired and his family rebelled against the Sultan's demands, a choice had to be made. Incurring the Sultan's wrath was going to have consequences for Vlad and his family and the former Impaler took the most extreme choice.
Yes, he went to the Master Vampire (Charles Dance) and got all the vampiric strength and weaknesses needed to help go up against the Ottoman army. He also had to resist the urge to drink blood or else his transformation would be complete. You can imagine how that fared.
The death of his wife, his own supporters turning on him, an antagonist monk (Paul Kaye). All were enough for Vlad to take the inevitable path he was always going to down on. The final battle between Vlad and the Sultan had it's moments but felt rather undercooked with it's almost swift outcome.
The last scene itself though was setting up a Dark Universe that never came to be. Vlad in the present day courting Mina Murray (Gadon) while a better looking Master Vampire looked on. Had things panned out differently, this could've led to an interesting showdown between both vampires but circumstances dictated otherwise.
- Originally Sam Worthington had been cast as Vlad and Charlie Cox as Caligula (rumoured to be the Master Vampire) before we got Luke Evans and Charles Dance.
- Vlad's armour had the dragon motif and was crimson. He also embraced Dracula by the end of the movie.
- Chronology: 15th century Transylvania before moving to the 21st century for the final scene of the movie.
I'll admit that Dracula Untold was pretty decent as a movie. There has been better movies about the infamous Count and arguably worse. Luke Evans does a fine job as the titular vampire and I did like the ending, despite it leading nowhere due to that whole universe being scrapped.
Rating: 7 out of 10
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