Dracula Untold (2014) Dir: Gary Shore

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I am always partial to checking put any 'Dracula' adaptation I come across, indeed, Bram Stoker's classic gothic horror is one of my all-time favourite books, but, I must admit, Gary Shore's 2014 action horror that took a while to draw me in. I was only somewhat tempted by the plot, and even less so by its cast. Ultimately, my cynicism gave way to my love of 'Dracula' and I decided to give it a go.

The first thing I noticed about this film was that it was definitely filmed to be seen in 3D. It's easy to forget that brief period of time in which so many films were shot for 3D viewing, but it's one that, unfortunately, scars a lot of those films permanently, leaving fairly unsubtle hints to that very particular craze in cinema. I digress, it wasn't a constant bother, but it was noticeable. The rest of the visuals were okay - there were even a couple of shots that were actually quite engaging, but not on a consistent enough basis.

My main issue with the film was that it was wildly miscast, especially considering it was such a modern film. For a film set in Romania and heavily featuring Romanian and Ottoman characters, it sure did cast a lot of white western Europeans and North Americans. It was pretty disappointing, all things considered. I was expecting it to an extent, because of the main cast, but even so - I feel like the film dug itself a hole.

The action scenes were fairly good, but were undercut by the dreadfully undercooked story, which failed to build on the foundations of Bram Stoker's classic tale in a compelling way. This was less of a 'Dracula' story than it was a historical war film with a rather underwhelming fantasy twist. There was very little 'Dracula' about the film at all, but that could've been easier to deal with, if the writing had been just a little better.

Luke Evans starred as the titular 'Dracula', in a role which came during the brief period of his Hollywood fantasy film stardom, alongside his fairly prominent role in 'The Hobbit' trilogy. However, he was so bland and unremarkable, that I simply could not enjoy his performance. I needed Evans to be more dramatic, more interesting, and more charismatic, than he was.

The supporting cast was equally lacklustre, with Sarah Gadon providing the most interesting display of a very forgettable set of performances, which included the dull and horribly miscast antagonist provided by Dominic Cooper, as well as the likes of Art Parkinson, Diarmaid Murtagh, as well as the heavily underutilised presence of Charles Dance, whose character really should have featured more.

Overall, I thought this was a pretty unremarkable film, which wasted any potential it had, in favour of a safe and extremely unimpressive story. I also think the film was very poorly cast - if the film was older, it would be much easier to accept. Either way, it comes as no surprise to me that this film doesn't get spoken about particularly often these days - it certainly didn't leave much of a positive impression on me.