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Thursday afternoon I went with a friend to see Dracula Untold starring Luke Evans and (personal highlight) Charles Dance. The movie follows Vlad's journey into the man the monster we know as Dracula. Vlad wants to do the right thing - protect his family and his people from the Turks - but he makes some very terrible decisions along the way to get that accomplished. Early in the film, he and his men stumble across a vampire trapped in a cave and barely make out with their lives. Later after some unfortunate business with their Turkish overlords and more very poor decision making, he goes back to that vampire (played by Charles Dance) in hopes he can become like him and defeat his enemies. From this point on he begins his transformation into the monster of legend.
What I liked:
Luke Evans and Charles Dance both did well in their roles. I am looking forward to seeing Luke Evans in more parts in the future.
The costuming was great and I liked the design of the armor.
The bat transformation looked pretty cool - the bat tornado was just too much though.
The ending scene although I wish it would have gone with the date of Stoker's novel. But Charles Dance!
What I didn't like:
Too many dumb decisions - if Vlad went along with the son the whole movie could have been avoided.
The wife's reaction when she realizes what Vlad's become.
How long it took the wife and pretty much everyone else to figure out what happened. I mean, what were they doing when he single handedly took out that army??
Some of the action scenes were too fast to focus your eyes on what was happening.
Questions with internal movie logic involving sun, armor, fighting the second army, fire, and all of the other vampires.
The bat toronado.
The lines at the end of the movie make it sound like it could have a sequel - why couldn't it be a standalone.
The middle section felt the weakest - more disjointed and somewhat confusing than anything.
Leaves very little room for surprise (from the moment the movie opens we already know Vlad lost the battle for his soul) and there are almost no stakes (not that kind).
Notes:
When Vlad and his men were going into the cave for the first time, my friend leaned over and said, "This is no mine. It's a tomb!" I was thinking exactly the same thing...
The old vampire in the cave reminded me The Master from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
The son, Ingeras, is played by the actor who portrays Rickon Stark on Game of Thrones and it doesn't look like his costume was changed all that much.
When Vlad cuts that one character's arms off, I couldn't help but think of The Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Except this movie was mostly bloodless, as it's mostly implied gore.
Near the end, I had a flash of The Amazing Spider-Man 2... I don't want to spoil this part, but you'll probably know it if you see it.
The trailer for Seventh Son (I haven't read Revenge of the Witch by Joseph Delaney, but it sounds like it will be very different) looked promising, or, at least a lot more than Ouija ... If only those poor fools called Sam and Dean, or at least got some salt, iron, and holy water.
The trailer for Into the Woods looked the most promising and I will probably go see it.
Those Swedish Fish gummies I had for a snack were delicious.
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