Dracula Untold (2014)

Director: Gary Shore
Starring: Luke Evans, Dominic Cooper, Sarah Gadon

Synopsis:
The Transylvanian prince Vlad Dracula makes a pact with an ancient vampire in exchange for the power to overcome the Turkish hordes, but if he should succumb to the temptation to drink blood before the end of three days' time, he will inherit the vampire's curse.

Impressions:
Honestly, I completely overlooked this one. Maybe it has something to do with the Twilight series really putting a stake in vampire fiction for the immediate future, but I didn't really have any inclination to give this one a shot. This turns out to have been a mistake. It's actually a pretty good movie, probably the best vampire film I've seen since the first Underworld. Luke Evans does well in the title role as does Dominic Cooper on the opposite site of the fence as Mehmed. Before I was going to do this theme week, I did notice in a promo bit that Charles Dance plays the Elder Vampire, which did help pique my interest a bit. (The sequel hook at the end has my interest.) There's plenty of action and special effects that are pretty solid throughout. The final showdown with Mehmed has a really clever setup and it's going to be tempting not to steal from the idea. While this definitely shouldn't be regarded as historical fiction, there are a number of details they actually do get right, so that's bound to be of some interest to fans of the real Vlad Tepes. I won't go so far as to call this a superlative film, but it is an entertaining one. Give it a watch.

Rating:
Watch It