Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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58 of 64 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Part great, part dud, Gerry perfect----, March 30, 2005
First, watch the DVD deleted scenes, extended scenes and audition featuring Gerard Butler. That will get you in the right mood! Then start the film.
The first 30 minutes are a mess. After the opening scenes with Christopher Plummer as Van Helmsing, that lays the groundwork for the story, they could have skipped all the scenes about the stealing of the coffin and just had Plummer tell Simon (Johnny Lee Miller) "we been robbed!".
But the young people and the robbery and taking the coffin by plane and it crashing - all could be handled by voice-over. This is just a mess and not one of the actors are interesting or have any charisma. Especially Solina (Jennifer Esposito) going into the vault, dark and creepy and skulls and gad! you get the picture. We are in for a fright! Bah!!! So lame.
Our first great shot of Dracula (Butler), is on the plane when he walks into the section of the plane and reaches out for Solina - and like any sane woman, she goes right to him. The love bite is next. Um Hmmmm! In the meantime, Mary Van Helsing is having dreams/nightmares seeing Dracula in her mirror. She is speechless, and we are too. OMG! She keeps saying "wake up - you're dreaming" but then he comes close and sniffs her and says "you're real" and I have to pause the film and fan myself.
Troubled Mary goes to the church in New Orleans where the priest is a childhood friend, to get some answers about her Mother and as he is putting the candles out and turns to Mary - it is him, the big D. A gaze to die for. The next is Dracula perched like a gargoyle on the church parapet above the Mardi Gras revelers and he says "Farewell, Princess." Perfect!
Down at street level, he walks among the drunken revelers with a bemused look. There is a giant TV screen showing dancers silhouettes, there are beads and coins tossed at him as he looks on with a knowing smile. He watches the giant screen flash images of atom bombs, rock stars, lingerie ads and women mud wrassling and says "Brilliant." Great satire!
His walk through the "Virgin" record store is iconic, with all the young gals turning to look as he passes by. He gets Lucy, Mary's friend to take him to their home. His comment to Lucy, when she can't come up with a word to describe Mary's mothers decor of the house "catholic?" is priceless. And to her query "would you like some coffee?" he says " I don't drink----------coffee." Timed perfectly with just the right look. And of course, he has her on the bed and on the ceiling! Faint!!!
It is like there are two films here - one a brilliant satire with great lines. And the other an incoherent teen/slasher/bloodfest. But it is almost possible to just start anywhere after the first 30 minutes and the story is interesting and makes sense of the Judas theme.
The cinematography has some beautiful scenes. The Red Hall - the curtains blowing and the eastern theme music for the desert and cross scenes. The few lines Dracula(Butler) utters are great and with timing and marvelous expression. "The Bible is propaganda." "You think you can defend her with the Bible." To Mary "Everything I have is yours; and all you are is mine." (Shades of The Phantom.)
Dracula to the Jesus Cross "I give them (revelers below) what they crave most. All the pleasures you denied them."
And his gesture to Mary - arm and hand out as the camera pans away and he says "come let us feast" and the kisses. Wow!! Nellie bar the door. I want some of that! (8/10 - would have been higher but that first 30 minutes is just bad!)
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37 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Dracula in the Modern World, July 15, 2002
This was a modernized version based on the characters from the original novel by Bram
Stoker. Here we find Van Helsing still alive in modern times having appointed himself the keeper of Dracula's corpse because Dracula could not truly be killed. Dracula lays prone in a death-like state in a vault and Van Helsing is using Dracula's blood, siphoned through leeches, to keep himself alive for all these years. Then some young hoods steal the coffin thinking it contains valuables and unwittingly help Dracula escape his prison. The ensuing battle between Van Helsing and Dracula to save Van Helsing's daughter from joining the undead leaves behind plenty of corpses. In a surprise conclusion we learn who Dracula really is . . . and in this movie they do not claim he is really Vlad Tepesh, Prince of Wallachia as in most other movies. I realize by the description is sounds like some rehash of an old Hammer film but this movie is slick, well presented and very entertaining. If you like vampire movies it's a great addition to your collection.
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Ho-hum, so-so film, but intense and watchable Gerard Butler, September 14, 2006
I give this 2.5 stars, and that's mostly because 1. the gimmick/idea that ties together the "whys" of Dracula is interesting and 2. Gerard Butler has amazing screen presence.
The story: Baddies go to steal a hidden treasure (thinking valuable item). This item has been encased and entombed by Van Helsing (yeah, that Van Helsing), the guardian of this particular treasure. As you can guess, it's not jewels or the Holy Grail. It does have to do with blood: Dracula. Baddies get killed/turned. Dracula, who has some kind of psychic connection to Van Helsing's daughter, Mary(estranged from Papa and living in New Orleans pre-Katrina), goes seeking the woman of his dreams. Nothing really interesting or spooky happens. Yes, folks get bitten. Yes, some get killed. Yes, nice guy goes to save Mary from a toothy fate. Sirens do their ho-hum thing to nice guy hero. Dracula has showdown with Mary. And...well...not giving the ending away.
Ultimately, we get a new (to me, anyway) spin on the tale when we find out how Dracula was created, and why silver and sunlight and crucifixes and holy water are feared and hated objects to Vampiredom. It's a somewhat elegant answer, but it can't satisfy for a lackluster preamble to the revelation.
Justine Waddell doesn't do much with her role. Christopher Plummer is rather wasted. Jonny Lee Miller has a few cute lines, but is kind of disposable, if likable. Omar Epps didnt' get a chance to do anything worth watching. (He's much better on HOUSE, where he gets some real characterization and infinitely better dialogue.)
So, there's really only ONE reason to watch this film: Gerard Butler.
Now, putting aside for the moment that it's truly bizarre to have Dracula speak in a Scottish accent--fetching, but odd--one can overcome this oddity by the sheer personal magnetism of the man. He makes clunky lines shine through overwhelming emotive power, some real acting chops, and the physical presence to carry off the role. Oh, if they'd only put better lines into his mouth, and not just sharp canines! Only at the end does he really get to speak and emote and burn. It's lovely to watch, for however briefly. A genuinely excellent choice for Dracula, except that Scottish accent. Weird.
If you're a Butlerian Crushgirl--by all means, rent or buy this. The moments with Mr. Butler are worth the price. When he sniffs Mary, it's the kind of fully-dressed erotic moment that puts all the nude scenes in cinema to shame, and it proves that when you have people with intensity and charisma and screen "itness", an expression, a breathy phrase, these are more sensual than a million displays of nakedness and groaning.
If you're not a G.B. fan, or a serious Jonny Lee or Plummer or whomever else in the film fan, skip it. It's just not very good movie-making. All it's got in the end is the cool historical twist and Gerry Butler. For some of you, that may be enough.
Mir
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