Nov 05, 2003 10:39 AM
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(Updated Dec 28, 2005 04:33 PM)
MOVIE REVIEW ON BRAM STOKER`S DRACULA (1991/92)
Bram Stoker`s Dracula is simply mindblowing. To start with, it was released back in 1992. Making could have started during the summer season of 1991 in the US. I watched the film on DVD. I have just purchased it- and my choice was good afterall.
It`s one of the best DRACULA films I`ve ever seen till now. To start with, the film opens up with the Transylvanian Prince (Vlad III) who`s going out on one of the many battles of his reign. He barely is successful and reaches just in time where he sees Elizabetha`s (his princess) dead body.
I haven`t told you Elizabetha`s death yet. Well, at this point of the film, she looks very sensitive, romantic and vulnerable to the open life of her own country (somewhere in Eastern Europe- according to film, it`s in Hungary) and Vlad III being enemies with the Turks, (they sent his beloved princess) false news of his death. Elizabetha commits suicide by throwing herself into a deep river just outside the castle.
Naturally, Vlad III, being a famous impaler takes his revenge. He associates himself with the Devil and thus stops praying to God. He adopts himself to nothing... by that I mean a DRACULA- after his own name! Years pass by and in 1897, London, the Transylvanian Prince (should`ve said DRACULA) finally gets to know that his beloved has reincarnated into the beautiful Wihemina. But she is already engaged to one guy and she even gets married to him in the film- And that guy is no one than Jonatthan (Keanu Reeves) Then, after remembering past events of (life?), Wilhemina decides to love, live and die only for Dracula himself.
And this is the first film I`ve seen a dracula loving humans and not killing for blood and flesh or simply a dracula who because of one woman decides to love rather than to kill. -Ironically, Dracula also has several wives who have sex with him in the film.
Gary Oldman as the Dracula is simply irresistable in his role. He is passionately seductive and has the charisma needed in himself to portray a real and imaginative dracula. I bet you`ve never seen dracula as well-dressed, sociable and modern like this. -It`s like never before even if it`s hard for me to give you specific details on this because there are over 300 DRACULA FILMS. -And I haven`t seen all of them... Gary, by his own right is a plus-point to the film.
Mina`s role is simply average. But Winona Ryder performs well only to a certain extent. One thing going against her is that her script is so mediocrly written and she doesn`t do much to save it either. Apart from her beauty (man, she really looks gorgeous in these imperial-class costumes), she still acts average.
I cannot pinpoint any scene in the movie which makes me think of herself as the... (OK, leave it, will we?) She supposingly falls for both the Dracula and Jonattan here. Infact for Vlad III also. What a pity! She should have felt heartbroken to love them only temporarily...
The rest of the characters for this review will be too long- but I will add them soon here. They too perform well, and the Dracula, film`s decor and costumes are the main hightlights of the film. The rest still are good. I recommend you to buy the DVD instead of the VHS because it offers a lot more on the Interactive menus. A definite buy for dracula fans and it`s a VERY BEAUTIFUL FILM. The slogan for the film is `LOVE NEVER DIES`, and the film shows you just that!
An excellent job by Francis Ford Copolla but from the original source of the scenes, HATS OFF TO SIR BRAM STOKER for his splendid novel on DRACULA. BUY IT! A 5-STAR MOVIE.
(WARNING- VISA 18/16 in some countries for sex, violence and a tremendous amount of blood and gore)
