Plot: In 1492, Vlad Dracula returns from a war to find that his wife, Elisabeta, has committed suicide, tricked to believe that he was killed in battle. So in anger, he renounces God declaring that he will rise from the grave to have his vengeance with the powers of darkness. Cut to 1897 where a solicitor named Jonathan Harker takes the Transylvanian Count Dracula as a client. But when the count sees a picture of Harker's fiancee, Mina, he believes that she is a reincarnation Elisabeta, and so devises a plan to go after her and try to win her heart.
While I would not call myself someone who has actually read the book Dracula, this film does have a lot of both similar and very different things as far as the all around story in comparison to the Christopher Lee Dracula that I reviewed a couple months back. The biggest difference between both of these films is what is happening between Mina and Dracula through roughly the last three-quarters of the movie. And for the most part, what comes out is something with a great cast, colorful visuals and a somewhat disorganized but still interesting story. This film has a generally excellent casting with Gary Oldman as Dracula, Winona Ryder as Mina, Anthony Hopkins as Van Helsing and Cary Elwes as Sir Arthur Holmwood. The biggest problem with the casting that people seem to have is Keanu Reeves as Jonathan Harker who people viewed as out of his depth, especially in comparison to acting with big actors like Oldman and Hopkins. I'll admit that while I didn't say anything to Blaine, I was sort of on that boat too when he told me that he was in this movie before we watched it. I mean I'm not as critical about his acting as others, but...really? Keanu Reeves in a Francis Ford Coppola movie? The guy who plays Neo in the Matrix films gets an acting job in one of the projects of the guy who gave us The Godfather films? But after watching the movie I do think he's okay, but his importance in the film felt a little jumbled. Like he's the main focus in the beginning of the movie like he's suppose to be, and then after his encounter with The Brides, he kinda disappears and reappears out of random during the remainder of the film. But I digress. The cinematography and colors are also great in this movie. Just from both of those factors (but mainly colors) you can easily tell that this is a Coppola film through and through. This film also won an Oscar for makeup and for good reason: they have very creative, well put together, and various kinds of make up for Gary Oldman especially to the point where you may as well think you're watching very different characters even if it's the same character with the same actor. And like most films that are set in this time period, the costumes are very detailed and great to look at. But the biggest problem for me was how it took a while for me to understand what was happening. After Harker's encounter with The Brides, the next half hour or so of the movie was very confusing and hard to follow. Like there's some important stuff happening around that time, but it's put together in a way where it's kind of all over the place. Thankfully by the time we were about halfway through the movie, I was understanding more what was happening in the movie and I was enjoying it from there. But thinking more about the movie, there was some stuff that doesn't make sense to me even then, mainly the realtionship between Mina and Dracula. Like on one hand I kind of believe what is emotionally happening between them, but at the same time I have no idea why their relationship works, particularly with how Mina feels about Dracula. Granted, more than likely, it's possible that I just need to see it again to understand it, or maybe I did get it when I watched it and I forgot. Honestly, there is so many interesting things happen in this film that I can't remember everything.
And that's my review for Bram Stoker's Dracula. It's a deep, dramatic film with an excellent cast (unless you don't like Keanu Reeves), great visual that Francis Ford Coppola knows to deliver on, and a story that you may not like if you can't follow it, but is still an interesting to follow. You may need to see it more than once to fully get it, but otherwise, it's a very well acted drama to check out.
Rating: 75%
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