What Went Wrong With Universal's Reboot Movie
James Stevens Dracula Untold needed more confidence in its approach to the source material in order to kickstart the Dark Universe with the right foot.
Dracula Untold could have been both the definitive Dracula movie and the triumphant beginning of the Dark Universe, but it failed at both. As its title suggests, Dracula Untold intended to chronicle the origin story of Bram Stoker's famous vampire as a blend of action and historical fiction. Starring Luke Evans as Vlad III "the Impaler" Drăculea, Dracula Untold explains the young prince's transformation through a pact he makes with a vampire at the Broken Tooth Mountain, which gives him enough power to protect his wife Mirena (Sarah Gadon) and the kingdom of Transylvania from Sultan Mehmed II (Dominic Cooper) and the Turkish army — all, as expected, at the cost of his humanity.
Dracula's numerous cinematic adaptations throughout the decades illustrate his status as the most famous literary monster. Although The Phantom of the Opera inaugurated it, Bela Lugosi's interpretation of Dracula and Boris Karloff's portrayal of Frankenstein's monster were the characters who popularized Universal's original Dark Universe of classic monsters. Due to the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Universal attempted to establish a modern interpretation of the Dark Universe, starting with Dracula Untold and a reboot of The Mummy, the latter of which starring Tom Cruise.
Despite its ambitious plot, Dracula Untold lacked gravitas. The characterization of Dracula, Mehmed, and Mirena didn't go a step beyond their stereotypical roles as anti-hero, wicked villain, and damsel in distress, respectively. This had a direct impact on their character arcs and the main plot, both of which became tediously straightforward. Without any innovative twists in the main conflict, the movie followed the same storyline that countless other movies have told for decades.
This issue is critical considering that the protagonist isn't an obscure or unproven character. He's Dracula — the ultimate vampire in all fictional media. A thrilling movie with complex plotlines and shocking twists is the bare minimum Dracula Untold needed to be in order to do the character justice, even more so when it intended to be the first step toward a new shared universe of classic monsters. Whether Dracula Untold was going to spawn multiple crossovers or a more linear progression of Dracula's story, the first installment needed to make itself stand out over hundreds of similar blockbusters.
On paper, Dracula Untold isn't a bad movie. All the elements to craft a unique Dracula adaptation are there: a stellar cast, decent performances, an original premise, and the promise of spectacular action. However, the movie didn't take advantage of any of these assets, whereas previous movies have achieved more with less. For instance, Bram Stoker's Dracula adapts the original novel as a slow-burn drama starring an older, creepier version of the iconic count; Hammer Films' numerous vampire flicks portrayed Christopher Lee's Dracula as both an ominous and sensual figure, and even Dracula 2000 encapsulated the weird emo-rock style of its titular era. When compared to these adaptations, it's easy to point out the absence of a distinct personality in Dracula Untold.
All the positive aspects of Dracula Untold would have worked if the movie had chosen a defined style and stuck with it, like other major franchises in the action-horror genre. The Blade trilogy zeroed-in on the action aspect of vampires, which played to Wesley Snipes's strengths. Likewise, the Resident Evil and Underworld franchises bet all their chips on their heavily stylized spectacle, despite falling short on other areas like realism and plot consistency. More recently, Legendary's MonsterVerse has been faithful to its early 20th century inspirations while crafting a Titan-sized shared universe, and 2020's Invisible Man takes a subtle approach to the monster movie formula and still delivers on the thrills, exchanging action for suspense.
Dracula Untold didn't match the high expectations a Dracula adaptation entails in matters of tone, genre, and action. If it had taken a more confident approach to them, it would have had more freedom to innovate in other areas, as cinematic universes have been doing recently. The movie serves as a reminder that the scope of a concept doesn't matter if its execution falls flat.
