From: kat@banach.WPI.EDU (Christina Lynne Freeman)
Newsgroups: alt.vampyres
Subject: Re: Review of FFC'c _Dracula_ (small spoilers)
Date: 16 Nov 92 19:53:54 GMT
Organization: Worcester Polytechnic Institute
NNTP-Posting-Host: banach.wpi.edu
Originator: kat@banach.WPI.EDU


In article <1e8n8uINN9tm@menudo.uh.edu>, HADCRJAM@admin.uh.edu (MILLER, JIMMY A.) writes:
|>   This is a review for Francis Ford Coppola's _Dracula_.  There are a few
|> spoilers, so bail out now.
|> 
^L



|> Keanau (sp) Reeves was pain-
|> ful to watch as the proper Englishman Jonathan Harker
|>

I have to agree.  He was not meant for the part and I'm sure with the cast
that they had, they could have found someone more fitting.  The fake British
accent annoyed me to no end.  He should stick to surfer/Bill-n-Ted movies.
He fits the part.

|> There were bizarre effects invol-
|> ving shadows, movements, and visuals which seemed not only out of place but
|> frankly quite stupid.  Many of the visual effects also seemed so utterly cheesy
|> as to elicit laughter. 

I think that it lightened the movie a little.  Granted, the movie would have
flown without them, but I don't think that they were awful either.  

|> The use of diary-style narration was jarring in the
|> early going, 

Have you ever read the novel?  Bram Stoker's _Dracula_ is told through the
narrative of diaries.  In this respect, the movie follows the novel.  

|> Lucy, in fact, almost steals the show from Ryder (who
|> in all truth doesn't have much to do) in her portrayal of the girl being
|> tranformed into a vampire. 

Again, if you have read the book, you know that Mina doesn't really exist in it
except for the mention of her in Harkin's journal.  The _Dead Again_ storyline
is completely new to this version of _Dracula_.  Although this doesn't follow the
novel very well, I found it intriguing.

|> 
|>   Before Lucy finally fades, however, Antony Hopkins enters as Otto Van 
|> Helsing, and quite thoroughly takes command of the screen.  His very enjoy-
|> able, sometimes campy, sometimes foreboding performance lifts the entire movie.

Hopkins once again prooves just how incredible of an actor he can be.  IMHO, I 
would daresay he stole the show.

|> Reeve's reappearance after his escape from Vlad's castle (why he is left alive
|> is not really explained) seems to take heart from Hopkins, and he actually 
|> turns in a credible performance after this point. 

Funny, I don't remember much of what he does after he escapes from the castle.  I
just lumped him into the background scenery.

|> 
|>   Things really start to move at the end, which a chase scene and fight, plus
|> a wry twist on things when Vlad chooses to be slain rather than condemn Mina
|> to life of the damned.

Aah yes... true love...

A side note, which may show my lack of knowledge on the topic.  Why did Dracula
only travel by boat when it would have been easier to go by train.  Let's face it,
if he wanted to get away from Van Helsing and crew, he would have had a tremendous
head start on them if he had chosen the train.


|>   The sets and costuming (with some jarring exceptions) were very nice, and
|> added to the feel of the film.  

I loved the costumes and the scenery of the movie.  I found that they added to
the Victorian/Gothic undertones of the movie.  

|>This movie has its problems, most of which I'm
|> tempted to plop into Coppola's lap.  Ridley Scott could have done much better.
|> That this movie succeeds at all would seem to me to be in spite of FFC, not
|> due to any great vision of his.

I agree that this movie had the potential to be alot more.  However, I loved
every minute of it as it was.  

kat
 ***************************************************************************
      Christina Freeman                                 kat@wpi.wpi.edu
		"Was there not, from the first, more poison in
 			  your nature than in mine?" 
                           - _Rappaccini's Daughter_ 
			      Nathaniel Hawthorne
                  ********************************************