messy but interesting

Rating: 6/10 (28 October 2008)

Fresh off the critical failure of The Godfather Part 3, Francis Ford Coppola set out to retrieve his reputation with this adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula. He assembled a starry cast; Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder (who had famously dropped out of the Godfather Part 3 due to exhaustion, leading to the Sofia Coppola debacle), hot young thing Keanu Reeves, and Anthony Hopkins, fresh from his Oscar success. So where did it all go wrong? Well, tonally and thematically the film is a mess. It feels like various different movies spliced together. It looks beautiful though. Coppola and cinematographer Michael Ballhaus creating a stunning look, draped in Gothic beauty, and Coppola seemingly knows his film history, borrowing liberally from vampire films of the past, particularly Nosferatu. The acting is a mixed bag. Keanu Reeves is uncomfortably out of his depth, struggling constantly with an English accent, while Anthony Hopkins hams it up as Van Helsing. The bright spark though is Gary Oldman, completely immersing himself in the role, even when buried under prosthetics and wigs. He makes Dracula a horrific character, while also finding added layers of pathos and sadness. It's a shame the film is such a mess though.