Not Stoker's

Rating: 7/10 (31 August 2012)

This was definitely not Bram Stokers Dracula!! That said it was an enjoyable take on the Dracula story which, quite frankly, has been done to death. Gary Oldman is/was simply the best characterisation of the Count I have ever seen. I doubt he will ever be bettered. In all his incarnations young or old he really nails it. it is so true to the representation in the book as I remember it (if not the actual description it is the total feel of the character). it has been 30-40 years since I last read it and it scared the bejesus out of me! I really did not enjoy Hopkins in this - far too mannered and hammy for me. Keanu Reeves is pretty awful, mainly because of his accent. I think he was cast for box office reasons. I hated Sadie Frost when I first saw this and still don't love her after having seen it about 4 times, but she does grow on you - I guess she was doing as she was told by Coppola. Costumes were superb and the sets were great. There are a lot of flaws in the way the story was told and I would like to see a better, more coherent cut with as much of Gary Oldman as possible - he really should have won an Oscar for his towering performance in my opinion. The way he delivers his line "The children of the night...." is worth the cost of admission alone.