Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula (Leave Bram Stoker Out of This)

Rating: 7/10 (3 December 2013)

I think the biggest crime of Bram Stoker's Dracula...is the fact that it is called BRAM STOKER'S Dracula! Seriously, Coppola took such extreme liberties with the original text of the novel, that he shows some nerve by implying that his film is so definitive a treatment. In reality, this is the director's most schizophrenic masterpiece, astonishingly artful in some areas, distractingly clumsy in others. I mean, Keanu Reeves? He looks so adrift and horribly out-performed by everyone else in the cast. I like Anthony Hopkins and Gary Oldman's performances though. There have been MUCH better Dracula movies (Nosferatu, anyone?) and far more charismatic interpretations (Bela Lugosi, but for what it's worth, "Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula" is a worthy addition to the long and storied mythology of Bram Stoker's legendary idol.