The vampire film for the Goth generation

Rating: 8/10 (17 November 2012)

Francis Ford Coppola has crafted something visually stunning with his version of Dracula. It has held up beautifully for 20 years now. If you're one of the viewers who left the theater grumbling that the 1979 version with Frank Langella was better, then you're probably not of the target generation for this film.
This new take on the classic Dracula story by Bram Stoker is all MTV attitude where the '79 film was something your dad probably listened to back before they invented CDs. There is a wonderful sense of lushness and extravagance to the sets and the costumes. Coppola's eye for dramatic angles and tricks of lighting brings out the magic and the horror of each scene in equal measure.
Emotions are conveyed through a theatrical, exaggerated style of acting: weirdly, it works well even though in any other context you'd be cringing at the hamminess of it all. Gary Oldman as Count Dracula chews through the scenery in a brilliant rendition of a tortured soul who is also a merciless killer. Winona Ryder (whom I normally don't count among the serious actors) does the role of Mina justice: proper Victorian maiden, innocent but drawn to the seductive side of darkness. Keanu Reeves' Jonathan Harker is widely criticized as a dull and wooden character, but serves as a good contrast to his rival the Count. And so we have set up an intense love triangle which draws out the tension effectively.
The horrific nature of this tale (ancient vampire from Transylvania crosses the Atlantic ocean to begin a reign of terror in 19th Century England)is not neglected by any means. Violence as well as the more subtle psychological thrills and creeps are in abundance here. Coppola's vampires come in many incarnations, but they are all decadent monsters of the night whose top predatory skill are seduction.
So then let yourself be seduced! Delicious thrills await you. Plentiful angst pours out of the dialog in torrents. Coppola is the master of dramatic emotionalism for those who enjoy this over-the-top style.