The Blood Is The Life. The Best Cinematic Photo-Play Of Bram Stoker's Classic Novel.

Rating: 10/10 (12 September 2016)

Academy Award winner Francis Ford Coppola digs his Godfather-like hands into a classic novel, and unlike Part III of the saga that made him a household name, this one is easy to follow, and very well written. The casting for this version is exceptional, and like Mary Shelley's Frankenstein two years later, would consist of a dream cast. The acting is top-notch (say what you will about Keanu Reeves' performance, I think he played the role exactly as it was written), the music is beautiful and absolutely hypnotic, with the closing song by Annie Lennox providing the perfect ending to a wonderful, full-blooded movie.
Contains mild spoilers.
Gary Oldman stars as the titular vampire made famous by Bela Lugosi in the 1931 classic Dracula, Winona Ryder stars as Mina, a woman who may be the reincarnation of Dracula's lost love, Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins stars as Doctor Abraham Van Helsing, an eccentric man who has sworn to destroy Dracula at any cost, and Keanu Reeves stars as Jonathan Harker, Mina's fiancée and Dracula's rival. Sadie Frost, Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride), Richard E. Grant, and Billy Campbell (Disney's The Rocketeer) round out the supporting cast. Monica Belluci appears in a minor, but full-bodied, role.
As with Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, this photo-play of Stoker's novel takes liberties with the source material, but they serve to enrich the movie rather than harm it. In addition, elements of the novel that are not usually present in motion picture and television versions are retained here in all their cinematic glory.
The Workprint of this film should be officially released, as it probably contains scenes not present in the deleted scenes including the fleshed-out version of the scene where Mina seduces Van Helsing.
There is, however, one question I have. Why were scenes that were in the trailer along with some lines cut from the film before release? At least one scene shed light on Doctor Van Helsing's remark that survives in the final cut: 'Dracul. The foe I have searched all my life.' How and why the good doctor searched for Dracula all his life is never explained, although eagle-eyed viewers will see that Mr. Hopkins, in addition to playing Van Helsing, also doubles as the Priest in the prologue and as the Captain of the Demeter in voice-over. Another deleted scene, originally intercut with Mina and Dracula dancing, shows how Jonathan tried to escape from Dracula's castle. That scene should definitely have not been eliminated from the film, in my opinion. Oh, well. At least, most, if not all of them (for whatever reason), are included on the DVD.
Rated R for vampire violence, and some sexuality.