There have been so many Dracula/vampire movies and shows, especially over the past 15 years, it must be getting difficult to invent new ways to put an enticing spin on the tale we most are familiar. This latest big-budget installment strays so far from convention, and does so in such an odd way, it was difficult for me to find anything I liked about it. If the writers wanted to make a more effective political statement, they should have chosen to resurrect Dracula in modern times. I am getting ahead of myself. Right from the start, something smelled funny. Flashlights in 1881 Romania? Nope, they weren't invented yet. Orchestral music with a modern drum beat, that the people in Dracula's party were dancing to in 1898? The audio mixing is terrible, I had to lower the bass and boost the treble just to make out the dialog, but still the score is way too loud and muddy sounding. The story-line is such a complete mess, with dialog going off on all different directions. I have no idea why Dracula was brought back if all he's going to do is be part of energy business start- up, hell bent on making the petroleum industry obsolete, and seemingly answering to Van Helsing who is no longer the benevolent figure he had been in all the other versions of Dracula- based stories. Renfield is now a large lucid African-American, who is astute to the ways of business and not carnivorous madman he commonly was written as. I cant figure out Jonathan Rhys Meyers role at all. One scene he has an English accent, the next he almost sounds like a southerner, but his vocal range is not deep and commanding enough for a role like this, neither is his physical presences, unless its intentional to disassociate him from what we have grown use to over the decades. Harker, Mina and Lucy were all forgettable. The more I watched the more I got confused. I am all for seeing something new but you have to get my attention with first making sense of the questions I will need answers to, and will eagerly wait to see their resolve. The problem here is, I don't know which question to ask. This one's regrettably a stinker.
