Dracula Movie Critique – Besson’s Love-Struck Reimagining of the Timeless Gothic Tale is Outlandish but Watchable
Maybe there is no great enthusiasm for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the French maestro for polished extravagance. However, one must admit: his opulently crafted love story with vampires boasts bold vision and flair – and in all its Hammer-y cheesiness, I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer compared with Eggers’s dignified recent take of Nosferatu. Odd details emerge, including one shot that looks like it presents a territorial boundary between France and Romania.
Christoph Waltz as a Humorously Exhausted Clergyman Hunting Vampires
Christoph Waltz portrays a humorous yet burdened cleric fighting vampires – it’s surprising he never took on such a part earlier – who finds himself in Paris in 1889 to mark the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. The same goes for the malevolent vampire count, enacted by the seasoned horror actor Caleb Landry Jones with a mangled central European accent reminiscent of Carell’s Gru character from the Despicable Me comedies. It’s a role suits him perfectly.
The Narrative: A Chronicle of Longing
The story is this: the vampire lord has been restlessly roaming the globe in sorrow over four centuries after his transformation into a vampire, a punishment due to his blasphemous mourning after the passing of his wife, Elisabeta (a first film part for Zoë Bleu, the offspring of Rosanna Arquette). The count has been searching, searching, searching for some woman who could be the reincarnation of his deceased partner. Unfortunately, the lucky lady proves to be Mina (again played by Bleu), the reserved future wife of Dracula’s feeble property handler, Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abid), who has recently been to Dracula’s fortress to review his land assets and whose miniature portrait of the lovely Mina caught the count’s hooded eye.
Besson’s Handling and Comic Flair
Besson structures Dracula’s second-act backstory of global roaming sporting extravagant attire skillfully, and he is not above providing humorous scenes reminiscent of Mel Brooks – for example Dracula’s ongoing failed efforts to kill himself after Elisabeta’s death, in addition to comical sequences that occur when Dracula sprays himself using a particular scent in 18th-century Florence, which causes him to be irresistible to women. Outlandish but entertaining.
Dracula is available digitally starting December 1st and in disc format starting the twenty-second of December. It screens in Australian cinemas starting February 5, 2026.
