Dracula Movie Critique – Luc Besson’s Romantic Reimagining of the Gothic Classic is Ridiculous but Entertaining
Perhaps there is no great enthusiasm for a fresh take of Dracula from Luc Besson, the celebrated French director for stylish excess. Still, it has to be said: his richly designed romantic vampire tale displays creativity and style – and amid its theatrical camp, it could be preferable compared with Eggers’s dignified recent take of Nosferatu. A few strange elements appear, like a particular moment that seems to depict a territorial boundary between France and Romania.
Christoph Waltz as a Witty Yet Careworn Vampire-Hunting Priest
Christoph Waltz portrays a clever but beleaguered vampire-hunting priest – it’s surprising he never took on this character previously – who arrives in Paris in 1889 during the centennial of the French Revolution. So does the malevolent vampire count, played by the expert in grotesque roles Caleb Landry Jones with a mangled central European accent evoking the voice of Gru by Steve Carell from the Despicable Me comedies. This is a part he seemed destined to play.
The Narrative: A Chronicle of Longing
The story is this: Dracula has been restlessly roaming the world in anguish for hundreds of years after his transformation into a vampire, a consequence due to his blasphemous mourning over the death of his wife, Elisabeta (a movie debut role for Zoë Bleu, Rosanna Arquette’s child). Dracula has been searching, searching, searching for a lady who might be the reincarnation of his departed beloved. By cruel fate, the chosen woman proves to be Mina (again played by Bleu), the demure fiancee of Dracula’s feeble property handler, Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abid), who has recently been to the count’s castle to review his real estate holdings and whose miniature portrait of the winsome Mina caught the count’s hooded eye.
Besson’s Direction and Comic Flair
Besson structures Dracula’s second-act backstory of global roaming in various outrageous costumes skillfully, and he doesn’t shy away from giving us humorous scenes reminiscent of Mel Brooks – such as the vampire’s constant unsuccessful tries to commit suicide after Elisabeta’s death, in addition to farcical scenes that result after Dracula applies to himself using a particular scent in historic Florence, which makes him irresistible to women. Ridiculous and watchable.
Dracula can be streamed online beginning on the first of December and on DVD and Blu-ray starting the twenty-second of December. It plays in Australian cinemas from 5 February 2026.
