Hello Everyone! Long time no post! Sorry about that, life is full of surprises and also deadlines so I’m afraid this has sort of taken a back seat. I finally finished some things that were way overdue and I hate doing nothing so I figured it was time I finally posted this.
Okay, so I actually watched this movie when it came to theaters because, as you may or may not have noticed, I love vampires. Now before you judge me, it was not Twilight that got me started on vampires. I’m not really sure when it was, it may have been the Cirque Du Freak books, it may have been the fact that I was surrounded by people that loved those things- either way I had a spare moment and it’s high time for an update.
Alright, obviously I’m going to be a bit biased about this considering how much I love things of the bloodsucking variety, but seriously, this was absolutely amazing. I mean, as soon as it came out on DVD I bought it- that’s how good it was. It was absolutely breathtaking- and Luke Evans as Dracula certainly didn’t hurt things at all.
Plot:
*warning: may or may not contain spoilers*
A slightly different take on the classic story we should all know and love, Dracula Untold paints this Prince of Darkness in a slightly more heroic light. Instead of the nightmare inspiring creature of the night that Bram Stoker enraptured us with, we are met with the Prince of Wallachia who will do what it takes to keep peace for his people, and for his family. When The Turks demand 1.thousand boys for their army, Prince Vlad- or Vlad the Impaler as is widely know as- must make a choice: consent to the Turks to keep the peace and save his country from the ravages of a war they were in no means ready for, or to keep the young boys- including his own son- from the things he had to endure as a child as a political hostage. Vlad knows he can’t risk a war, but he’d much rather struggle through the toils than to risk his son’s life. So, desperate for way to win this war, Vlad turns to what lies in Broken Tooth Mountain. Something is trapped within the mountain. Something that was once man, but in search of power became something much different- a monster. But a monster is exactly what Vlad needs,
“Men don’t fear swords, they fear monsters.”
Vlad to OldVampire
The Old Vampire agrees to give Vlad a taste of his powers; speed, strength and regenerative powers beyond his imagination, but only for three days. If Vlad should resist the overwhelming urge to drink human blood, than he will be returned to his mortal state and quite possibly have saved his country. If he gives in, not only will he remain a mosnter, he will have set the Old Vampire free from the restraints binding him to the mountain and he will be able to carry out his revenge on the ones who betrayed him, Vlad would have to become a pawn in his game.
Alrighty, so before this had come out, I was already counting down the days until I could see it. I’m a huge fan of Dracula and I like to consider myself well versed in the history of Vlad III. That being said, prepare yourself for a bit of a history lesson here.
Vlad III, or better known as Vlad the Impaler was, as I mentioned earlier, a political hostage. He and his brother Radu were taken during the Turkish war against Hungary as insurance that their father, the ruler of Wallachia- present day Transylvania area- would remain loyal to them. While there they were taught a variety of things, among those was rumored to be the art of war.Something that Vlad Tepes was quite well known for was the way he would punish his enemies. While they were alive he would impale them with a very large wooden spike. He was called blood thirsty, which is part of what inspired Bram Stoker to use Vlad as the basis for the Count Dracula in his book. Another thing that Stoker used was the name Dracula. or Drăculea, another name Vlad was said to go by, meaning “Son of the Dragon”.
Now, I’ve known this information for quite sometime, probably about half of my life. What I loved about Dracula Untold was that it did a beautiful job at mixing history and fiction. It was astounding how many things they kept true to what I know to be true about Vlad the Impaler. Now I’m not trying to say that I’m an expert about it, I didn’t study this subject all. It was actually just a weird obsession I had for a while, but the internet does lie so please don’t judge me too harshly if I got something wrong.
The only thing that I had issues with in the movie was the fact that it could have a little bit more character development, add on thirty minutes and it would have been fine. I LOVED the ending though, it was equal parts sad, touching, and mysterious with just a smidge of cheesiness, I will not tell you how that is though because though I do give some spoilers I will not just blatantly tell you the ending.
This movie really did it for me and I cannot express how much I appreciate it’s existence. In life there are two sides to every story, a cause for the bad as well as the good. External pressures that aren’t always visible to everyone else. That’s the reason that I loved this movie. It discards the modern view of humans making the choice to be a vampire to become immortal. It shows that sometimes, when life pushes you , you have to find a way to push back. Vlad was looking for a way to do the right thing and also save his family. He had to make a sacrifice and get his hands dirty, he had to do what it took to get the job done. I have so much respect for this movie because sometimes things don;t turn out how you expect or want them to and you just have to roll with it. You have to find a way back up even if it seems impossible.
Okay, now that the motivational speaker side of me has decided to finally go away, I must say that I highly recommend seeing this movie- that is if you haven’t already, I know it’s been out for quite some time now.
Any who, with that I leave you to a hopefully wonderful day.
Happy Viewing,
Maddison C. Jones
In My Opinion 