Dracula 2000

#12 - Dracula 2000

 

 

SUMMARY (courtesy of IMDB)

A group of thieves break into a chamber expecting to find paintings, but instead they release the count himself, who travels to New Orleans to find his nemesis' daughter, Mary Van Helsing.

REVIEW (Spoilers ahead)

What? Another vampire movie?  Well, it is the month of October isn’t it?  So, sit back and deal with it.  Yes, this movie is fairly hokey, a bit over the top with the blood and gore, and freak-out factor…but it’s got an amazing cast that did pretty well with what they were given.  It has, brace yourself for it… Christopher Plummer, Johnny Lee Miller, Gerard Butler, Nathan Fillion, Omar Epps, and Jeri Ryan.   Gerard Butler plays the infamous Dracula…and I have to admit that I was very skeptical at first, until I saw him on the screen.  He does an amazing job as being evil and still sensuously seductive, everything that Dracula is supposed to be.  Christopher Plummer as Van Helsing is quite good, and Johnny Lee Miller as his unsure, but dedicated assistant is also very good.  Omar Epps, more famously known for his role in the acclaimed television series, House, is your usual B-movie bad guy, and not much to write about.  Jeri Ryan, most known for playing Seven of Nine on Star Trek: Voyager, ends up as one of the brides of Dracula.  However, the most ironic role must admittedly go to Nathan Fillion.  In the movie he portrays a priest, and later in his career, only three years later, he plays a priest…but instead, he’s an evil priest.  Our leading lady, Justine Waddell, also does a fairly good job, but most of the glory must go to Gerard Butler.

 

(Above) Gerard Butler as Dracula

(Below) Justine Waddell as Mary Van Helsing

 

 

 

(Above) Nathan Fillion as Daniel

(Below) Johnny Lee Miller as Simon

 

The movie plotline is original and un-original at the same time.  It takes the classic tale of Dracula, and then brings it to the modern day.  In a unique twist, we find out that Van Helsing was poisoned by Dracula’s blood many years ago, when he captured him, and decided to use his newfound long life to be the permanent guard over Dracula’s body, making sure that his evil remained hidden and contained.  When Dracula does escape, unwittingly aided by some thieves looking for something else entirely, he brings along with him the history of the character.  He can dissolve into mist, change into animal form, and seduce women at a glance, all of which happen to be in the original book, more or less.  As the movie progresses, we discover that Van Helsing’s daughter is directly of Dracula’s bloodline, as she inherited her father’s blood which was tainted by the master vampire.

Though the blood and gore are a bit, as I said before, over the top, the plotline is actually a good plotline, and I think that that is the only reason why it didn’t completely tank.  Besides, who wouldn’t want to see Gerard Butler as an evil vampire?  If taken into the proper directing hands, along with a bit of an actor shuffle and a clean-up of some of the language and violence, it could be a really good movie.  But, as I said, it’s a B-movie, with A-movie actors in it.  I think it goes to show, that even if you have A-movie actors, you can’t really change a B-movie plotline.  But, as I have said in the past, I’m a sucker for B-movies, and this one’s one of my favorites.

A bit stupid, but fun anyway.