Bringing new to something old can be hard…

On the world directorial carousel it’s France’s Luc Besson’s turn to tackle Bram Stoker’s Dracula.  While it all has a very distinct visual flare to it, much of that came from Francis Ford Coppola’s version back in 1992 which makes this version of Dracula traditionally very sexy as it leans into the melodrama of the story….which we’ve all seen before.

When a 15th-century prince (Caleb Landry Jones) witnesses the brutal murder of his wife (Zoë Bleu), he renounces God and damns heaven itself. Cursed with eternal life, he is reborn as Dracula, an immortal warlord who defies fate in a blood-soaked crusade to wrench his lost love back from death, no matter the cost. On the verge of reuniting, Dracula is hunted by a relentless priest (Christoph Waltz), sworn to end his immortal reign.

This is one of those films that really has most if not all of the tools that it needs to succeed but it just…doesn’t.  Besson injects it all with way too much (or too familiar) visual flare that will certainly draw you in but also doesn’t give the legacy or the lore of the character anything that was genuinely new. It’s all very “been there, done that” especially if you’ve seen a movie made before the turn of the century (particularly Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula).

Sadly, I suspect this is just proving the reality that Besson who had some genuinely original and innovative pieces of cinema from the early Subway and La Femme Nikita to the genre defying The Fifth Element has managed a  very long career on mid-level action mediocrity and science fiction but when his reach exceeds his grasps it becomes obvious, especially as we have slick production design making it look like he’s in the halls of Versailles but surrounded by his concrete gargoyles that looking low rent of the 80’s Ghoulies franchise.

The cast while giving it’s best are simply not up to the task as Caleb Landry Jones in our title role is basically doing his best Gary Oldman impersonation from the ’92 film, and while it’s fun it’s hardly original or does anything to get us into the tragic nature of the character.  While Christoph Waltz in the defacto Anthony Hopkins roll is basically doing the same thing as the inexperienced Zoe Bleu as Mina is there to be swept off of her feet by the dashing 15^th century prince.

We’ll admit this isn’t a verbatim interpretation to the original Dracula story; Besson took some liberties (he’s certainly allowed) but it’s also a reality that familiarity CAN breed contempt because this adaptation is more about running back the greatest hits beats of the franchise that it is about making us care or develop new layers for some well warn characters.

Ultimately, this Dracula looks great but it’s less filling as it never quite brings anything fresh to a story that honestly is losing cinematic tread because it’s been adapted so many times.  Everyone is putting their best foot forward, but Stoker’s tale needs to go back in the crypt for at least a generation or two before we see it again.  It’s IP fatigue that adds nothing to the legacy of the story.