Dracula Movie Critique – Luc Besson’s Love-Struck Reimagining of the Gothic Classic is Outlandish but Entertaining
Maybe interest is limited for a fresh take of Dracula from Luc Besson, the filmmaker known for polished extravagance. Still, it has to be said: his richly designed vampire romance displays creativity and style – and in all its Hammer-y cheesiness, it could be preferable to it to Eggers’s dignified recent take of Nosferatu. Odd details emerge, such as a scene that seems to depict a geographic divide between France and Romania.
The Veteran Actor as a Humorously Exhausted Clergyman Hunting Vampires
Christoph Waltz plays a clever but beleaguered cleric fighting vampires – I can’t believe he hasn’t played this character previously – who arrives in Paris in 1889 for the French Revolution centenary celebrations. So does the evil Count Dracula, brought to life by the expert in grotesque roles Caleb Landry Jones using a distorted Eastern European tone similar to Carell’s Gru character from the Despicable Me comedies. It’s a role he seemed destined to play.
The Plot: A Saga of Heartbreak
The story is this: the count has wandered endlessly the earth in sorrow for 400 years following his rise as one of the undead, a consequence for his irreligious grief after the passing of his beloved Elisabeta (a first film part for Zoë Bleu, daughter of Rosanna Arquette). the vampire has sought relentlessly for some woman who would be the return of his departed beloved. Unfortunately, the lucky lady turns out to be Mina (also Bleu, of course), the reserved future wife of Dracula’s feeble property handler, Jonathan Harker (enacted by Ewens Abid), who lately visited to the count’s castle to negotiate his real estate holdings and the small picture of the winsome Mina attracted Dracula’s gaze.
Besson’s Handling and Lighthearted Touch
Besson organizes Dracula’s flashback sequence of international journeys in various outrageous costumes with a sure hand, and he is not above giving us funny bits in the style of Mel Brooks – such as the vampire’s constant unsuccessful tries to end his own life after Elisabeta’s death, as well as comical sequences that result after Dracula douses himself in a certain perfume in 18th-century Florence, which makes him compelling to the opposite sex. Absurd yet engaging.
Dracula is on digital platforms beginning on the first of December and for physical purchase from 22 December. It screens in Australian cinemas starting February 5, 2026.
