"Love Never Dies" -- That was the tagline for this movie when it came out in 1992. This movie is as much a love story as it is a horror flick, and it works. Some of Francis Ford Coppola's best work in my opinion. Everything from the set design to the costumes are top notch. The musical score by Wojciech Kilar is amazing. The film is near perfect. Yet it's so different from any of the previous film incarnations that we've seen. That's probably due to the fact that this movie takes after the actual book by Bram Stoker and not after the image of Hollywood's Dracula, though I'm pretty sure there were a few nods to Bela Lugosi in there.
The success of this film starts and ends with the right actor to play Dracula. Gary Oldman was absolute perfection in his portrayal Vlad the Impaler. To portray the many sides of Vlad as well as endure the many hours of make up that I'm sure was required for this role speaks volumes of Oldman. I believe it would have taken a special actor indeed to get through this movie whilst delivering a top notch performance of this iconic character. Luckily, Oldman was available.
So what doesn't work here? Two things I wish I could change about this movie: 1. Keanu Reeves and 2. Hopkins performance. I'll start with Hopkins. I generally enjoy Anthony Hopkins in anything he does and on the surface, he seems like a great fit for the Van Helsing character. But he comes off a bit too eccentric and goofy for me in this movie. Is this perhaps how the Van Helsing character was written in the original novel? Could be. I've tried to read the novel twice and both times bowed out before even getting to Van Helsing. So as someone who isn't completely familiar with the book and is accustomed to a Van Helsing played by Edward Van Sloan or Peter Cushing, Hopkins portrayal of Van Helsing just comes off as some form of cheap comic relief that just doesn't seem necessary. Then again, had Hopkins played the character straight, I'm not sure there would be enough there to make the role memorable, so maybe Hopkins version of Van Helsing is justified here in order to make the character interesting.
My other complaint is the casting of Keanu Reeves. I have trouble seeing him in this movie without thinking of Bill & Ted. Even though the Wyld Stallyns had a time traveling pay phone, they would seem deeply out of place in this film and guess what, Reeves is out of place. Of coarse, I could nitpick even more about the casting. Cary Elwes? Wynona Ryder? Sadie Frost? Tom Waits? All these people do an adequate job and the film doesn't suffer but I can't help but think this movie could have been even better than it was. From what I've read about this film though, it really doesn't get made without Ryder. Word is that Wynona Ryder is the one that brought this project to the attention of Coppola.
Ok, I've nitpicked enough. This really is an excellent movie. Above all, a great Dracula movie should be heavy on creepy gothic atmosphere and have a great actor in the lead role and this does that to perfection.
GRADE: A
