Dracula 2000

Dracula 2000

---in a campy sort of way. First, watch the DVD deleted scenes, extended scenes and audition featuring Gerard Butler. That will get you in the right mood! Then start the film. The first 30 minutes are a mess. After the opening scenes with Christopher Plummer as Van Helsing, that lays the groundwork for the story, they could have skipped all the scenes about the stealing of the coffin and just had Plummer tell Simon (Johnny Lee Miller) "we been robbed!". But the young people and the robbery and taking the coffin by plane and it crashing - all could be handled by voice-over. This is just a mess and not one of the actors are interesting or have any charisma. Especially Solina (Jennifer Esposito) going into the vault, dark and creepy and skulls and gad! you get the picture. We are in for a fright! Bah!!! So lame. Our first great shot of Dracula (Butler), is on the plane when he walks into the section of the plane and reaches out for Solina - and like any sane woman, she goes right to him. The love bite is next. Um Hmmmm! In the meantime, Mary Van Helsing (Justine Waddell - child like and innocent) is having dreams/nightmares seeing Dracula in her mirror. She is speechless, and we are too. OMG! She keeps saying "wake up - you're dreaming" but then he comes close and sniffs her and says "you're real" and I have to pause the film and fan myself. Troubled Mary goes to the church in New Orleans where the priest is a childhood friend, to get some answers about her Mother and as he is putting the candles out and turns to Mary - it is him, the big D. A gaze to die for. The next is Dracula perched like a gargoyle on the church parapet above the Mardi Gras revelers and he says "Farewell, Princess." Perfect! Down at street level, he walks among the drunken revelers with a bemused look. There is a giant TV screen showing dancers silhouettes, there are beads and coins tossed at him as he looks on with a knowing smile. He watches the giant screen flash images of atom bombs, rock stars, lingerie ads and women mud wrestling and says "Brilliant." Great satire! His walk through the "Virgin" record store is iconic, with all the young gals turning to look as he passes by. He gets Lucy, Mary's friend to take him to their home. His comment to Lucy, when she can't come up with a word to describe Mary's mothers decor of the house "catholic?" is priceless. And to her query "would you like some coffee?" he says " I don't drink----------coffee." Timed perfectly with just the right look. And of course, he has her on the bed and on the ceiling! Faint!!! It is like there are two films here - one a brilliant satire with great lines. And the other an incoherent teen/slasher/blood-fest. But it is almost possible to just start anywhere after the first 30 minutes and the story is interesting and makes sense of the Jesus Christ/Judas theme. The cinematography has some beautiful scenes. The Red Hall - the curtains blowing and the eastern theme music for the desert and cross scenes. The few lines Dracula(Butler) utters are great and with timing and marvelous expression. "The Bible is propaganda." "You think you can defend her with the Bible." To Mary "Everything I have is yours; and all you are is mine." (Shades of The Phantom.) Dracula to the Jesus Cross "I give them (revelers below) what they crave most. All the pleasures you denied them." And his gesture to Mary - arm and hand out as the camera pans away and he says "come let us feast" and the kisses. Wow!! Nellie bar the door. I want some of that! (8/10 - would have been higher but that first 30 minutes is just bad!)

Please don't waste your time. This movie rehashes the worst of Bram Stoker's Dracula (Van Helsing), Anne Rice's Vampire Lestat (rock music and silly biblical references), and Blade (high-tech toys). I really like vampire movies and novels, and there are many out there that are very good . But not this stinker. Not even the soundtrack helps it, mostly because the movie resorts to ridiculous scary classical music rather than the "kick-ass metal" some reported. Only a few times did I hear any metal; mostly it was tortured violins. Avoid it like garlic and crucifixes.

I really don't know what to say about Dracula 2000, except what an insult on Bram Stoker's infamous story of Count Dracula. It had an OK cast, like Christopher Plummer as Van Helsing, but it was still a bad movie. It had no actual plot, no good acting, and Gerard Butler was a disappointing Dracula (sure, he was sensual and menacing, but he should have a "heart" that makes the role meatier, like Gary Oldman in Bram Stoker's Dracula). Pretty much the only good thing about it was Vitamin C, Jeri Ryan, and Jennifer Esposito as Dracula's Brides (but none of them hold a candle to Monica Bellucci as the lead Bride in BSD), but those three hot girls just weren't enough to save this. My advice to Patrick Lussier: stick to editing. And to Wes Craven: Don't attach your name to every Miramax/Dimension horror film that comes out. It will tarnish your career. If you want to see a good vampire movie, my advice is to rent Shadow of the Vampire, starring Oscar nominee Willem Dafoe. D-

This is not a piece of cinematic brilliance, but it's eye catching and enjoyable. It's predictable until the last 15 minutes, when it becomes an intellectual odyssey. The challenge to the traditional Dracula myth is mind-blowing and really gives you something to think about on your way back from the theatre and possibly beyond. Not good for people looking for a canned Dracula story.

the biggest problem with it was that wes craven came up with 2 really unique & original ideas for a dracula story. But he tried to combine them into One movie. And that really messed it up. Had the 2 ideas been 2 separate movies, they probably would have been better. But they just didn't work with each other right, it was like 2 movies cut & clipped into one. it was two completely separate storylines that didn't even connect until the very end. And the way he connected them was cheesy, stupid, and didn't work at all. he had some good subtle clues, and neat ideas in the beginning and middle of the movie, but he never elaborated on them, or hinted at why there were there. I hate movies that go out of the way just to give you fluff & stuff. there was no relevance to about a third of the scenes in the movie. and the end gave me that explicit feeling that they ran out of money, and just had to end it quick.

If you want a Dracula with no menace and the screen charisma of a gnat plus to see a lot more jumping and leaping and hanging from wires a la Matrix (again) then you've come to the right place. It frightens me to think that in such an overcrowded industry that somebody got the money to make this film - even worse that somebody actually wrote it this bad and still got someone to give them the money. Oh, and you better like Virgin because they're in it more often than the vampires. Avoid.

This movie keeps you on the edge of your seat. It made all the right connections,regarding Jesus,Judas Isacarriot,and why he did not fear the bible or the cross or the money,but why he despised it. Gerard Butler Gave a mesmerizing performance as Dracula/Judas Isacarriot. He showed so much emotion when he first saw Mary Van Helsing, that it was convincing that he really loved her.Jonny Lee Miller was...not the best in this movie,as he was playing Simon. When Matthew Van Helsing told Simon about Dracula and Mary's relationship to him, he could of acted more surprised then he did. As for the whole movie,it was the best Dracula movie i have ever seen. I would definitely recommend this movie for everyone. It has great special effects and one amassing actor.

As stupid and brainless as movies get, but could I say I wasn't entertained? Absolutely not! This feels like a movie that could have only been made at a very specific point in time and watching it was like a trip down memory lane.

And no, it's not as good-bad as that makes it sound. A few quick notes are all this deserves: * Jennifer Esposito and Sean Patrick Thomas play characters who are obviously, and in every way, modeled after Jennifer Lopez and Puff Daddy. Except, instead of an actress and a rap mogul, they're a criminal and a criminal. They are in every other way Lopez and Puffy. What does this mean? Why did this happen? Did some d-girl think that was funny? Does this make any sense? * Product placement for Virgin Megastore is rampant. Is there some sort of "virgin" pun I'm missing, or is this mere shamelessness? * Despite the fact that talented people--I consider Jennifer Esposito and Christopher Plummer talented--appear in this movie, there is absolutely nothing positive to be said about it except that it successfully, if inexplicably, apes the look of Wes Craven's SCREAM movies exactly. And the camera operating is really nice. * I'll say that again. Really, really nice camera operating, guys!