Rather than retelling the story, we are instead given an origin story of the blood sucker. Vlad Tepes (Evans) is a soldier whose son is called upon to join The Sultan’s army. Refusing to let him go, Tepes seeks the help of an old vampire (Charles Dance), who allows him to drink his blood, which transforms into the being we know as Dracula. From there, the trailer is made up of clips of Evans battling soldiers and such with his new powers (Including an awesome one in which he turns into a load of bats and attacks an entire army) whilst Lorde’s “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” plays.
The film also stars Fleming actor Dominic Cooper, who seems to be appearing in a lot of Hollywood action lately following his role in Need for Speed, and Les Mis star Samantha Barks. This film can go two ways: It could be an excellent, edge of your seat action thriller that redefines the character, or it can throw all of its promise away and be an absolutely disaster. As far as this trailer is concerned, it seems the former is looking more likely, which is good news as it has the potential to be a great film. It has an excellent cast behind it, as well as some unknowns who may be able to break into the business. But most of all (And luckily for us all), it’s another chance for Luke Evans to prove how brilliant an actor he is. He gave a great turn in Fast and Furious 6 (a film series that doesn’t leave a lot of room for excellent performances) and received critical acclaim for his role as legendary criminal Bruce Reynolds in The Great Train Robbery miniseries, not to mention his work in The Hobbit sequel.
Will this be a bad misstep for Evans, or will we put it in a future Essentials for the actor? Only time will tell, but for now, Dracula Untold has a lot of promise.