Dracula 2000

Directed by Patrick Lussier, Dracula 2000 follows the newly-resurrected title character (Gerard Butler) as he arrives in New Orleans and seeks out a blood descendant named Mary Heller (Justine Waddell). It’s clear, ultimately, that Dracula 2000 fares best in a promising opening stretch focused on the doomed criminals responsible for awakening Dracula, as this portion of the proceedings possesses a fun, tongue-in-cheek vibe that’s heightened by the less-than-subtle efforts of folks like Omar Epps, Jennifer Esposito, and Danny Masterson. There’s little doubt, then, that Dracula 2000 begins its slow-but-steady descent into irrelevance as it moves into an increasingly hit-and-miss midsection, with the movie’s arms-length atmosphere perpetuated (and compounded) by an ongoing emphasis on elements of a decidedly far-from-enthralling nature (eg dream sequences, Mary’s psychic link with Dracula, etc, etc) – which does, in turn, essentially cancel out the film’s few appealing attributes (including engaging work from Christopher Plummer and Jonny Lee Miller, cast as a vampire hunter and his assistant, respectively). By the time the underwhelming, action-packed climax rolls around, Dracula 2000 has cemented its place as a distressingly lackluster endeavor that squanders an appealing setup and talented roster of performers. (There is, in terms of the former, so much that could’ve been done with the admittedly innovative premise.)

** out of ****