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LTTP: Bram Stoker's Dracula (1994) or how Keanu Reeves gets out-acted by everyone

• Thread starter BossAttack
• Start date Oct 10, 2020

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• #1

Era, I'd never seen Bram Stoker's Dracula before. As a kid, horror films truly terrified me so I tended to avoid them. But, as I've grown older I can tolerate them far more and have been revisiting over the years classics I missed out on. Well, October is the perfect month for horror, I've been replaying Bloodborne, and Patrick (H) Wilhem recently put out a video about Francis Ford Coppola's entire filmography. I figured now was the time to check this film out.

And, what can I say, the film goes HARD right from the start:

When you've got an opening that good, you know I'm hooked. Unfortunately, the rest of the film does not entirely reach the same heights. Like a lot of Coppola films it can be too long at times and suffers from having too many elements at play at once. There are so many plotlines and threads present in the film and a good amount are just entirely abandoned or just never brought up again. For instance, why was Dracula buying up real estate all across London at specific points? This appears to be a big plot point, but it's never explained as far as I know. Still, it manages to captivate the entire time due to Oldman's insane performance. Dude always goes all out and here was no exception.

In addition, the entire film is just a pure cinematography delight.

Of course, the film has one MASSIVE glaring problem...Keanu Reeves. Whew boy, dude cannot act in this film. Even worse, he attempts to do an English accent and fails horribly . I don't know how Oldman or the rest of the cast kept a straight face every time he opened his mouth. Taking the accent aside, he still just comes off as wooden and stilted and feels like he's on the cusp of saying "woah, dude" at any moment. My man is embarrassed by the entire cast with how poor his acting is. You've got Oldman pouring his soul into this romance with Winona Ryder and yet I'm supposed to also believe Keanu loves this girl too with his terrible acting? Lol, no.

All in all, great looking film. Great acting by almost everyone. Story's a bit of a mess. But, it makes for probably the best depiction of Dracula. I also now get all the references to the film over the years in various media.

Slayven

To Infinity and Beyond Alkali

• #2

Reeves was Vin Diesel before Vin was Vin in the fact everyone ignores they can't act.

• #4

Reeves used to be fucking awful, no doubt. Go watch Dangerous Liasons for ultimate Reeves Accent Cringe.

• #5

I dont think anyone has ever considered Keanu a great actor. He does have screen presence but if hes asked to convey any sort of emotion, the outcome is not gonna be good, which is why hes done a great job choosing his roles. I feel like WIll Smith is the opposite. Clearly a great actor but makes the worst choices in choosing his movies.

• #6

I just watched this for the first time the other day. It ended up being okay overall, I'd probably recommend it if you're at all interested. Some really good stuff makes it worthwhile.

But yeah, Keanu Reeves was absolutely atrocious. A master class of bad acting. Much worse than his usual mediocrity. Just baffling stuff, really.

• #7

Haven't seen it in years, but I remember thinking it was one of the most gloriously ambitious bad movies I'd ever seen. And yeah, Keanu is unfortunately a big part of what drags it down. But hey, at least his stumbling performance is compensated by Oldman absolutely GNAWING on every inch of scenery.

• #8

Yeah, I hate so much that he's in the film. But the movie is so great in other areas. The look, the effects, the other actors, and most importantly, the score. Damn do I love the soundtrack to this film. Yeah, the story is uneven. But IMO so is the original novel.

• #9

Whew boy, dude cannot act in this film.

Dude cannot act, period. His semi-recent popularity has always been bizarre to me because I very clearly remember this guy being the poster boy for being completely inept at acting.

• #10

It's a marvelous film with incredible cinematography and a tour de force soundtrack.

But yeah, Keanu sucks in it.

• #11

Huh...now that I think about it, the only time I think I've seen Keanu act believably was in Youngblood.

• #12

To this day, "I say, is the castle far?" in Reeve's hilarious attempt at RP never fails to crack me up.

Also "I know where the bahstahd sleeps!"

• #13

Dude cannot act, period. His semi-recent popularity has always been bizarre to me because I very clearly remember this guy being the poster boy for being completely inept at acting.

I was trying to be nice, but this is the truth. He has a small niche he can do well. But this is ABSOLUTELY not the film for him. He just looks helpless as Oldman eviscerates him with pure talent.

• #14

Huh...now that I think about it, the only time I think I've seen Keanu act believably was in Youngblood.

He was pretty good in Permanent Record too.

• #15

But yeah, Keanu Reeves was absolutely atrocious. A master class of bad acting. Much worse than his usual mediocrity. Just baffling stuff, really.

I can't remember where I saw it but I do recall an interview with Coppola where he had nothing but praise for how sweet and earnest Keanu was as a person, and strongly encouraged him to ditch the British accent, but Keanu was having none of it if the other actors were pulling it off, and gave it the ol' college try, though clearly, he failed miserably. But still, everyone swears he's a nice guy, even if he's not a good actor...

• #16

how come when this movie comes up i literally never hear anyone even bring up anthony hopkins

• #17

I've never really minded Keanu in this movie.

• #18

Anyway, I think this movie would be genuinely awesome if not for Keanu Reeves, yeah (...and Vlad's goofy-ass red armour in the intro, ngl I always hated it lol). The cinematography, atmosphere, and soundtrack is spectacular. The other actors, especially Gary Oldman and Anthony Hopkins, are great too.

• #19

By all accounts, he's a great guy but he really can't act.

• #20

He is dreadful in the film, but the reality is that Winona Ryder and him (mostly Winona Ryder) are what got it funded in the first place.

By all accounts, he's a great guy but he really can't act.

He has a number of surprisingly strong performances from when he was younger, but these days he can only do the stoic action star thing (or downbeat crumbling to pieces guy like in A Scanner Darkly). Fab taste in material though (I've said it before, but I read anything Keanu attaches himself to because he randomly sniffs out the best spec scripts (and then never makes it to the final film if it's made after signal-boosting it...)).

Last edited: Oct 10, 2020

• #21

Dude cannot act, period. His semi-recent popularity has always been bizarre to me because I very clearly remember this guy being the poster boy for being completely inept at acting.

Counterpoint: My Own Private Idaho

• #22

To this day, I'm still unsure whether Mina love Dracula or just under his spell.

• #23

The fact that every single effect in the film is practical is enough for me to overlook the rest of its glaring flaws. It's an incredible piece of filmmaking.

• #24

Keanu might be a decent guy, but he's a terrible actor. He always has been and always will be.

• #25

Bill and Ted, The Matrix, and John Wick are the only films he actually works in because of how the characters are written

Reeves was Vin Diesel before Vin was Vin in the fact everyone ignores they can't act.

This might be considered a scorching hot take but Vin Diesal is legitimately a better actor than Keanu Reeves

I don't say that with any particular love for Vin

• #26

It's beautifully shot if nothing else.

I don't know if it's true but I've heard that Hopkins and Oldman knew they were starring in a train wreck so they amused themselves by deliberately being over the top in their roles.

• #27

I always cry at the end of this movie. Truly is a better love story than Twilight.

• #28

Bill and Ted, The Matrix, and John Wick are the only films he actually works in because of how the characters are written

This might be considered a scorching hot take but Vin Diesal is legitimately a better actor than Keanu Reeves

I don't say that with any particular love for Vin

River's Edge, My Private Idaho, Thumbsucker, A Scanner Darkly, etc.

Y'all need to watch the smaller Keanu flicks that aren't about him being hired to do his Speed performance all over again (which was a huge departure from the sort of characters he portrayed before that).

• #29

River's Edge, My Private Idaho, Thumbsucker, A Scanner Darkly, etc.

Y'all need to watch the smaller Keanu flicks that aren't about him being hired to do his Speed performance all over again (which was a huge departure from the sort of characters he portrayed before that).

this is exactly it

hes had good performances, hes a fine actor. people just watch garbage

hes fun to watch in neon demon too

• #30

Keanu and Ryder are both horribly miscast in the movie. Putting those two up against Oldman was a really bad idea.

• #31

how come when this movie comes up i literally never hear anyone even bring up anthony hopkins

I was going to mention him, he's great. Almost all the actors are...except Keanu. Dude is just lost in the film.

Keanu and Ryder are both horribly miscast in the movie. Putting those two up against Oldman was a really bad idea.

I've read that people also thought Ryder was weak but I thought she did a great job. Her role is also far more difficult than Keanu's yet she was able to hold her own.

• #34

This movie fucking rocks. Grand Guignol excess, campy and horny in equal measure, and just insane levels of commitment to practical artistry. Next to the two Nosferatu films it's my fav Dracula movie.

• #35

I love this movie, this is responsible for alot of things I like nowadays

• #36

I KNOW HWHERE THE BASTARD SLEEPS

• #37

I KNOW WHEH THE BAHST'D SLEEPS

FTFY

• #38

I really like this scene:

You can tell if he had added a "...woah" half a second after the word "young", it would've sounded RIGHT.

• #39

I still don't understand why Keanu just let his wife go with Dracula. Dude is suddenly like, "no, our work is finished here. Leave them." That feels like something another character should be saying.

• #40

River's Edge, My Private Idaho, Thumbsucker, A Scanner Darkly, etc.

Y'all need to watch the smaller Keanu flicks that aren't about him being hired to do his Speed performance all over again (which was a huge departure from the sort of characters he portrayed before that).

this is exactly it

hes had good performances, hes a fine actor. people just watch garbage

hes fun to watch in neon demon too

I've seen most of these movies. My Private Idaho is good. Peak Keanu is passable.

• #41

Bloody wolves chasing me through some blue inferno!

• #42

For instance, why was Dracula buying up real estate all across London at specific points?

The film actually sticks pretty close to the book, for the most part (Dracula is played from a more sympathetic angle though) and it manages to capture the epistolary nature of it pretty well (everyone is narrating letters / journal entries / phonograph recordings, it's one of the elements I've always likes about it, especially the meta element if Mina collecting their works and essentially writing the novel).

That particular part is covered in the novel; Dracula can only regenerate in his native "unhallowed" soil; he ships 50 crates of earth to London in advance of his arrival and has them placed in all of his properties so he has a number of refuges to escape to. Harker manages to track them all down (mostly) and they find deeds and keys at his property in Piccadilly, then all split up and consecrate the crates with the Eucharist.

It's a good book and a quick read, I'm actually going to do my yearly read through next week.

• #43

Still don't understand why Keanu and Ryder were cast when there was plenty of actual English actors to pick from. Keanu tried, but hot damn there's a reason why his performance is legendarily bad.

• #45

I'm in the middle of reading the novel.. it's interesting to see the differences compared to all of the film adaptations that I've seen.

Now you have to play the Mega CD/Sega CD game to complete the experience.

• #46

I still don't understand why Keanu just let his wife go with Dracula. Dude is suddenly like, "no, our work is finished here. Leave them." That feels like something another character should be saying.

Because even in the book, Harker is an idiot.

• #47

I've had such a weird history with this movie lol. First time I watched it was with my older cousins when it released in theaters.... I was 8 lol. Didn't know what the heck was happening. I also remember our drama class convinced our teacher to show it to us during the last day of school. I actually quite enjoy it now though especially after reading the novel.

I studied the novel for the first time in first year college and I really enjoyed it and that class. I've reread the novel a few times since and not surprised that it is a classic.

• #48

Still don't understand why Keanu and Ryder were cast when there was plenty of actual English actors to pick from. Keanu tried, but hot damn there's a reason why his performance is legendarily bad.

They were the only "bankable" actors in the film. Ryder was coming off Heathers and Edward Scissorhands and Reeves was coming off Point Break and Bill and Ted. They were the hot actors that probably got the film made.

The studio wasn't bankrolling a Gary Oldman film in 92.

• #49

I saw it a while back so I dont remember it really well but was Keanu worst than he was in knock knock?

• #50

I love this movie, warts and all. In my mind, Gary Oldman is the best actor alive and this is one of his finer performances.

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Source: https://www.resetera.com/threads/lttp-bram-stokers-dracula-1994-or-how-keanu-reeves-gets-out-acted-by-everyone.304148/

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