The movie starts with a very boring over-long title sequence that is so bad it makes you want to scream �Get on with it!� Once that is over we start to get into character development. What little there is anyway. John Malkovich does an okay job with the character of F.W. Murnau, the director who wants to make the most realistic and scientific vampire movie ever. His Murnau is selfish and uncaring� which is supposedly quite the opposite of the way the real Murnau was, but remember this is a fictionalized account. All the other characters are more or less cardboard cutouts with no real development, with the exception of one.
Willem Dafoe is marvelous as Max Shreck. His performance (and makeup) was absolutely amazing. Every time he was on screen be demanded the audience�s attention. I don�t know if this was because he was so good, or because he was the only interesting character. Well nonetheless, I think that Dafoe deserves his Oscar nomination for this role. It�s really too bad the rest of the movie couldn�t be as good as he was in it.
Overall, this movie was confusing and had almost no characters worth caring for due to lack of development. The only reason I would recommend it would be to see Dafoe�s brilliant performance, but regrettably it wasn�t enough to totally save the film altogether.
