Third times the charm? This time it was.
After having recently watched both the 1922 and 1979 versions of Nosferatu I was well prepared this time. Initially I was concerned the film would veer too far away from the story set forth in previous iterations.
While there are some notable changes, particularly with the removing of the Van Helsing character and replacing him with another. A "disgraced" professor who is well versed in the occult. Named Prof. Albin Eberhart Von Franz and aptly played by William Defoe.
As well as some other changes such as the sexual overtones (replacing the sexual undertones of the previous versions) and the increased role for the Knock character, I found this adaptation to be quite faithful to the past. I also found the larger role for Knock to be an improvement over the original.
One qualm I had with the movie is that at times (especially while in the Count's castle) I had a hard time seeing what was on the screen. Although this issue lessened a great deal by the time everyone is in Wisborg again.

Now the elephant in the room and in many other reviews is Lily Depp's performance. After the much more reserved performance by Isabelle Adjani (Nosferatu 1979) many people were surprised by Depp's much more emotional, extreme and in some people's opinion, excessive acting in the role of Ellie. I found her version of Ellie to be quite acceptable considering she has ptsd and is being terrorized by a vampire. It is truly hard to know how someone would actually behave in that situation and I didn't have any issues with her performance.
4/5 stars