Van Helsing | | Cast : | Hugh Jackman, Kate Beckinsale, Richard Roxburgh, Shuler Hensley, Will Kemp | | Director : | Stephen Sommers | | Studio : | Universal Studios Ho | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | May 07, 2004 | | DVD Released Date : | February 08, 2005 | | Language : | Spanish (Dubbed), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Original Language), French (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 07, 2005 | | Summary | A roller coaster ride.... | Content
 | When I first saw this movie, I was flabbergasted at the non-stop action, the INCREDIBLE art direction, (which will boggle your mind!) and some of the acting and writing, specifically Richard Roxburgh as Dracula and the women playing his "brides", who truly seem to relish their roles.
However, I can tell you that this movie does NOT hold the same impressiveness on successive viewings. It, in fact, looks like a crazy quilt of CGI work, furious jump-cutting, and a constant aesthetic that is WAY too grim after seeing it only the second time! There should be some respite from all the ghoul-chasing so that a good contrast can be set, instead of a steady diet of lab-OR-atories, gothic architecture. lightning bolts and bloodletting. This worked with "Ghostbusters" and "Aliens", it should have been used here.
That said, it does have some redeeming aspects, not the least of which is the wizard art direction, which must have driven the miniature people bazoomies! The intricate castles, furniture, room embellishments, and various devices that Van Helsing uses put you in mind of a high-budget version of the "The Wild Wild West" meets "Indiana Jones" meets "The Name of the Rose" meets "Ghostbusters". The writing, too, warrants some kudos....Jackman himself speaks a litany of James Bondian wisecracks all through the movie, but it is Roxburgh who gets the really good lines, along with David Wenham, playing Van Helsing's friar sidekick.
I think I'm beginning to notice a pattern, though, in Hugh Jackman's movies....In X-Men 2, Deathstrike, a Japanese mutant that has a duel with Wolverine, played by Jackman, meets a GRUESOME death at the hands of the feral X-Man, having molten lead forced through her body by a berserker Jackman. In THIS movie, the Kate Beckinsale character, Van Helsing's potential love interest through the whole movie, dies....AT VAN HELSING'S HAND!! Granted, he was a werewolf at the time, but STILL...!! What does Hugh Jackman have against young women, anyway??
Still this movie is going to come in awfully handy at Halloween, a season that it was made for!
And as far as a ghoulishly-themed movies are concerned, you could do LOTS worse in today's market. |
| Rating | | | Date | August 05, 2005 | | Summary | Good characters, good story! | Content
| I like horror movies in general and this one was a pleasant change from the dark side of these kinds of movies. I liked the sense of humor in the character of the friar, and call me "square" but I liked the lack of sex and foul language that dominates alot of otherwise good horror flicks these days. |
| Rating | | | Date | August 04, 2005 | | Summary | A Truly Painstaking Film To Watch | Content
| This movie is the very definition of style over substance. In fact there ultimatly is no substance whatsoever that I could find. A dull parade of special effects wrapped around over acting and pure juvenile silliness. Hugh Jackman is great in the X-Men movies but he should have left this script out on the back porch and let the sun eat away at the pages, come to think of it that would probably have made a better movie than Van Helsing turned out to be. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 28, 2005 | | Summary | Not good | Content
| An unbelievable disappointment. Once more, another studio has failed to make a decent film because they are trying too hard for mass-market appeal. Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsale are decent actors, but failed to even engage as their characters and the script were so one dimensional.
Too reliant on special effects instead of a decent story, this film understandably flopped. When will the studios learn? |
| Rating | | | Date | July 25, 2005 | | Summary | Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsale star in the film that makes Underworld look like Citizen Kane... | Content
| ...and she doesn't even look hot in those costumes. C'mon, guys. |
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