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 26, 2005 | | Summary | "Go! Help Van Helsing... the script, I mean." | Content
 | It almost hurts to give this three stars, because so much of this movie is SO bad. However, we should give credit where credit is due. There are some good things here. Let's start with some bad and then REALLY bad. Someone was trying WAY too hard and put WAY too much money into superfluous special effects, but it still makes for cheap thrills. Really cheap. It has some clever ideas as far as plot goes, but they aren't executed well. The characters have interesting backstories. But the exposition is laughably bad. Frankenstein's monster and Dracula are famous and have cult following, but they belong in a movie about shame and embarassment than in a horror or action film. I feel violated after having watched the monster, like someone had dug up a relative's grave, took some parts and made them into some embarassingly dramatic abomination of nature. Watching Dracula's ultra-corn dialogue and over-acting made me so sick the blood ran out of my face, leaving me pail and lifeless.
Still, there are some good parts. The movie is really funny at times, which really helps redeem it. Karl (David Wenham aka Feremir from LotR's) is great, because his character is SUPPOSED to be 2-D and is there for no other purpose than humor and the side-kick role. This goofy friar's lines always seem just right for his part in the story. His cowardly wails of fear and cracking shrill voice with just the right intonation do as much for the humor as the actual funny lines given to him in the script (Wenham's got great versatility!). I would quote a couple of Karl's lines, but some people may not have watched it yet. The fact that I can specifically remember what they are tells you they were pretty good. Anyway, do I recommend this movie? Well, for "Feremir"'s sake, sure. The final fight scene is cool, too. Oh, and Kate Beckinsale seems like a bad actress in this for some reason, but she IS hot. Dracula's harem is gorgeous in a slutty way, as well. Hugh Jackman is good, even with the horrible script. Gotta give him credit for that. Anyway, watch it for Feremir's sake. He's not as handsome or strong as his brother, Boromir. He's also not as noble as Theoden King or Aragorn. Feremir was super courageous and had a really good heart, though... also the guy that plays Feremir is a great actor. Anyway, thinking about Feremir and that great movie makes me want to lower this movie down to one star. I'll resist the temptation. |
| Rating | | | Date | August 11, 2005 | | Summary | Just effects.... | Content
| This movie was really the WORST I've seen in a lot of time. Special effects were awesome, but the story was really terribly sad. Dialoges, actor's performance....well
Really skip it. Not worth it. |
| Rating | | | Date | August 11, 2005 | | Summary | Laughable. | Content
| This really could have been something special. Take the classic monsters from Universal (Dracula, Frankensteins monster, Wolfman) and pit them all against a bad-ass, tooled up Van Helsing, all with today's super-duper special effects? The result - this utter turd of a movie.
First things first - the effects. Yes, they're good, but Sommers (he of The Mummy and Mummy returns infamy) seems to think that you don't actually NEED plot or, like, characters - you just need LOADS and LOADS and LOADS of effects, thrown at the screen every single minute. When you start to tut and roll your eyes when yet ANOTHER monster comes at the screen, or another transformation or whatever, you know something is wrong.
And then there's Hugh Jackman himself, basically being Wolverine but with less attitude. In truth, he's about as wooden as the stakes he carries, and about as interesting.
Add to that a TERRIBLE "comedy" tag-along partner, the worst Dracula in movie history, some of the stupidest action sequences known to man and a veering on self-parody ending and you really do have something that should be put to eternal rest. A sadly missed opportunity - and a sequel is NOT required.
The_Curmudgeon_Hates_You@yahoo.co.uk |
| 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. |
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