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Member since:14.04.2004
Reviews:32
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I went to see Van Helsing the past weekend and I wasn't all that impressed. I mainly went to see the film because it looked good from the trailer and the fact that it was made by the director of one of my favourite films 'The Mummy'. It just shows you how important trailers are nowadays to the movie industry. Even a crap film with a good trailer can do well. For example Charlie Angels: Full Throttle, what a bad film, but it had an excellent trailer with that loud prodigy music blarring. Anyway back to Van Helsing. The movie opened in the U.S with about 50 something million dollars in total and will probably make a lot next week too. Though I'm not sure it will make it's £180 million budget back in America alone. This flick will have to take some hard earned cash from the worldwide box-offce.
The Story
Basically Van Helsing is a monster hunter who is sent by some guy to Transylvania to stop Count Dracula (Played by Richard Roxburgh) from unleashing more evil doings. When
he gets there he meets up with Kate Beckinsale's character where they team up to battle the count. They battle with werewolves, frankenstein and the Count's three brides.
I know the above story sypnosis sounds kind of lame but that's because it is. Van Helsing basically is a guy who goes round killing monsters and that's it.
Review
The movie starts off in black and white as a homage to the old horror movies such as the ones that starred Christopher Lee. This was something that I quite liked as the CGI seemed less irratating than when the flick was in colour. Not that all the CGI was bad or anything it was just that I felt it was overused in some places in the film.
As the movie progresses passed the black and white stage we are taken ahead 'one year later' and then the action starts. We are taken straight into another 'CGI' battle between Van Helsing and Mr Hyde (aka Dr Jekyll). Many people have referenced 'Hulk' with this movie because some of the characters are like that and they are right. This first major battle was so obvious with the CGI like the hulk was and to me that's just anoying. Call me old fashioned but in some places in films I would rather have some guy in a mask than make a real-life character look like a cartoon, because to me that's how it was.
As the first battle is over the story sort of begins to unfold and gives you some sort of plot but nothing that gives you any great insight. Mainly this film is about action and killing monsters. To some people that's okay but to me regarding this film it wasn't. I can watch loads of action films with no plot and still like it but this one just didn't do it for me.
On the upside though I really enjoyed the theme tune and some of the background music that played as Van Helsing travelled to Transylvania and when the movie ended. It was a very loud and aggresive score that was very catchy and went with the movie well.
I was also impressed with some of the performances, mainly from Kate Beckinsale as she had to put on an acent which she pulled off very well. Some may find it anoying but I didn't. Also just looking at her got me through this movie. Hugh Jackman was okay but there was nothing special from him. He was great in 'Swordfish', but he didn't shine here. On to Richard Roxburgh who played Count Dracula. His performance was very good I've always liked his acting roles that he has chosen such as 'M:I-2' and 'Moulin Rouge' as he always makes his presence known on screen without going over the top. Though this wasn't my favourite of his roles. The next actor that I really thought would have saved this movie was Kevin J' O Connor (Benny from 'The Mummy' to most of us) who played Egor (Count Dracula's sidekick) but he wasn't written much into the story. It's a shame because he could have done something really amazing with his character but wasn't able to do so. This was his third movie with director Stephen Sommers and the worst in my opinion. He was excellent in 'Deep Rising' and of course 'The Mummy' but as I said before he didn't have enough lines to show his character's full potential. Last are 'the three brides'. These three lovely looking bit***s were so anoying in this movie that I wanted to get a shotgun and pop them off one buy one. Their constant wining really put me off this film. If their job was to anoy the audience then they would get 5***** for definate.
Overall the film was okay in places but really really bad in others. I recommend to all of you, that you wait for 'Van Helsing' to come out on DVD and rent it or download it off the internet or something instead of wasting your money. Trust me it's not worth it. Also another thing that put me off this film was that it reminded me of the dreadful movie 'League of Extrodinary Gentlemen' starring Sean Connery. I really hated that movie and this film just brought the memories back. DON'T BOTHER WITH THIS FILM.
Pictures of Van Helsing (DVD)
Kate Beckinsale in her leathers.
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Production Year: 2005 - Horror - Director: Eli Roth - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Jay Hernandez, Derek Richardson, Shane Daly, Lenka Vlasakova, Eythor Gudjonsson, Jan Vlasak
Has Evil finally met its match? Legendary Monster Hunter Van Helsings is sent by the ... more
Vatican to distant Transylvania, a land terrorised by the powerful Count Dracula. Joining forces with a valiant Gypsy Princess who is determined to end an ancient curs...
May 12th, 2004
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