Van Helsing (DVD)
Reviewed by: veln
Reviewed on: 17-May-2004
- Summary
- Wait shouldn't this be called Castlevania?
- Ratings
- Overall: B-
- Pros
- Well blended characters
- Cons
- Dracula was a wuss
- Links
- IMBD Review
- Van Helsing Movie
- Images
Description
Van Helsing was overall a good movie. It is not something I would watch all the time but it was worth watching once.
Things I noticed that helped the story:
- Van Helsing was a character looking for his past. Not a let's go kill the bad things in the night because they are evil kind of guy.
- The movie felt like a Castlevania game most of the way through.
- The friar Van's sidekick was a good comic relief.
- The great special effects, there were only three times I could REALLY tell they were editing it all. I won't mention which three spots.
Things I noticed that did NOT help the story:
- Dracula and Kate Beckinsale's characters did not have very good accents.
- Dracula's brides were not played well. They are vampires not little girls that come running to Dracula.
- The first 15 min. of the movie. (Once you get past it the whole movie gets much better!)
The Music:
It was mostly background with occasional areas of music that sounded Spanish in nature. Almost as if everyone was going to break out in a hot salsa. Not a movie to get the original score from.
The Actors:
Hugh Jackman (Van Helsing) = Did a nice job overall. He never made you doubt that he was VAN HELSING.
Kate Beckinsale (Anna Valerious) = Her accent did falter her performance I think. She was supposed to be the buff cool sidekick girl but had a lot of spills. She was so-so.
Richard Roxburgh (Dracula) = I would give him a C with his acting over all. His accent REALLY got in the way of his performance he was all over the place. One minute yelling the next trying to say something evil. I didn't buy it. Of course, this the same actor who played the Duke in Moulin Rouge, so I guess that's his acting, huh?
David Wenham (Carl) = He did an excellent job! He plays Faramir in Lord of the Rings 2 and 3. I was so shocked because I never would have guessed it was the same guy. He went from cool man in Lord of the Rings to a little funny friar sidekick. I was pleased with his performance.
Those are the only notable characters I believe.
-Veln's Wife
Things I noticed that helped the story:
- Van Helsing was a character looking for his past. Not a let's go kill the bad things in the night because they are evil kind of guy.
- The movie felt like a Castlevania game most of the way through.
- The friar Van's sidekick was a good comic relief.
- The great special effects, there were only three times I could REALLY tell they were editing it all. I won't mention which three spots.
Things I noticed that did NOT help the story:
- Dracula and Kate Beckinsale's characters did not have very good accents.
- Dracula's brides were not played well. They are vampires not little girls that come running to Dracula.
- The first 15 min. of the movie. (Once you get past it the whole movie gets much better!)
The Music:
It was mostly background with occasional areas of music that sounded Spanish in nature. Almost as if everyone was going to break out in a hot salsa. Not a movie to get the original score from.
The Actors:
Hugh Jackman (Van Helsing) = Did a nice job overall. He never made you doubt that he was VAN HELSING.
Kate Beckinsale (Anna Valerious) = Her accent did falter her performance I think. She was supposed to be the buff cool sidekick girl but had a lot of spills. She was so-so.
Richard Roxburgh (Dracula) = I would give him a C with his acting over all. His accent REALLY got in the way of his performance he was all over the place. One minute yelling the next trying to say something evil. I didn't buy it. Of course, this the same actor who played the Duke in Moulin Rouge, so I guess that's his acting, huh?
David Wenham (Carl) = He did an excellent job! He plays Faramir in Lord of the Rings 2 and 3. I was so shocked because I never would have guessed it was the same guy. He went from cool man in Lord of the Rings to a little funny friar sidekick. I was pleased with his performance.
Those are the only notable characters I believe.
-Veln's Wife