Van Helsing
The One Name They All Fear
19th Century Catholic monster hunter, Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman) is sent on his most dangerous assignment yet - to kill Dracula before he can kill the last surviving member of the Valerious family, Anna (Kate Beckinsale).
Van Helsing is a big dumb action movie. And, like most - if not all - big dumb action movies, it suffers from an over emphasis on action, poor plotting - there are holes in the film’s plot that you could drive a truck through - and a lack of space for the actors to do anything - like acting - that might slow down the pace of the film.
But it’s also a lot of fun.
David Wenham, as Carl the Q-alike inventive brother, holds his own against the overwhelming onslaught of CGI and manages to create an entertaining character in his own right. Kudos, also, to Shuler Hensley who manages to invest an emotional depth to Frankenstein’s Monster that’s lacking elsewhere in the film.
The special effects are, of course (this being a Stephen Sommers film), both overwhelming and spectacular. It would be easy to knock this as nothing more than a pile of CGI, but to do so would miss the point of Van Helsing.
It’s an effects heavy, plot light visual spectacle and, on a Friday evening after a long week, this is as much as I want to see.
Saturday 08 May 2004 | Paul Pritchard | Action, Fantasy, Horror, Quick Takes
