Artistically barren

Rating: 1/10 (17 May 2004)

Tonight, I saw possibly the most artistically barren movie ever. Why was this movie made? The acting was flat, the story line practically non-existent, and there was zero chemistry between the characters, especially the male and female leads. Not that the actors had much to do. The CGI effects completely dominated and doomed every scene. With every explosion, every hideous metamorphosis, every miraculous near-miss, I kept thinking, "Well, there's another ridiculously expensive special effect that adds nothing to the movie." After a few minutes of this, I started dozing off.
IMDb readers, don't waste your time or money on this. If you crave CGI effects, watch "Pirates of the Caribbean". At least that movie had a story, good acting, characters you cared about, and benefited from the special effects. "Van Helsing" looked like a 2-hour CGI sales pitch for rich investors.
Zero stars.