This movie snob pleads "guilty" to enjoying Van Helsing.

Rating: Null/10 (8 May 2004)

I might typically be indignant with such a two dimensional movie, but I'm finally accepting this new genre, the Mega-Budget B-Movie. `Van Helsing' re-confirms that Stephen Sommers (the Mummy Movies) is championing this campy escapist genre.
If you don't mind checking your brain at the door, and if you put on a sensory raincoat, you may find this movie quite the guilty pleasure.
I use the phrase `put on a sensory raincoat' because it felt like that's what I had to do get through this movie. My attention span isn't quite short enough. One is constantly being doused with heaping buckets of digital grandeur, absurd sets, absurd superman stunts, comic book action, and C-G-I-candy. Don't go if you're prone to sensory induced seizures.
The whole movie is pretty silly, not at all scary, and the wacky details and plot turns are churned out like the bolts in Hugh Jackman's improbable automatic cross-bow. I won't bother with details, because they really aren't that important to the film. The omni-present movie-trailer tells you all you need to know.
All this said, I'll admit it was good weekend matinee fun. I didn't like the Mummy films. Maybe I had too many A-movie expectations. I just might revisit them.