Mr Sommers! What were you thinking??

Rating: 10/10 (10 October 2004)

First of all I heard so much praise for this particular action flick. Director Stephen Sommers did so well with "The Mummy" and "The Mummy Returns", but somehow lost his way when it came to "Van Helsing". What was wrong with it? Besides almost shattering Hugh Jackman's acting career and adding to the humiliation of Kate Beckinsale's acting career? Nothing really. However, lots of really good special effects, a drool-worthy cast and a poorly developed script, don't sell at the box office, that is where films like "Troy" are catergorised.
The cast was well hand picked, Hugh Jackman as Van Helsing, he is a man of many talents but I wasn't entirely sure if he made a good decision signing on for this picture, Kate Beckinsale is beautiful as Anna, but I'll admit that her Romanian accent in the film was almost laughable if you know what I mean. Richard Roxburgh as the one and only Count Dracula, excellent pick and I'll agree most of the girls in the cinema went home smiling after they heard his sexy Romanian accent, David Wenham as Carl, he made the audience laugh out loud and in every good action picture you need a comic relief and Wenham made us laugh. So the cast was delicious. But that didn't seem to work for the viewing public.
I'll be honest with you I only watched it because of Hugh Jackman. I think most female viewers watched it because of Jackman and the male viewers watched it because of Kate Beckinsale.
It also flopped because of the overload of special effects, as a digital animation student we need to earn a living so you can't blame us there. However action packed special effects movies don't sell well, that is where "Chronicles of Riddick" went down hill.
Now the script is where the biggest blunder is. I shall quote from the film: "...Because the only thing that can kill him is a werewolf...". Okay anyone who has an extensive knowledge of vampires should correct them if they are wrong. Where were the writers who wrote the scripts for 'The Mummy' and "Pirates of the Caribbean" I ask you? The answer is unknown.
I recently bought the Van Helsing DVD and was taken in with all the special features, since I have studied film and animation I am all for 'Behind The Scenes' and I developed empathy for the cast and crew, as a director you never believe that your film is going to crash and burn. Also it is good that you have a good time making the film and judging by what I watched on the featurettes, they seemed happy.
Mr Sommers, don't take it personally, just learn from your mistakes and if you're going to make a sequel to Van Helsing, please try harder!
Thank you for your attention.