An Action Packed Movie

Rating: 5/10 (25 November 2004)

Hugh Jackman trades his razor sharp claws for razor sharp blades to play the monster-hunter, Gabriel Van Helsing, hired by the church to go to Transylvania to take on Count Dracula {Richard Roxburgh}, the Wolf Man and Frankenstein's monster.
The premise sounds very interesting and this film had potential to be a good summer blockbuster. Unfortunately, the film is very uneven. The CGI is great and the movie gets an "A" on that part but the rest of the film was handled very poorly. Apparently, Stephen Sommers took some lessons from George Lucas and decided to fill his movie with just CGI. This isn't a bad thing since it is a summer movie. However, the film becomes very dull and the story is kind of weak. Don't get me wrong, I love the concept but the execution just wasn't very good. Sure, the monsters looked great but I was expecting a little more than that.
The acting was okay, nothing special. Hugh Jackman plays Van Helsing well and he does make for a good hero. Kate Beckinsale was weak and very cheesy as Anna. I know the movie is supposed to be cheesy but she was a little too much. Her chemistry with Jackman was also non existent and this hurt the film. Richard Roxburgh gives the best performance out of everyone. He plays Dracula and he is very effective as the villain.
A big problem with Van Helsing is the length of the movie. 132 minutes is just too long and it made the film very dull to sit through. The film was also too cheesy for me. Some of it was just so stupid and the story grew more and more ridiculous as the film continued. The first hour is actually pretty good and entertaining. The second hour is dull and not as creative as the first part. The ending was alright, nothing really special. Honestly, the main reason to watch this film is because of the combination of Dracula, the Wolf Man and Frankenstein in one movie. The story is weak, the acting is nothing special and the direction is poor. The film is very stylish though so the 160 million went to good use. Besides for these flaws, Van Helsing was still a decent summer blockbuster with some fun moments. In the end, now that it's out on video, Van Helsing is worth a look just don't expect too much from it. Rating 6/10