Great show. Not a Movie Experience.

Rating: 6/10 (13 June 2004)

I fell in love with the premise of this movie. For all you fantasy fans out there, it was taking an old cleric/scholar and turning him into a kick-butt paladin/assassin. The more I read the promos, the more I loved the idea.
Then I saw the movie.
I still appreciated the premise. The scripting was pretty good, minus two or three scenes. Great action movie. The overall movie experience was lacking.
Its special effects were its great strength and weakness. They spent so much money and time on getting the effects right, they seemed to skimp on the little things: choreography, accent coaches, wardrobe, music, lighting, set design. These are the things that make the movie an experience rather than just a show.
VAN HELSING & ANNA (Lead characters) The two main characters were very well done. I can't really complain much about them. They were well written, well acted, well directed, well wardrobed. . . I do wish they had given some character development as to why Anna was able to fight so well. But it was a long enough movie as it was, maybe they cut it out for time.
Dracula Richard Roxburgh did an excellent job in his execution of his script. But he could have made his speech about having no heart a little more than one-dimensional. Let's face it, in a movie like this, we appreciate a villain that has SOME redeeming quality. His interchange with Van Helsing was much more impressive. And he handled his death rather well. Excellent method of showing a vampire's healing abilities.
THE VAMPIRESSES (Dracula's brides) The vampiresses should have just been extras. Their action sequences were great. But every time they opened their mouths, I rolled my eyes and was just waiting for the next scene. They didn't really add anything to the plot or the movie except for their fights. I didn't even think they were sexy. Especially not in those campy outfits they had on. They looked like they were trying out for some psychic hotline ad.
CARL ("I'm not a monk. I'm just a friar") This was a work of genius as far as character creation goes. They give you a great taste of what it would be like if James Bond had Q with him on his assignments as a sidekick. Although I feel it was a simple part for an actor, I have to give David Wendham credit for performing it well.
IGOR His line,"It's what I do" pretty much sums it up. You can't have a movie like this without Igor. And he was doing exactly what we expected him to do. But someone was going to ask "why is he doing that?" So, they had Dracula ask for us. It's just what he does. Don't question it.
SET DESIGN Most of the scenes were very good. But I'd think the most important set would be inside Dracula's castle. And that is where the set designer really disappointed me. Maybe it was partially the lighting and camera work. Maybe other little factors. But the cobwebs were overdone and the entire set looked too plastic. The colors were just slightly off to make it look like it was faked. Again, if I'm there to just see an action movie, OK. But the promos made it seem like it was going to be a little deeper than that.
WARDROBE Van Helsing was well outfitted. As was Dracula. I could even say that the friar was done OK, but how can you go wrong with a plain brown robe? Everyone else looked really campy. Anna's wardrobe: designed well, poorly excecuted. It needed slightly different fabrics or colors that would project differently on the big screen.
SPECIAL EFFECTS The battle scenes with the vampiresses and even the baby vampires were good.
I never felt like I was suspending any disbelief. I just looked and felt I'd been transported. The transformation sequences were good for both Dracula and the werewolves. But when they had their final battle, they fell victim to the same problem that all heavily CG characters have. The speed and balance of the characters is always slightly off from reality. The only way I could console myself was that these were superhuman creatures able to violate some laws of physics in a fantasy movie. Even then, it was an effort to suspend my disbelief. Van Helsing's weapons were very well designed. Obviously not realistic for the era. But it was not too big a stretch for this genre of movie.
EXPERIENCE This is a quality of movies that I don't see much comment on. It takes into account things like flow of the movie, emotions not only portrayed by the actors, but absorbed by the audience, the feeling that you are actually in the scene.
For this quality, I'll have to give an 8 for a few scenes, but a 2 or 3 for the rest of the movie.
SUMMARY If you're looking for an action movie that has someone being the superhero and kicking butt (Swarzennegger's --Commando) it's a great movie. They made some effort at being an intelligent movie as well, but only had limited success at executing that goal.
If you want a movie that made you feel like you want to hear more about these characters and this world you've just been introduced to (Lord of the Rings), this was OK, but not a great movie.
Cloud Castle