Too much action - lack of story

Rating: 6/10 (13 May 2004)

After being served for nearly two hours of constant action, I could finally relax and breath. "Van Helsing" is filled with constant action, wicked combats, endless effects loaded together with some quick comments. I do think the whole movie started up well, but the more it developed the bigger the lack of story got, and the more action I was fed with. I think they went to much "Matrix" here, and lost the very important balance between having a good (deep) story and having awesome scenes of combat. Anyways, I experienced this piece at the cinema and I think that is a big plus, at least that is my conclusion. With all those visual effects and the astonishing audio experience it must be experienced at the cinema (or perhaps at home with some awesome audio equipment).
As my head still feels a little wicked and as I probably haven't really melted the piece yet, I still think that 6 out of 10 is a fair grade for "Van Helsing".