What I got Grounded for...

Rating: 10/10 (26 June 2004)

Opening night of Van Helsing I went and saw it with two of my closest friends and did we have a ball with this film!
This movie is beautifully done. From the sets to the acting. All the actors seemed to fit their characters perfectly. Hugh Jackman I had to laugh at for not knowing who the heck he is again in this film after seeing X-men earlier that day in which he doesn't have his memory either. I found him totally believable as the monster hunter and found him quite entertaining in the role. Throughout this horror flick as in The Mummy and The Mummy Returns also directed by Stephen Sommers comedy is brought in by the different characters in this film the comedy relief is Carl played excellently by David Wenham.
But where's a horror flick without a villain or horrifying beasts? In the role of our main villain is Dracula played by the talented Australian actor Richard Roxburgh. This actor has yet another accent to entertain the world with in this film as the Transylvanian vampire Count Dracula. (I say another accent because in the other three i've seen him in they're all different!) I'm getting to use to seeing him as a bad guy and still thinks he has done another great job at being the villain. His acting like the others in this film is excellent.
Despite what others may think, I did not find any real "gore" throughout this entire film. Blood is seen being drank by the brides of Dracula but that's probably, for me at least, the most realistic looking blood in the whole film. It was also strangely the one that got to me the most as well. There are the fight scenes that are intense at time but not at all bloody. The creatures are not the most realistic things on the block but they are done very well and I am glad they didn't make Dracula's changed form into a tiny bat. A fight between a huge Jackman werewolf and a puny bat would have been more hilarious as well as stupid but I am still impressed with the CGI of the movie.
Women will like this film because of all the attractive male actors in it guys will like it for the action and cleavage from Dracula's brides. Sommers has done it again and I must say seeing this movie was worth getting grounded for. Great job to the cast and crew of Van Helsing.