A little too over the top for my tastes.

Rating: Null/10 (10 September 2004)

The film opens up with a wonderful b&w sequence in the spirit of James Whale's Frankenstein. I sat back and grinned from ear to ear while this homage unfolded. I loved seeing the infamous doctor, his monster, and the undead count in the same frame, and I thought to myself this would be a fascinating action-oriented homage to the 1930s classics. Then the rest of the film kicked in and we jumped to Van Helsing in color.
An abundance of elongated action sequences with overly colorful CG characters plague this film. The CG (which I've complained about numerous times in numerous other films) I am beginning to tolerate since I can't watch a film without it anymore. Key phrase 'beginning to' so the over-the-top, overly long action sequences still bother me.
The most prominent and painful to watch (in my mind) occurs with Helsing's very first encounter with the vampires. I can only watch an automatic crossbow miss so many hundreds of times only to have a multitude of false endings to the sequence. Sommers, this isn't intense, it's not suspense, it's annoying, and it makes the rest of the film unbelievable when monsters are dispatched seemingly effortlessly.
The plot and characters are a mixed bag of deeply rooted fun-spirited good points tightly intertwined with a roughly equal number of uninspired bad point. It rides a very uncomfortable line as though it's unsure if its gone too far in its quirkiness or crossed the threshold of unbelievability. I can't say I particularly liked or hated these narrative elements; 'Eh' about sums up my feelings. People looking for reasons to love or hate the film won't have any trouble supporting their arguments either way.
Most of the pleasures of this film came with the nods to the movie-monsters' previous works in cinema (in particularly the Bride of Frankenstein esque-material in the sewer brought me to the edge of my seat and elicited a smile). It is very obvious that Sommers and crew had a deep affection for the films modern horror was built upon; he tries (with mixed results) to pay honest tribute without blatantly and soullessly imitating them.
Also, I was strangely entertained and impressed by Richard Roxburgh's portrayal of the infamous count, and surprised to find myself on the minority end there. In retrospect, though, when an actor goes out on a limb with a ballsy performance, it's usually hit or miss with the audience.
Beyond that, many minor complaints that manage to add up overall bring down the experience. Anyway, in the end, it's about what you would expect from a PG-13 action flick from 1930s-monster-movie-lover Stephen Sommers. Take it or leave it.