Van Helsing

Plot synopsis:
Gabriel Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman) has been ordered by the Vatican to search out and
destroy Count Vladislaus Dracula (Richard Roxburgh), an assignment that doesn't make Van
Helsing very happy. He is tired of killing monsters for the Church, only
to be branded by the public as a murderer with a price on his head. He
also wishes that he had back his memories, something that was taken away
from him due to his previous sins. Cardinal Jinette (Alun Armstrong) explains that this
assignment is important because, 450 years ago, a Transylvanian knight
named Valerius the Elder promised God that his family would never rest nor
enter heaven until they vanquished Dracula. However, Dracula still lives,
but only two of Valerius' descendents -- Princess Anna (Kate Beckinsale) and Prince Velkan (Will Kemp)
-- remain. The Valerius family is running out of time, and the Church is
committed to saving their souls. So, armed with only a scrap of a picture,
rings of garlic, holy water, a silver stake, a crucifix, an automatic
crossbow, and Friar Carl (David Wenham), the Q of the Vatican, Van Helsing takes off for
Transylvania.Van Helsing's arrival in Transylvania is not well met, as
Transylvanians don't like strangers. As Princess Anna challenges their
business there, Van Helsing notices three harpies flying towards them.
They are Dracula's three brides -- Aleera (Elena Anaya), Marishka (Josie Maran), and Verona (Silvia Colloca). It's
obvious that they are trying to nab Anna. In fact, they succeed in
carrying her off several times, but Van Helsing manages to get her back.
He finally destroys Marishka by dipping his crossbow in holy water before
shooting her with a dart. Oddly, the villagers are angry with Van Helsing
for killing Marishka. They explain that the vampires only kill one or two
a month to satisfy their needs. Now, thanks to him, they will kill more
out of revenge.Dracula isn't happy about it either. Not only is he now short one
bride, but a year ago, after setting up Victor Frankenstein (Samuel West) with his own
laboratory, the villagers set Frankenstein's monster on fire, and Dracula
needed the Monster in order to give life to his offspring (Dracula's
children are born dead and must be animated). Then, just a few days ago,
Velkan Valerius destroyed Dracula's werewolf with a silver bullet,
although it cost Velkan his life when the werewolf grabbed him just before
he fell over a steep cliff.Grateful that Van Helsing saved her life and destroyed Marishka, Anna
takes Van Helsing and Carl back to the castle where the Valerius family
has lived for hundreds of years following Dracula's human death. That
evening, Anna wants to go out vampire hunting, but Van Helsing, preferring
to wait until daylight, sprays her with knockout spray. When Anna later
awakens, the halls are dark and Van Helsing is nowhere to be found. Still,
someone is there. It's a werewolf, but not just any werewolf. It's her
brother, Velkan. Apparently, Velkan was bitten by the werewolf on the way
down, survived the fall, and now he is a werewolf, too. When the moon
suddenly goes behind a cloud, Velkan changes from werewolf back to himself
just long enough to warn Anna. Then the moon comes out, and he changes
back into a werewolf and lunges at her. Van Helsing appears and fires a
shot at Velkan, but he leaps out the window. Van Helsing follows. Just
when Van Helsing gets a clear shot at Velkan, Anna stops him to let him
know that Dracula supposedly has a cure for werewolfism. Van Helsing
agrees to help Anna look for the antidote and try to save her brother.Velkan's trail leads them to Castle Frankenstein where Dracula, Igor (Kevin J. O'Connor),
and the Dwergi [ugly little creatures that work for Dracula] have strapped
Velkan to Dr Frankenstein's machine and are trying to harness his life
energy to animate Dracula's babies. Lightning strikes and Velkan's
lifeforce flows into the baby vampires who start to hatch. Thousands of
them. Van Helsing starts shooting at them. Dracula gets really mad and
starts attacking Van Helsing. Van Helsing stabs Dracula with the silver
stake, but it doesn't work. (The stake needs to be made of wood.) Aleera,
Verona, and the babies fly into the village so that the brides can teach
the babies how to feed. Suddenly, all the vampire babies start to explode.
The animation hasn't been successful.Dracula orders Velkan to kill Van Helsing and Anna. In their escape
from Castle Frankenstein, Anna and Van Helsing fall into a subterranean
cave where the Frankenstein monster (Shuler Hensley) has been hiding. Van Helsing shoots
him with a tranquilizer dart but refuses to kill him because he can sense
that the Monster is not evil (Van Helsing will only kill evil beings).
Before he passes out, the Monster explains that he is the key to Dracula's
research, that he is the one thing that Dracula needs in order to bring
life to his brood. Even though the last hatchlings died, Dracula has
thousands more waiting birth, he says.Suddenly, they notice that they are being watched by Velkan. Knowing
that Dracula will soon know their whereabouts, Van Helsing tries to take
the Frankenstein monster back to Rome for protection, but they are
attacked by Verona, Aleera, and Velkan. Van Helsing destroys Verona and
gets a silver bullet into Velkan, who later dies in Anna's arms.
Unfortunately, Velkan also managed to bite Van Helsing. Aleera picks up
Anna and flies her back to Dracula while Van Helsing, Carl, and the
Monster are forced to walk. They meet up with Aleera again in Budapest.
She invites them to a Halloween masquerade ball during which they can
trade the Monster for Anna. Van Helsing tranquilizes the Monster and locks
him in a church while he and Carl go to the ball.At the ball, while Dracula dances with Anna, he tries to talk her
into becoming his bride, but Anna will have none of it. Van Helsing
rescues Anna, but their escape is thwarted when Igor triumphantly brings
in the Frankenstein monster. Everyone at the ball turns into vampires and
goes after Van Helsing, Carl, and Anna, forcing them to jump out a window.
By the time Van Helsing, Anna, and Carl get back to Transylvania, Dracula
has cleared out of Castle Frankenstein and moved...to no one knows where.
They go to the library where Carl has done a bit of research and
discovered that Dracula is really the son of Valerius the Elder. The whole
problem started when Dracula was murdered in 1462 by "the left hand of
God." When he died, Dracula made a covenant with the Devil and was given a
new life that could only be sustained by drinking blood. That's when
Valerius the Elder went to Rome and bargained away his family's right to
enter heaven until he killed Dracula. Dracula being his son, however,
Valerius was unable to kill him, so he banished him to an icy fortress
through a door with no means of escape...until the devil gave wings to
Dracula. So where is this door?Anna reveals that her father spent hours staring at a particular
picture. Perhaps that picture holds the key to the door? On the door is an
inscription in Latin which Carl tries to read but cannot finish because a
piece is missing. Van Helsing remembers the scrap of picture that Cardinal
Jinette gave him before he left Rome. Sure enough, it fits. When they read
the inscription aloud, the picture changes into a mirror which allows them
to walk through into the snowy fortress which is Dracula's true castle.
They enter a long hallway in which the ceiling and walls are lined with
pods containing vampire offspring waiting to be animated. They also see
the Frankenstein monster encased in a block of ice with only his head
sticking out. The Monster sees Van Helsing and tells him that Dracula DOES
have a cure for werewolfism. Van Helsing wonders why Dracula would have an
antidote. Carl remembers seeing another painting that showed a werewolf
killing a vampire. Now it all becomes clear. Only a werewolf can kill
Dracula, and Van Helsing is scheduled to turn into one tonight at the
stroke of midnight. The plan is to let Van Helsing transform and kill
Dracula, and then Anna and Carl can inject him with the antidote at the
last minute.While Van Helsing goes in search of Dracula, Anna and Carl force Igor
to lead them to the antidote. Igor shows them a syringe stored in a jar of
viscous liquid. Indeed, it is the antidote, but before they can retrieve
it, Igor locks them in the room. Aleera suddenly appears. Anna tosses the
jar at her. It crashes on the floor, and the splash burns Aleera's face.
Anna tosses more of the liquid at the bars on the door, and it eats
through them. While Anna keeps Aleera busy, Carl takes the antidote and
goes looking for Van Helsing. Van Helsing has discovered Dracula's
laboratory. The Frankenstein monster has been hoisted to the roof, and
Dracula is attempting to drain his life into his infants. Van Helsing
makes his way to the roof, but before the Monster can be freed, lightning
strikes and sends his lifeforce down through the infant nursery. The baby
vampires begin to awaken.Just as the Frankenstein Monster gets free, Dracula changes into a
bat and attacks Van Helsing. The Monster is struck again by a bolt of
lightning that sends him flying over the edge of the roof. On his way
down, he manages to grab onto a cable and knock Igor off the bridge where
he's been chasing Carl with a cattle prod. The Monster swings through a
window into the room where Anna and Aleera are fighting. As the Monster
holds Aleera at bay, Anna uses the cable to swing back to the laboratory.
On the way, Carl tosses her the antidote. Aleera catches up with Anna.
While Aleera gloats about how she's going to drink Anna's blood, Anna
grabs a spike and thrusts it through Aleera's heart.Just then the clock strikes midnight. Van Helsing changes into a
werewolf and attacks Dracula. Just as Van Helsing has Dracula by the
throat, the moon goes behind a cloud and Van Helsing changes back into
himself. Dracula takes this moment to inform Van Helsing that it was he (Van Helsing)
who murdered Dracula back in 1462. Suddenly, the moon comes back out. Van
Helsing turns into a werewolf again and chews up Dracula's neck. Dracula
crumbles into dust as do all of his baby vampires (once Dracula is
destroyed, all his creations are also destroyed). At that moment, Anna
runs into the room with the antidote. Van Helsing leaps at her. Carl also
arrives and opens the silver stake, ready to plunge it into Van Helsing.
But Anna was successful. She injected the antidote into Van Helsing just
before she died, and Van Helsing is returning to himself.Van Helsing and Carl hold a cremation for Anna at sea. He sees her spirit in the sky alongwith those of her ancestors. She smiles and realises that she is at peace and with her family. Heading out to sea in hopes of a sanctuary, we see Frankenstein's Monster on a raft looking towards the flaming beacon and the two heroes.

Tags: suspenseful, gothic, murder, paranormal, cult, horror, atmospheric, revenge, sci-fi

Review:
You cannot watch a film like Van Helsing with out taking it with a pinch of salt - it is a movie with vampires, werewolves and the frankenstine monster in at all at once for goodness sake.
I guess if you're looking for a summer action flick that takes itself too seriously, then you're out of luck with this one.I admit that the film runs a little to long, the chemistry between Beckinsale and Jackman leaves something to be desired, and the Frankenstein "monster" (though well-intentioned to give a nod to "Young Frankenstein") is really annoying.
But the entertainment spawning from the hokey fun that "Van Helsing" is all about, makes these flaws so forgivable.For me, I'll take the over-acting screaming Brides of Dracula, the silly homages to dozens of classic action and horror movies, the cheesy one-liners, and the not-so-convincing special effects.
If you dislike cgi, if you're a purist, if you're looking for something "realistic", or if you're looking for a slower-moving, understated film that's a deep character study, you'll more than likely hate this film.Set around the turn of the 20th Century, Van Helsing features the titular hero (Hugh Jackman) taking a break from his usual "monster slayer" activities, which are commissioned by the Catholic Church, to pursue a grand plot initiated by Dracula (Richard Roxburg) involving the Frankenstein Monster (Shuler Hensley), the Wolf Man (Will Kemp), and the two last surviving members of a Transylvanian family that has long been battling the vampire.Van Helsing is a fast-paced, computer graphics-laden horror/adventure/fantasy film wherein Universal re-imagines its core stable of classic horror characters.
I actually like cgi, I'm not a purist, I love the genres--I'm not looking for realism, and I love fast-paced action-oriented thrill rides as much if not more than I love character studies.As for the character remakes, Van Helsing becomes a slick retro-Matrix-styled macho action hero, part James Bond/007, part Indiana Jones, part Buffy the Vampire Slayer with a secret Catholic Church order filling in for the Watcher's Council and the Bond "Q Branch" combined.
Van Helsing provides a good argument for such extensive digital assistance, as many of the visuals would be simply impossible to achieve through any other means and substituting some of the creatures with mechanicals, animatronics, special effects makeup and the like would have caused the film to go far over its already outrageous estimated budget of 160 million.The plot, while not deep on characterization, couldn't be more full of events and action.
Director/writer Stephen Sommers, who was also responsible for remaking the image of another classic Universal character in The Mummy (1999) and The Mummy Returns (2001) (probably the reason the Mummy is not present in here), begins Van Helsing in a black and white scene that wonderfully recreates the feel of the James Whale-lensed Frankenstein films, including referencing a number of shots, scenes and characters from those classics.After the titles, we move into a color-filled world ala The Wizard of Oz while we're treated to a brief character-establishing scene of Van Helsing battling Mr. Hyde in the bell tower of Notre Dame.
Jackman, Kate Beckinsale, Roxburgh, Henley and David Wenham all turn in nuanced performances that imply the depth of character that the film does not have the time to fully explore.The intense action throughout the film combined with the cgi and spectacular sweeping camera moves often gives Van Helsing a feel somewhere between a comic book film and a video game.
As the film opens, Dr. Frankenstein is killed by Dracula, who no longer needs him, and his monster, whom Dracula needs to give the essence of life to his children, appears to perish in a fire.A year later, Gabriel Van Helsing, a tortured man without a past is sent to Transylvania by the "Holy Order"...
But still I went into this movie just looking for a good time (that and am a huge fan of old school monster films) and thats what I got.
If people looked at them more as just visually entertaining with a bunch of sharp one-liners, and tried to stop making them the next big action movie, or trying to read a life change message somewhere in there, they'd have more fun!
So let's spread our wings, charge up, and take a bite into this action-packed creature feature.Plot: Dracula, the Prince of Darkness, had Dr. Frankenstein create his monster for a nefarious purpose, but the vampire lord loses both the good doctor and his creation.
A year later, having finished business in Paris (Mr. Hyde), monster hunter Van Helsing, alongside his genius sidekick Carl, is sent by the Knights of the Holy Order to Transylvania to kill Dracula while protecting Princess Anna from him.
With the help of Carl, Anna, and Frankenstein's monster, Van Helsing sets out to stop this monster madness with an arsenal of crazy weapons and an attitude to match.This is a great tribute to the classic monster movies.
It's great the way all these characters are tied together in this crazy battle for the fate of the world.With a complex story, nice effects, fun music, good comedy, and awesome action scenes, this movie is sure to please.
The plot consists of Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman) being part of a special order of the Vatican to kill all unhuman / evil creatures, so amazingly he is sent of to Transylvania where he is to kill Dracula, the sub plot being that Anna Valerious (Kate Beckinsale) is the last in the line of a family who's mission for centuries has been to kill Dracula themselves.
If Anna dies before Dracula, being the last in the line will condemn the whole family to eternal damnation.While the plot isn't the strongest in the world, it actually doesn't make any difference as the special effects and incredible pace of the film doesn't really give you much chance to contemplate any deeper meanings or plotlines.The poster campaign has featured heavily on this film containing Dracula, Wolfman and Frankenstein's monster, though there are other wonderful classic characters which make the film an even bigger joy to watch for example Igor and Dr Jekyll with the former character becoming a wonderful stereotype of the hunchbacked laboratory assistant.Strangely, the chemistry between Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsale doesn't have the same spark or passion as Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz in the Mummy saga, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing, as the two characters are not the typical leading man and lady who will obviously fall in love, which again gives this film quite a refreshing edge.David Wenham as Carl, a friar sent to look after Van Helsing gives the comedy edge with wonderful one liners and a constant cheeky glint in his eye.The monsters themselves are a perfect homage to Hammer Horror / Boris Karloff films although I personally found Dracula (Richard Roxburgh) a little bit too camp and less evil although his character was certainly a more evil Dracula than has been seen recently.
His 3 brides are possible the surprise highlight of the film turning from beautiful women to gargoyle-like creatures in a split second are a joy to watch in every sense of the word.The wolfman metamorphosis is (as has been reported) an incredible piece of special effects, with the victim tearing off his skin to reveal fur and vice versa throughout the change.
However, because these effects are also extremely well done, it is more of a criticism on the viewer who has obviously been spoilt with such effects recently.The pastiges of this film are truly a joy, with references to James Bond (in a highly enjoyable scene about selecting weapons), X-men, Matrix, Aliens, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Rocky Horror and countless other more obvious Horror classics.Hugh Jackman (finally deserving his first lead role) is incredible and this role shows what a fantastic (and without doubt one of Hollywoods hunkiest) actors he is.
The film is a monstrous cocktail : Dr. Jekill and Mr.Hyde , Frankestein, werewolf , Dracula ,Igor.The starring is Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman) , the monster hunter .
He will have to confront werewolf , Frankestein (Shular Hensley) and specially Dracula (Richard Roxbough) and his brides (Elena Anaya, Silvia Colloca and Joshie Marian) .The film is spectacular , the action-packed is fascinating and computer generator effects specials (FX) are overwhelming though excessive .The movie mingles monsters action , suspense, terror , gore , rip-roaring, tongue-in-cheek , a little bit of humor and is amount bemusing but the plot is ridiculous .Direction by Stephen Sommers is average , Alan Daviau's cinematography , set design by Alan Cameron and Alan Silvestri's musical score is outstanding.Rating 6/10 .
If I was Bram Stoker, I'd be suing from beyond the grave.Now I loved director Stephen Sommers "Mummy" movies, especially the first one, which was lots of fun, I really like fine actors Hugh Jackman, Richard Roxburgh (wonderfully camp in Moulin Rouge) and David Wenham and I was fairly open minded about Kate Beckinsale as I'd hardly seen her in anything before, so I sat down to watch this movie (on pay per view at home) perfectly willing to be entertained.
It's nicely juxtaposed with the movie's opening action sequence, an exhilarating battle between the titular Van Helsing and the evil Mr. Hyde (a silly special effect, but used well in this opening scene), with plenty of over-the-top stunts that are thrilling to watch.But most of the rest of the film is a complete and utter mess, so much that I wouldn't be surprised if the movie saw an afterlife as a cult classic of sorts.
Truth be told, I sort of admire the movie's outrageousness and I honestly can't bring myself to totally hate it, but I sure as hell can't say I liked it, either.Hugh Jackman stars as Van Helsing, the Vatican Church's assassin of evil creatures.
It's actually almost as bad as LXG in this regard, but is at least not nearly as bloated (from a running time POV) and visually plain as Pirates of the Caribbean (which gave us little more than underused CGI skeletons and a lot of plain-looking islands and warships).The movie's super-cheesy final scenes lead me to wonder if Sommers was on crack when he included those last few f/x shots.
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.
Van Helsing have all the action, adventure, horror, comedy and fun you can ask for in a movie.
It's gotta be an 8 out of 10, no?It has everything that must be in a mindless fantasy film: 1) great bad guys (tough and thoughtful vampires, nasty werewolves, and a host of lesser ghouls)2) Great good guy - Hugh Jackman is da man!3) Touch of comedy to lighten the scariness.4) Love interest - Kate B!5) fast paced action - it never slows down.6) Superior FX and locations and setwork.I come back to this movie every 4 years as I forget the details, and it never fails to make me smile.
"Van Helsing" is easily one of the worst so-called 'horror films' of 2004.Why people compare this CGI-laden piece of crap to Universal classics or Hammer vampire movies is beyond me.Instead of focusing on suspense the film is loaded with tons of unimpressive CGI-imagery.The script is painfully weak and the characters are totally one-dimensional.Admittedly,the opening scene is pretty good as it follows a mob of angry villagers as they storm Dr.Frankenstein's castle.It's shot in black and white andfor a little while,anywaycaptures the eerie,fog-ridden atmosphere of such horror staples as "Frankenstein" and "The Wolf Man".After this short prologue we meet Van Helsing and the film quickly becomes stupefying mess.The dialogue is particularly atrocious and there is no suspense or gore,just lots of loud noises and computer animated vampires and werewolves.The film may be entertaining for popcorn eaters,but everyone who calls himself or herself a true horror fan will hate it.2 out of 10.Avoid this travesty like the plague..
A breathless action movie, having lots of humor (the gay style of Dracula, most of the scenes with Carl, the English accent of Dracula and his three brides, Mr. Hyde looking like Hulk etc.), a romance between Van Helsing and Anna, special effects where sometimes we are not able to identify what is real or not, a great homage to famous monsters, therefore, it is excellent for its proposal of entertainment.
Judging this movie for what it is, a fantasy film, it delivers well with reasonable acting (Kate Beckinsale's accent is even credible), good effects and a story-line writhes around enough to remain sufficiently unpredictable and suspenseful.
I enjoyed the movie it was full of action and had a story that I could suspend disbelief for, seeing as everybody already knows whom the Wolfman,Dracula,Fankenstein,Van Helsing are there was no need to tell their stories again so we could get right into the action.It was a good thing the Vatican send Van Helsing to Transylvania, because Kate alone wouldn't have lasted 5 minutes with those monsters.
Probably the most memorable performance comes from David 'Faramir' Wenham, who provides most of the comic relief as Van Helsing's bible-bashing sidekick.In terms of special effects it's pretty amazing -- this movie did, after all, have a ludicrous amount of money thrown at it ($160 million), but perhaps relying so heavily on CGI was a mistake.
And here, the computer-generated stuff is at times very distracting as rather than being involved in the plot you're sitting there thinking, "Oo, doesn't that creature look good?" The soundtrack is also very cool (even the bits stolen from "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade").It's unfortunate that this wasn't the box-office hit it was clearly intended to be, but if you're in the mood for a big, stupid, fun action movie that makes no sense and has absolutely no point to it, this one is as good as any..
This is a good movie to watch on a rain day, a boring Sunday afternoon or on Halloween.Check out Van Helsing if you love a lot of action!.
It's about Van Helsing, the vampire hunter whose mission is to kill Dracula.Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsale were the highlights of the film.
"Van Helsing" looks like a shoved together collection of highlights from three movies.**** Van Helsing (5/3/04) Stephen Sommers ~ Hugh Jackman, Kate Beckinsale, Richard Roxburgh, Will Kemp.
The "filmmaker" doesn't care for anything but big noisy moments where everyone is screaming, or falling off of this wall or that cliff, all done in a extreme schlocky manner, including an orgy of terrible CGI, bad makeup, stupid characters and a plethora of incongruous elements so disparate that the end product looks like it was truly dreamed up by a 5 year old boy suffering from extreme ADD.Sommers actually tried to make Van Helsing into a medieval James Bond, with the villain, being a campy Dracula (and his three hysterical bimbos) trying to destroy the world with their GREMLIN-like offsprings by having them energized by the "lifeforce" from Frankenstein's Monster.
The only good character in the movie was Dracula, played by Richard Roxburgh and the best special-effects monster was the Wolf Man. Otherwise, this is two hours of the same people going after the same monsters with so much action that it actually gets boring..
We are, of course, supposed to be rooting for Van Helsing when watching this film, but what with the regular cheesy and clichéd dialogue of the heroes and the incredibly effective vampire charm of Richard Roxburgh's, I switched sides pretty much as soon as I saw him.Roxburgh is undoubtedly the best Dracula ever!
Although Hugh Jackman did have some cool little scenes, they all look pretty rubbish next to Draculas...Definitely a must see for all Roxburgh fans.Either way, it's still an entertaining film and if you're not expecting too much script and story wise, you'll have a blast watching it!Can't wait for the DVD!.
The very concept of Dracula , Frankenstein's monster , The wolfman and van helsing all together in one big smack down sounded like my kind of film ."There is no way this is gonna fail !
Good Fun. Plot In A Paragraph: The Vatican sends the monster hunter Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman) and his assistant, Carl (David Wenham) to Transylvania.
Van Helsing is a good fantasy horror film - an action-packed adventure!
One of the highlights of the film is the romance between Anna and Van Helsing.This film is great to watch on an day when you are in the mood for the classic movie monsters and a lot of action!
However, lots of really good special effects, a drool-worthy cast and a poorly developed script, don't sell at the box office, that is where films like "Troy" are catergorised.The cast was well hand picked, Hugh Jackman as Van Helsing, he is a man of many talents but I wasn't entirely sure if he made a good decision signing on for this picture, Kate Beckinsale is beautiful as Anna, but I'll admit that her Romanian accent in the film was almost laughable if you know what I mean.
I like this movie and I love huge jackman, plus supporting cast was good.I personally love this kind of tongue-in-cheek, change of the usual film.Maybe movies timing was bad, because pf spider man.If people looked at them more as just visually entertaining with a bunch of sharp one-liners, and tried to stop making them the next big action movie, or trying to read a life change message somewhere in there, they'd have more fun!
Enjoyable...when it doesn't take itself too seriously.Vampire/werewolf/monster/whatever-hunter Van Helsing (played by Hugh Jackman) and his faithful sidekick Carl (played by David Wenham) go to Transylvania to track down Count Dracula (played by Richard Roxburgh).
Its a ridiculous movie, as much homage as it's camp, but all the time action scenes dominate- Van Helsing is like a James Bond movie where he fights MGM classic monsters.