Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Henry" data-source="post: 1544437" data-attributes="member: 158">I gave it an 8 - in truth, it was somewhere between a 7 and 8, but I gave it the benefit of the doubt.It was DEFINITELY not better than the mummy, which was to me in the 9 to 10 range, but it was a fun ride, and it doesn't have to be in-depth psychodrama to be a good movie. THe Mummy had it all - adventure, romance, a clearly-driven plot, humor, well-choreographed fights, and the barest HINT of plausibility - I don't recall Rick or Evie getting knocked 70 feet into the air and getting back up, or swings from 500 foot tall towers where wind and elements would have finished off the hero long before the villain touched them. Loved Mummy, liked Van Helsing.The actors I think did a good job overall. Beckinsale proved to me between this and Underworld that she could evoke a wide range of emotion, though Jackman really doesn't seem to play any differently to me, whether he's Wolverine or a computer hacker, or a monster hunter.Richard Roxburgh,on the other hand, OWNED that film. I don't see flat when I see his performance - he and the three lady vampires CHEWED up the scenery when they we on camera, and it fit the genre so well that I loved it. Everything from his little "dance" while talking to the strapped-down Velkan, to his nervous pacing up the walls and ceilings, to dancing at the ball, he made himself the central focus of screen time when he appeared. Jackman was just standing around compared to him, and while I like Jackman, he really gave Van Helsing no character, even though the scripting tried.Wenham (surprisingly FARAMIR from the Rings Films!!) did a very good job with Carl,  and O'Connor (Beni from the Mummy, fascinating given the recent discussions!) was fun to watch as Igor. I recognized him under a ton of makeup by his voice within 10 seconds of seeing him onscreen.Was it unrealistic? Of course! But then that was the style the movie was going for, and they nailed it well. The friendship between Van Helsing and the monster was a nice twist, and I really felt they cheated that part of the story by having the monster just paddling off into the distance. Where's the "goodbye my friend?" Where's the "where will you go?" Where's the "look me up if you're in London sometime?" and FOR GOD'S SAKE TURN THE VOLUME DOWN EVER SO SLIGHTLY!!! My wife and I could barely hear after two hours of BOOM-SCREAM-CREAK-BAMMM! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />But I digress. In the end, a fun movie, worth the price.</blockquote>

Verification