Van Helsing

[Banshee16]

You know while I agree, I don't think you go far enough. This movie was wretched. I was considering walking out at many points. Pretty much any scene with the brides of Dracula in them made me cringe. The special effects for the sake of special effects got old so quickly that it wasn't even funny. I find it utterly amazing that this was from the man who made the Mummy, which is a movie I like a great deal.

You don't even have to begin to nitpick to find bad things in this move. It is pretty much awful on all layers. I kept wondering how many pages the script had to been since it was most likely written in crayon.

I wouldn't even reccomend that someone bother to rent in. Heck, I'd avoid it on TV.

buzzard

This is exactly what I was thinking. This guy made The Mummy, The Mummy Returns, and even the Scorpion King. All 3 were campy, and kind of cheesy, yet cool at the same time. But Van Helsing.....it just didn't compare. It came across as childish, pedantic, and stupid....like we were expected to just ignore the numerous faults for the sake of the special effects.

One thing I never got. Vampires having babies? Ok. But why did Dracula need to create babies if he could create other vampires? I mean, he created the brides, but also that whole castle full of vampires. So why did he need to create children?

Banshee

 

[Crothian]

if you were going into this movie expecting to see The Godfather or The Return of the King, then you probably need to get your head checked.

To paraphrase something that Josh said in another thread related to this movie, Why should we expect every movie to be brilliant when not every movie is trying to be? Some movies just aspire to entertain and provide a cheap thrill, not provide a life-changing expirience.

I don't know of anyone who went into this thinking it was going to be the Godfather. People have been accused of that though. I wasn't expecting it to be brilliant or life changing, as so very few movies are. I was actually expecting it to be much worse.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Apart from the fact that the film was UK-rated 12a (twelve year olds can go and see it) and I found it full of some of the most horrific images I recall seeing at the cinema... (it dwarfed the horror of most 18 cert films I remember seeing a couple of decades ago. Go figure)... I enjoyed the film.

I liked Hyde at the start. I liked the "underground resistance", I liked frankenstein.

One thing that I really liked was at the very end of the movie

Spoiler

Major character dies, without even any last words! Excellent! Makes a change to see a film with guts like that

One thing that seemed a little puzzling

Spoiler

van Helsing seems to take it with remarkable nonchalance that he himself was obviously 400+ years old, but there is no indication about how he might have managed that feat

One thing that seemed very silly: How long does it *take* for a clock to strike 12 in Transylvania? Honestly!

Cheers

 

[Branduil]

Dude, if this is one of the worst movies you've ever seen, you need to see more movies!

Perhaps, but though other movies I've seen may be worse in most regards, they didn't have a multi-million dollar budget. For the price spent on this thing there's no excuse for not having an adequate story. If I'm harsher on this film because of that, then it's because I feel a film like this must live up to higher expectations.

 

[buzzard]

Actually I went into it with pretty low expectations. The WSJ reviewer tore it a big one, and I usually respect their reviews. I certainly didn't expect it to be a great movie. However I did not expect to be cringing all the time from horribly bad acting and direction. Honesty I felt pity for Jackman, since it appeared he was doing the best he could, but it was far too stacked against him.

buzzard

 

[Thanee]

Actually I went into it with pretty low expectations.

Why do you watch movies that you expect you don't like?

Bye
Thanee

 

[Thanee]

The movie had no story- everything just happened randomly with no setup.

I actually liked that the story was very consistent in itself.

Sure, it had some flaws, like

Spoiler

the whole vampire baby thing

or

Spoiler

how Igor and the little dudes managed to get into dracula's real castle

, but the story as a whole was consistent and there was a decent reason why everything happened. It surely wasn't just random action scenes pasted together.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Branduil]

I actually liked that the story was very consistent in itself.

Sure, it had some flaws, like

Spoiler

the whole vampire baby thing

or

Spoiler

how Igor and the little dudes managed to get into dracula's real castle

, but the story as a whole was consistent and there was a decent reason why everything happened. It surely wasn't just random action scenes pasted together.

Bye
Thanee

Spoiler

-Why can only a werewolf kill Dracula?

-Why does Dracula need to create children when he can just bite lots of people and make them vampires?

-Why does Dracula not care/know that Van Helsing and co. are hanging out in the place that leads directly to his lair?

-On that note, why does Dracula have no guards or lookouts whatsoever?

-If Dracula keeps the Werewolf antidote around in case he gets attacked by one, why does he keep it in an isolated room, contained in an acidic substance? Shouldn't he keep it on his person?

-Is Dracula so stupid that he doesn't realize the possibility that having werewolf's fight for him is really dumb, seeing as they could bite his enemy, who would then turn into a werewolf and be able to kill him?

-How does Frankenstein's monster survive the fire?

-Why are stagecoaches combustible?

-Why is Frankenstein encased in ice in that one scene? How does he know Dracula has a werewolf antidote?

-Why is Mr. Hyde in Paris?

 

[Thanee]

Spoiler

-Why can only a werewolf kill Dracula?

*** Because god (or the devil, who created his unlife) said so. It's just like every other arch-villain who can only be killed by a single 'weapon'.

-Why does Dracula need to create children when he can just bite lots of people and make them vampires?

*** He does not need to. It just happens (yes, it's pretty weird), and since they are there... he tried to give them life! He certainly does not need to, but he has the desire to do so.

-Why does Dracula not care/know that Van Helsing and co. are hanging out in the place that leads directly to his lair?

*** It's not really explained, whether he knows that or not.

-On that note, why does Dracula have no guards or lookouts whatsoever?

*** What does he need guards for? Noone (almost ) can kill him, he also has senses far beyond those of any mortal.

-If Dracula keeps the Werewolf antidote around in case he gets attacked by one, why does he keep it in an isolated room, contained in an acidic substance? Shouldn't he keep it on his person?

*** Yeah, he should have done so. Stupid him. But that's always the case with the one thing that works... it's just clichee.

-Is Dracula so stupid that he doesn't realize the possibility that having werewolf's fight for him is really dumb, seeing as they could bite his enemy, who would then turn into a werewolf and be able to kill him?

*** Heh. It was stated, tho, that noone would really think about that possibility and therefore the danger is rather low. Of course, no reasonable person would do it like this, but isn't that always the case with the arch-villain... again, this is just a clichee.

-How does Frankenstein's monster survive the fire?

*** What fire? It fell right through into the cavern... ok, how did it surive the fall? Well, it's half a machine, who knows what it can do. Oh, and there was water down there.

-Why are stagecoaches combustible?

*** Yeah, the fire was a bit much. It was just the torch being pushed onto the roof, which probably was some kind of cloth. The rest was just some overdone special effect.

-Why is Frankenstein encased in ice in that one scene? How does he know Dracula has a werewolf antidote?

*** He knows a lot of stuff, not only this. Probably from his 'father'. I mean, why can he even talk to begin with...

-Why is Mr. Hyde in Paris?

*** I'd rather ask why is Mr Hyde = the hunchback... ?!?

Well, as I said, there certainly are some flaws, but the story in itself is consistent. Most of the stuff that happens (not speaking of every little detail, just the plot-relevant stuff) makes sense (altho that sense is kinda weird in some parts).

Bye
Thanee

 

[Brother Shatterstone]

I don't even fell like typing about this move it was so bad... Well bad is harsh, I just wasn't entertained and even the special effects where rather lack luster.

It’s in the trailers so I think I need to point this out but….

Spoiler

When Dracula and Anna are dancing and they go before the mirror the effect just breaks down. They had it but they continue from the same camera for to long and when they twirl away it’s ungodly ugly….