Van Helsing

This movie starts out well, and makes use of a cliché plotline that isn’t too overdone, and Hugh Jackman, though becoming rather typecast, does an excellent job as the soulless bounty hunter, Van Helsing. This movie is an attempt to bring together the Wolf man, Dracula, and the Monster of Dr. Frankenstein. In some senses, they are trying to pack in too much. The end all plot is that Dracula tries to bring his offspring to life instead of bursting into pussy little former embryos. And he needs Frankenstines formula to do that. I actually forget the significance of the wolfman, other than her is the servant of Dracula. Very Weird, and I didn’t really like the plot, particularly the incorporation of Frankenstein. 

Action wise, and as always Hugh Jackman does a great job, and the idea of Van Helsing a soulless man who fights evil in every place through out history is very fascinating, but used in this context, I found it rather disappointing. Kate Beckinsale plays the Romantic Interest and an equal in vampire hunting prowess, but dies at the end, which is very unformulaic and I was glad to see them step outside the box. 

All in all, this movie was lacking, but a fun cheap action flick with a slightly overcomplicated plot. This movie is also a tribute to the three monsters in question and the dir3ector studied the movies of Boris Karloff, Bellow Lugosi and Lon Cheney, and so in the presentation of the monsters, particularly the vampires I was quite pleased.

This movie is still a 2, because it is worth seeing. I think I definitely prefer other vampire movies to this oe however, including Underworld, Interview with a Vampire, John Carpenters Vampires, and Bram Stokers Dracula. Actually, this was better than John carpenters and had an element of realism despite the drastic and crazy fantasy world. I liked it.