What do you get when you pick all the main gothic horror creatures, put them in a cauldron, add some holy water , put a fire underneath it , grind and stir it well, to create a strong concoction?
Im not sure..i guess the result will not be insipid, but it wont be too good on the stomach either. For me, Van Helsing was such a concoction.
The plot in a bottle:
Van is the 19th century gothic 007, the church is the OHMS secret service office he reports to and monsters are the wrong-doers that he hunt. And no - unlike the original Bond, he’s not a womanizer. We get to see Van comissioned to Trannsylvania where he aids princess Anna in cleaning off the dirt pile, which incidently consists of vampires, werewolfs and what nots - the top of the food chain being Count Dracula himself. Van gets bitten by a werewolf, turns into one himself and finishes off the count. He gets his soul redeemed with help of his friends and the princess, before it consumes him. There seems to be a teeny weeny romance sprouting between the princess and the hunter but it ends abruptly with the death of the princess.
His job done, Van leaves, with a heavy heart.
As far as the story goes, I thought it was fast paced, a bit too fast paced for me, at times I only heard the sound of it as it whizzed by. There was no time for the plot to develop or the characters to reveal some depth. As soon as Van lands in Trans till the time he leaves he doesnt get time for anything much other than shooting vampire chickies or getting trashed around up by werewolves. The vampire chickies were hot, by the way, a cast including some of the most beautiful ladies of the year. Pity that vampires only lust for blood :)
I really like this Hugh jackman chap. I saw him first in Xmen. Im a sucker for Wolverine and I wasnt sure if anyone could do him justice on the screen, but when I saw Jackman as Wolvie, I took an instant liking for him. Van Helsing is yet another revelation of the fact that he can hold his own as a star. I believe he has huge potential. I would like to see him as an action star in a ’normal’ no-monster kinda movie. Has he done any such?
Kate Beckingsale is cool as the princess. I liked her as the underworld vampire. One flaw I felt in her characterization here was that she was made a bit super-human, which wasnt all that necessary. The action scenes were a bit carried away. We find Kate falling from such heights and brushing with death and vampires so much all through the movie. Perhaps that was the reason one doesnt get all that moved when she dies in the end. She could have been dead a thousand times by then, we just feel that this time she was unlucky, thats all.
Roxburgh looked pretty authentic as Count Dracula. The frankenstein monster chips in with a cameo role too. I am not sure who was the cast for this one, though.
The CGI effects are pretty fine...but after seeing the monsters for so long, in the end they do not look scary, just ’familiar’.
All said, the movie doesnt bore you, perhaps it was because I had such high expectations that I felt a bit let down. So be warned - if you go to watch this movie dont expect too much. Its a pretty decent watch though...