I may see it as it has my favorite wolf in it, wolverine, Hugh Jackman, no offence wolfy. He's a very good actor.

Edited by - Finalday on 5/12/2004 7:21:31 PM

In another board I had asked whether it looked like a worthwhile movie to see and got mixed results. So now when you get back tell us what you thought of it so I can decide!

I went and seen it opening night last friday here in the US, here me review...

The movie itself is overall a good movie. If you know two things about Frankenstein and all of that then you will understand the movie. As far as the plot goes, well it depends on your personal preferance. I thought that it was very good. It held my interest until the end of the movie. The fight scenes are all very good and very high quality graphic wise. Some of the pictures of the castles can look like they came right out of the old Frankenstein movies though. So I would give this movie a score of 4/5. Its nothing spectacular but its definately worth going to watch.

While we are on the movie topic, i'll make another suggestion. If anyone out there is thinking about going to see Envy, i beg you do not go. I swear i lost 50 IQ points by the end of that movie.

Matt

I saw it. It was weird, a combo of Bond and Underworld. I'd wait to rent it.

Life: No one gets out alive.

Wolfy's in Van Helsing? wow.

I dont feel any great urge to see it, although I don't see anything wrong with it. Kate looks very nayce. If someone pays for me to go, I'll go, otherwise I'll rent it.

Hellboy looks entertaining. But generally I feel like as above.

The next film I go to see will be Zaitoichi on May 27th (blind samurai)

sweetness sweetness I was only joking when i said, I'd like to smash every tooth in your head..

indiana jones with frakenstine, wolfman, mr hyde and vampires.

I saw a preview a couple of weeks ago. I came out of it with mixed feelings, but all good. On one hand I thought, hey, now that was a crackin' 2 hours full of mindless tosh that I'm really glad I saw....and on the other hand I was thinking, blimey, that director actually knew what he was doing. Let me explain.

Van Helsing is nothing more than a mindless explosion of special fx upon special fx, lashings of comic book style violence and best of all - Kate Beckinsale in some very pleasing outfits (god bless her). Generally the acting is below average, the script is terrible and Kate's accent wavers between transylvanian and welsh quite frequently. However, the action more than makes up for it, as long as of course you can forgive the chronologically incorrect combination of characters and weaponary. This is a true comic book action movie. It has style, sex appeal and humour.

Now, my confusion came because occasionally, just occasionally, in parts of the movie the director showed signs of a real love for the subject matter. Scenes which didn't involve action were few and far between....which some may say is a good thing...but the occasional quite moment showed true flair to the director's style. There were moments when I thought I was watching an Ed Wood, Terence Fisher or Bela Lugosi movie - some of the camera angles and colouring elements could have only been created by a true fan of the genre. But do they stand out as art in the action movie? Not at all...but what they do is show a form of subtle humour between the action scenes, as a constant reminder that the director has his tongue firmly placed in his cheek. A good comparison would be the "kung fu training" scene in Kill Bill pt 2...it picks on a genre and reproduces it flawlessly.

So in a nutshell, if you were a fan of the hammer films, you'll love it. If you like mindless action movies, you'll love it. If you like comic books, you'll love it. And if you like Kate Beckinsale, you'll adore it...and probably be the 1st in the queue for the dvd release . However, if you expect anything more than an in-your-face james bond rip-off with monsters, then forget it, this movie's not for you.

My only disappointment was the final scene. Far too cheesy for my liking...shame they had to ruin a good thing.

Enjoy

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Here Endeth the Post of Gromit. RIP.

Full of cliches and not much brain required to watch it, but great fun to watch never the less.

My gap year in Borneo

it will never beat the Van Helsing Cartoons on the one german music channel (viva)...

That is the BEST cartoon series ever. It's not like any other, lots of blood, vampires and other things...(*drools*)

Your posts are SPAM . My posts are WISDOM SPEECHES .

Lost Soul Studios

this film blows, im talking gale force here

the shocking inconsitencies with vampire mythology, the Grand Canyon sized plot holes, the lack of any decent storytelling, the 2d characters, the missed opportunities for anything remotely good just ruin this film

horses that are supposed to be faster than any creature in the land, including werewolves (we're actually TOLD this) are then cought by a werewolf.
The fact that in order to keep the werewolf as a feasable opponent it seems to be always a full moon, the fact that we couldnt care less about what happens to any of our guys or their respective fates, that Helsing's story is explained at the end but i found myself asking "when was i caring?". They tell us at the end that he's been having nightmares ever night about huge battles, yet we never see him particularly troubled by them, or indeed even SEE one of them, its as if this movie requires a previous film to fill in the blanks.

Im of the firm belief that Hugh slept through this film, i dont think there was a drop of emotion or indeed change of mood through the entire film.

avoid if you didnt like LXG, this film is pure poo, nothing more than a big buget but poorly created Indiana Jones meets Dracula.


"I've seen things you people wouldnt believe.
Attacked ships on fire off the shoulder of orion. Ive seen C-Beams glitter in the darkness at tannhauser gate.
All those moments, will be lost in time, like tears in the rain.
Time, to die."

That's true. It really annoyed me that you never find out anything about who the hell he is and why he's lived for 500 odd years...

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The fact that in order to keep the werewolf as a feasable opponent it seems to be always a full moon,

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I'd forgotten about that, but I did wonder at the time!

If you don't worry about the inconsistencies though and treat it as a 4* action film (All action films with the usual lame plot and no depth end up with 4*'s )it's a good laugh - go on, admit it!

My gap year in Borneo

I didn't think the movie was horrible, but there a lot of things that went wrong here. Mr. Hyde, Frankenstein's monster, Wolfman and Dracula all in the same movie? What the hell? That kind of negates the possibility for a sequel. The special effects were cool, but I've seen them before and seen them done better. Dracula was cool, but the guy who played him, overacted in some places. Frankenstein's monster, if you remember from Mary Shelley's story, was not a good guy. He had the mind of a criminal put in his head. Why he was portrayed as a good guy in this movie is beyond me. Not to mention plot gaps and all. Who was Van Helsing? Why did he have no memory? What made him start working for the Vatican? I would've loved to know these things, but you can blame the inconsistencies on the writer of the half-assed story and the director of the movie. Stephen Sommers should not have been picked for this movie. Hugh Jackman was good as Van Helsing, but it's not his fault that the character was one-dimensional. David Wenham as Carl the inventor, was a good choice. He was pretty funny in that role. Kate Beckinsale is beautiful and talented but this was not the movie for her. Oh another thing is that the movie was too damn long. If it was cut down to an hour and forty minutes, it would've been much better. When you drag out a movie like this for two hours and 15 minutes, it gets boring really fast. I was squirming in my seat, because it took so long to get to the next action sequence. I don't squirm in my seat very often when it comes to movies. This movie could've been done MUCH better. Out of 5 stars, I give it 2.

"If it's our time to die, it's our time. All I ask is that when it's our time, if we have to give these b******s our lives, WE GIVE 'EM HELL BEFORE WE DO!"

i wondered why frankensteins monster swung DOWN from the bridge at the end and went through the window, yet when the girl leaves through the same window, she's above the bridge. And would YOU throw that syringe to her on the off chance she might catch it, especially since it's so damned crucial.

also, where does a friar get off asking a woman for sex? sure he might have saved her life but still, he's the king of rude for that.


"I've seen things you people wouldnt believe.
Attacked ships on fire off the shoulder of orion. Ive seen C-Beams glitter in the darkness at tannhauser gate.
All those moments, will be lost in time, like tears in the rain.
Time, to die."

The Friar was FUNNY! By far my favourite character, blatant rip of Q from Bond at the start though

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What made him start working for the Vatican?

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He was found crawling up the steps, injured and with no memory of his past, so they took him in and he worked for them when he was fit enough.

My gap year in Borneo

Edited by - Zone on 5/13/2004 7:54:40 AM