*** Official VAN HELSING Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[JonZ]

Man,early reviewers are tearing this movie to shreds

 

[RodneyT]

and i bet most of those reviewers are the same ones that think Deep Rising is a bad film.

 

[Matt Stieg]

I hope this film at least leads people to the original monster movies that inspired this...

 

[DaveF]

Can anyone explain the Van Helsing / NBA dual promos running on TNT (I think)? Van Helsing looked like it could be fun initially, but the strange blended NBA promos took suggested the movie was desperate for attention.

 

[RobertW]

as others have said, i get a huge LXG vibe coming off this film. it's a big CGI summer action flick, and i think it would have worked far better as a dark, brooding supernatural thriller. maybe a bit more like From Hell than like LXG.

not that i think From Hell was an excellent movie, cause it wasn't, but the atmosphere it tried to portray, if done a bit more effectively, would really make Van Helsing a great, scary flick. right now it's looking more like LXG.

 

[EdHoch]

Read an article in the local paper this weekend about how much Universal, and NBC/GE have riding on this movie. Given early reviews it looks like they are setting themselves up for a big fall...

Now admitedly, many of the reviews I've read have come from aintitcool. However, you would think that those fanboys would give a genre film like this every benefit of the doubt...they fact that they seem to hate it does not bode well...

Too bad, on paper it sounded good, casting good...story bad I guess.

Although I really shouldn't be surprised. I liked the Mummy for what it was, thought Mummy returns was a waste of time...looks like the downward slide continues...

 

[ChrisMatson]

It ususally does not bode well when there are no major reviews out five days before the release.

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

A partial review from Todd McCarthy of Variety:


Sorry, I can't post the rest of it. But it was mostly not favorable.

~Edwin

 

[Gary->dee]

When I first heard about this project and that it starred Hugh Jackman I thought it could be something good. Then once I started seeing the trailers and I realized Sommers directed it my expectations began to drop. The more trailers and scenes I see from the movie just make it look like utter crap or a movie I'd categorize as DVD/cable ready. I don't mind being proven wrong whenever I do see it!

 

[Nick Sievers]

I went to see KB2 again and noticed there was an unadvertised screening of Van Helsing straight after. I can't pass up seeing films early so I decided to stick around.

No wonder there haven't been many advance screenings, once word gets out expect a rapid decline. This is on the same level as Sommers' awful last film The Mummy Returns, an overblown CGI fest that becomes more annoying the longer it goes on. Sommers really needs to learn that story and characters come before spectacle.

From the paragraph Edwin posted:


Yep, thats me.

 

[Malcolm R]

That grossed over $200M. If "Van Helsing" grosses are in the same ballpark, I think the studio will be happy.

 

[Citizen87645]

I didn't care for The Mummy and didn't even bother seeing the Mummy Returns. When I saw Sommers as Van Helsing's director my expectations dropped. I'll probably see it and likely enjoy it because of low expectations.

 

[DonRoeber]

I liked The Mummy, but can't stand much anything else from Sommers. Like many others, I was initially excited about Van helsing, but now it looks pretty bland and boring. Of course, I'll still be seeing it on Friday night. It's a good after dinner with a bunch of friends movie, and my expectations have been sufficiently lowered.

 

[Michael Martin]

I really like The Mummy - a movie I thought on first viewing was "OK" but has grown on me. For popcorn fare, it's pretty darn good.

"The Mummy Returns" has some fun parts, but overall is clunky and just doesn't gel. I have the DVD, but use the scene index to simply watch the parts I like.

"Van Helsing," from the trailers and advanced screenings, looks to unfortunately be a repeat of "Returns" - some cool setpieces and fun atmosphere dragged down by horrid dialogue, cliched plot and character, and a reliance on effects.

I'm also concerned because of the score. Goldsmith's score for "The Mummy" was fantastic; Silvestri, who also has scored VH, did "Returns" and I still wonder if he saw the same movie I did. He has tons of over-the-top "heroic" flourishes that manage to deflate many scenes of what little tension or suspense they had.

 

[Kevin Grey]

I thought Goldsmith did a great job on the Mummy. That said, I was equally impressed with Silvestri's work on Mummy Returns and its my favorite work of his in recent years.

 

[Adam Portrais]

I happen to be going to a free (a good price if it's bad) sneek preview tomorrow night. I'll jump on and let you guys know how things stand from a non-critic standpoint.

 

[Adam Portrais]

Well, I'm sad to say but belive the critics: IT SUCKS. Now there are some good things but nothing could save it.

:star: :star: /:star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

 

[Mike Brogan]

I'm torn on this one. I liked "The Mummy" quite a bit, but "The Mummy Returns" was really bad. I probably would have walked out of the theater if the Xena quality FX of the The Scorpion King hadn't pinned me to my chair with laughter. Sad that the FX on "Van Helsing" seem to be of about the same quality. Though I am glad to see that they got Shrek to do a cameo as the Hyde Monster, what with his busy schedule and all.

That being said, I like the idea behind this movie, like Jackman and Beckinsdale, and love all the monsters, so it would seem for me to hate it, they would actually have to 'work' at making it bad.

Update:
Uh oh Spaghetti-O, Harry loves it!

http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com/display.cgi?id=17487

I seem to remember him hating "The Mummy" and loving "The Mummy Returns".

 

[Adam Portrais]

That's what I thought...until I saw it. Yeah, I think that subconsciously they did want to make it bad. The acting (apart from Jackman) sucked hard. The "brides of Dracula" were chosen for their knockers, not their acting skills. And it's not so bad that Frankenstein's monster talks, but why does it sound like he's trying to sing Opera when he screams? Peter Boyle was menacing in Young Frankenstein. The CGI has it's ups and downs but the whole thing just seems off. Too bad. It was a good premise but for me it fell far short of expectations. What a way to blow 125 million dollars.

 

[Scott Weinberg]

Ugh ugh ugh...

That's all I'm sayin' for right now.

Except for this: I didn't like it. A lot.