DVD Review HTF Review: Van Helsing (1 Viewer)

[Vader]

I just picked up the WS version (of course) at Best Buy, and found it did not have the bonus disc inside. When I asked about it, it seems that they had some which had a special sticker on it, and some that did not ON THE SAME RACK. OK, it would have saved me some grief if I had read the stickers beyond the fact that it was the non-edited version, but that's not the point. In any case, the clerk took a bonus disc out of a pan&scam version and gave it to me. Please tell me that the bonus disc in the P&S is the same as that in the WS....

 

[Mike Likens]

I'm a little surprised at the all the negative feedback on this film. Am I the only one who enjoyed it? The story line held my interest. Outstanding CG effects with dynamic audio. Wonderful soundtrack. Humor. And Kate Beckinsale. What else could a guy with a home theater ask for?

 

[Jon_Liu]

While I am with you Mike, I have to say the CG effects weren't all that great. Everything else, ESPECIALLY Kate beckinsale, were great (of course, the wife doesn't like that). Anyway, pretty fun movie overall.

 

[Steve Christou]

Stifles yawn. Have you actually seen it? Or just find that most big Hollywood movies are tepid, in your opinion?

 

[Steve Schaffer]

Steve C. It's one of those fun movies the Magnolia lovers love to hate--no rubber frogs.

 

[Kain_C]

Bad assumption there. Maybe there are people that just have different tastes than yourself? And 'fun' is a relative concept.

I guess I hate it because it is a poorly made, over the top, mindless, ridiculous, badly acted (even though I do like Jackman), predictable formula summer fare that is no different from the LXGs and Underworlds and others of the sort that prefer style over substance, even though this film fails there as well. It is sad when in films there is a consistent trend of replacing story and character development with an overabundance of CGI.

And don't be surprised at the negative feedback. Look at critical/user ratings on places like IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes and you will see very few people actually liked this movie. And it was a financial flop in the U.S. as well.

 

[RobertR]

Of this type, certainly.

 

[Jon_Liu]

Kain,

I agree that it is not the greatest of movies.. but what is the aim of movies now a days, regardless of their depth or lack of depth?

To Entertain.

Movies that are mind boggling, hard-thinking, and thought provoking, such as Magnolia, Mulholland Dr. or Memento, aim to please a certain type of people.

Movies such as Van Helsing or the Mummy series or even any other Sommers film are out there to please those who don't want to think, and want to sit back and watch "stuff" happen.

I fall between both categories and there are times that I can thoroughly enjoy movies such as Mulholland Dr. but then there are times that I would like to shut my brain off and enjoy some mindless action with tons of CG.

In the case of reviews from IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes, the majority of the time, they are in the first category, wanting actual substance. Now with that in mind, their opinions are slightly, if not entirely, biased when judging movies of an entirely different caliber. It's not that they are wrong, but that's just their take.

And you say very few people liked this movie? Well if you ask the "right" people, of course you are gonna find that the majority didn't like it. It's all subjective. It's like going to a Star Trek convention or some junk like that and asking them if they like Star Wars better. Wrong crowd to be asking.

But, of course... this is ALLLLL my take and take it for what it's worth to you.

 

[Tim Hess]

Not to get everyone confused...

The Universal Monster sets that released a few months agon (Dracula, his mother and sister, Frankenstein, his Bride and Uncle, Wolfman, Mummy, etc), the main Dracula, Frank and Wolf films are the same ones on the VH DVD?

I never picked up the Uni Monsters sets, but was oh so tempted, but all the 'fluff' films (bride or, son of, etc) are not high on my list.

So, better deal to pick them up seperatly or get VH?

 

[Bryan Tuck]

Bride of Frankenstein is not exactly what I would call fluff, and it and the first film alone are worth getting the Frankenstein set for, not to mention the two terrific documentaries and commentary tracks on each. But if that's the only one you get, the Van Helsing Ultimate set might be worth it to get the other two, along with the 2nd disc of extras.

As for Van Helsing itself, I agree that it was silly & overblown, and that the CGI, while technically impressive, was not all that convincing. Still, it was kind of entertaining. It could have been better, even on a popcorn level, but I had fun with it. Not sure if I liked it enough to buy it, though; certainly not enough to spend $30-$40 on the ultimate set, especially since I already have Frankenstein and Dracula.

I do have to admit, though, that the cover art on the Ultimate Edition is pretty cool.

 

[Steve Christou]

um I enjoyed those too. :b I guess I'm one of those lucky people that can sit back and enjoy all kinds of movies, good, bad and ugly.

 

[Ernest Rister]

Here, here.

I love Magnolia, and my friends and I had a great time at Van Helsing. Van Helsing was an intentionally silly, tongue in cheek, campy action flick. If you were looking for something more serious, or something with more substance, you weren't going to find it.

DRACULA
Igor, why must you torture that poor creature so?

IGOR
It's what I do.

Like Steve, I love the movies, all kinds of movies. I can watch Breaking the Waves and Plan Nine from Outer Space on the same day and have a great time with both.

 

[Chris Bergmann]

Exactly. I don't get people who say they were disappointed by this movie - didn't you see the trailer?

The movie was exactly what I expected it to be - silly, but a lot of fun.

Anybody who complains about the performance of the actor who plays Dracula, for example, misses the point completely.

It's not as if he was trying to give a deep, introspective performance and failed - he was trying to go as far over the top as humanly possible.

And he did a good job.

The same goes for Kate Beckinsale's accent, Dracula's wifes and Igor.

It's not like Sommers tried something and failed - he did exactly what he wanted to do. Most people just don't seem to understand what it was that he wanted to do.

 

[Andrew s wells]

Chalk up another who enjoyed this movie. I don't think the previews mislead anyone, so to me at least, it delivered on what the trailers showed. I wanted to see an all out action movie, and thats exactly what I got.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

The movie made $120 million. That doesn't make it a big hit, but it prevents it from being considered a "flop". Disappointment? Yeah. Flop? Not even close. Now Thunderbirds - there was a flop!

 

[Jeff Adams]

I too am surprised about all the negative feedback on this. I just don't get it. It's seems these days that if a movie isn't deep or thought provoking then it is a bad film. What ever happened to just sitting back and being entertained? I don't understand why so many people are complaining. It delivered "EXACTLY" what the trailers showed. An over the top, CGI, fun action/monster movie. Now I do have to admit that there are some CGI action popcorn flicks that just are bad movies. However I don not feel that Van Helsing is one of them.

My wife and I watched it for the first time last night and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. And if my wife liked it that says a lot. She is not a big fan of the action/sci fi/CGI genre.

And do not categorize me as one of the many mindless people that only enjoy these type of films. There are a lot of people out there who do not get certain films and are too lazy to think or open their minds at all. I am not one of those people. I have quite a deep collection of dvds that includes every genre. In fact a movie that I have been blown away by since it came out,The Eternal Sunshine OF The Spotless Mind, I have been recommending that to a lot of people and a lot of people are like "uhhh, I didn't get it." Okay,sorry, you missed out on a great movie.

Anyway, back to the subject at hand. Van Helsing was a VERY entertaining and fun movie. It had everything I was looking for. Stunningly beautiful Kate Beckinsale and for the ladies Hugh Jackman,action,great special effects,cool looking monsters,horror,sci fi,humor. It also had some great scenery shots of mountains,woods,castles,villages and so on. Although they were CGI, still looked really cool. And did I mention Kate Beckinsale?

The dvd itself was also very good. Picture quality was impressive and the audio track gave my system quite a workout.

I made a blind purchase with this movie and am very glad that I did. I will probably watch this one again before Halloween. If you don't go buy it, at least rent it, after all if you are part of the HTF scary movie challenge, you can add it to your list.

 

[Ernest Rister]

I think we've seen a general trend away from campy tongue in cheek takes on genre films the last several years. Genre fans and comic book fans take these things seriously, and they are let down by works that don't. Van Helsing is in the same vein as Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher's Batman films, and yet if you ask people to list the best "superhero" movies, the ones at the top of the list are likely to be those that aimed for realism, rather than cartoonish, jokey camp. Donner's Superman, Singer's X-Men movies, Raimi's Spiderman films. Add Jackson's take on Lord of the Rings to the list of genre films taken seriously. And witness the fan reaction to the moments of the Star Wars series when Lucas gets silly -- a large section of his fan base recoils viscerally.

Van Helsing is not a serious take on Monster Lore. It's a silly, campy romp, like Burton and Schumacher's Batman films.

Nolan's upcoming Batman Begins will continue the trend towards realism in genre films, and without even seeing the film, based on that approach, I think I can safely guarantee that genre fans will call it the best Baman film since Paul Dini's Mask of the Phantasm.

 

[Ken Chui]

"Van Helsing" made for a fun viewing last night (as I missed it during its theatrical run) and, while I'm not opposed to action films, there were a couple of areas which could have been improved on that would have made this movie a keeper (for me): better dialogue and CGI. While over-the-top deliveries do irk me occasionally, I was willing to overlook this because it was expected; what bothered me was the dialogue in general, particularly the conversations between Van Helsing and Anna Valerious. The dialogue could have been infused with wittier banter, rather than one cliché preceding another (made worse by incoherent accents). The CGI was just horrendous throughout (I can't believe it bears ILM's stamp of approval). Character designs were atrocious (Mr. Hyde and the offspring are but two prime examples), they lacked fluidity in motion, the rag doll physics were generally inaccurate, and the list goes on. Other than these minor quibbles, it wasn't that bad a film.

I think it's unfair to lump VH with "Underworld", which was an all-around better film (good enough for me to own both versions, though I'm passing on the upcoming Superbit ). I think the comparison with LXG was fair, however.

 

[TheBat]

I would not compare van hesling to the first two batman films (a least burton's batman didn't insult the intelligence of the audience like BF and B&R) .. VH makes B&R an oscar winner in comparesaon.. I really hated this movie.. there are fun bad movies.. I will give you that.. this is not one of them.. Underworld and even LGX was much better to this peice of crap. I like my movies where they don't insult the intelligence of the audience like van hesling did.. I rather watch pearl harbor, B&R, T3, the league, episode 2 then this peice of crap again..

one more thing. when I saw this **** at the theatre.. someone yelled out that it was peice of shit (once the movie was over). I have seen bad movies in my lifetime, but never got that kind of response when watching a bad movie.

JACOB

 

[Todd McF]

I'm surprised people expect quality out of ILM. The Star Wars Trilogy release shows just how bad their CGI is. Phantom Menace? Terrible. Attack of the Clones? Better, but not great. Poor physics, terrible textures. Irresponsible overuse to boot.