Van Helsing

Guest review by Amie Key, age 14.

Van Helsing - Fails to Bite

The film Van Helsing has been a large success for director Steven Sommers since he won an award for his work, but what do people actually think about this 'horror' movie? The film starts of with a black and white re-enactment of the final scene from the original classic Frankenstein, which seems very confusing as an opening scene for a completely different film. But it becomes more obvious through the first scene once we see Dracula, who is played by Richard Roxburgh, who is trying to get all of the power of Frankenstein's castle to himself. To many, this may be an exciting opening to this film. But as the film progresses, it begins to weaken as we meet the main character of the film, Gabriel Van Helsing.

First impressions of this character are based upon a replica of Indiana Jones: just from seeing this character for 30 seconds, we begin to see that he is an adventurous individual. He is on a mission to kill Dracula and stop all of the evil happenings around Dracula's castle, with the assistance of a monk, who provides some almost mind blowing pieces of weaponry and equipment. The film appears to be a good piece of art, from the start.

The film overall, however, is a bit of a let down. The characters are unoriginal, the plot is very simple and the special effects are very unrealistic. The idea in which Dracula took over Frankenstein's castle in a plot to practically rule the world with his children is very dull and unexciting, in my opinion. The mixture of old and new gothic heroes combined can be very exciting for some, but is just pointless and disappointing for many people, including me. There was no suspense, even during the chases and fights with the vampires. Watching this film is a very yawn-filled waste of 132 minutes.

However, the film does have a minority of good things. I was quite impressed by the special effects during certain scenes, mainly ones when watching the transition from human to vampire/werewolf and vice versa. I also found that the monk character was quite hilarious to watch when he was trying to discover Dracula's castle. The film does try to evoke horror and terror into the scenes.

As for the characters in Van Helsing, I have to admit that they were well-played by their actors. The portrayal of Dracula, for example, is quite convincing with the Transylvanian accent imitated almost perfectly. The main character portrayal of Van Helsing (played by Hugh Jackman) is a bit of a letdown compared to how main characters in similar films are acted, which is quite disappointing. He seemed to overreact in his acting and didn't seem like a convincing character.

The character of Anna, played by Kate Beckinsale, is, in my opinion, an extremely pointless character which is just there with no significant purpose to the film. The characters, in general, just aren't played very well, making the film an unoriginal, unsuccessful and unsatisfying typical wanna-be horror.

In conclusion, I wasn't impressed with this film in the slightest. The entire film was confusing and boring throughout. It may have been a success to many people, but I definitely wouldn't watch the film again.