This movie isn't as bad as the critics and everybody seem to say it is. For me the special effects make the movie. The script, such that it is, unfortunately veers between cheesy one liners and brisk conversation. Dialogue is mostly confined to moving action forward, so has a "comic book" feel. Inventive plot points get overshadowed due to this approach. I will say that I was fairly impressed with this movie, since it was on such a low budget! It is not the greatest film in the World, but it is exciting and fun to watch.

I think Van Helsing is one of my favourite for this year, and that it has been highly underrated! The action is amazing and you cannot take your eyes off the screen at any point. However, this wasn't a wholly action and fantasy movie, as the romantic side story unfolding between Kate Beckinsale's Anna Valerious and Hugh Jackman's Van Helsing was interesting too. Carl was a very different character to anything we have so far seen David Wenham play, and he made the transition from action hero in LOTR to comedic sidekick in Van Helsing very well.
Although the fantasy/sci-fi plot was thought of as ridiculous by many people, it was stupid of them to go and see a film which obviously had creatures like Frankenstein's monster, and werewolves in the first place. If you are an escapist like myself you will thoroughly enjoy this movie!

Well, Van Helsing sure had a lot of hype, that is for sure. The stars in this film are Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsale. Hugh is best known as the "Wolverine" character in the films X Men and X Men 2. Kate is best known for her character in "Pearl Harbor", and the leather form fitting body suit that she wore in "Underworld". Speaking of leather, the trailers are out now for "Catwoman" starring Halley Barry - WOW, she looks good in that catsuit!

There must be something about Kate and her outfits. I already mentioned her leather body suit in "Underworld", and in this film she has a great "gypsy" ensemble. She is the hottest gypsy queen I've seen since Kari Wuhrer played a gypsy in some Steven King movie.

Van Helsing is an assassin. He is not for hire, however. He works for the Catholic Church. The Vatican is where he was trained, and from where he gets his assignments. He continues to work for them, because he has no memory of who he really is. They promise to restore his memory if he will continue to kill for them.

The movie starts out as Van Helsing is battling "Mr. Hyde" in London. That was a pretty good battle. VH has all kinds of weapons: guns, small circular saws, knives, spikes, etc.

His next assignment is to help Kate and her brother stay alive. Their family has a lifelong feud against Count Dracula. The two of them are the only ones left. Their ancestor made a vow that none of their family would enter the gates of heaven, until Dracula was dead. Well, they have about 10 dead family members, and Dracula is still alive and well.

This movie does a nice job of mixing in a lot of horror movie legends. We also meet Frankenstein, and the Wolfman, as the movie progresses.

Kate and VH have very good chemistry together. Her accent is awesome. They begin their quest of killing Dracula by first defending themselves against his 3 brides. These female vampires are hotties. Not the most attractive female vampires, as that award goes to the girls in the movie "Dracula 2000". Somehow, VH ends up killing one of the brides - and that gives everyone hope.

VH has a sidekick from the vatican. He is an inventor of weapons, and a friar. He doesn't have the vows to keep that a true "monk" does, so he is able to do things that you wouldn't expect from a man of the cloth. He provides comic relief in the movie.

When Dracula and his brides have kids, they are born "dead". He needs to find a way to bring them to "life". The character that plays Dracula does an ok job, but I kept comparing him to Gary Oldman's Dracula - and he was nowhere near as good. Dracula is going to use Dr. Frankenstein's lab to try and use electricity to bring his offspring to life. He kills the Dr., before he realized that he needed him to run the equipment. Igor and Dracula's assistants try to make it work, but they aren't that good at it. Dracula's assistants are "little people", about 5 foot tall. They look like a combination of "Oompa Loompa's", and the members of the band "Slipknot".

The final battle is between Dracula and VH. Turns out that the only thing that can kill Dracula is a werewolf. Good thing that VH was bitten by one earlier in the movie, and he morphs into one. The end scene has a huge battle between VH and Dracula. The key is: will the friar and Kate be able to find the antidote that Dracula keeps for turning werewolves back into people, before VH turns into a werewolf for good?

In the end, we find out who Van Helsing really is, and it is very interesting. I was impressed. This movie follows the "Top Gun" theory, in which one of the good characters dies to give the entire movie more credibility. This movie is a winner. I give it an 8.25/10.