Review: Van Helsing (12A)

5:17pm Thursday 6th May 2004

by ROB CARNEVALE

Hollywood's thirst for action and special effects proves almost as insatiable as Dracula's lust for blood in Van Helsing, the first big-budget extravaganza of the 2004 summer season.

Sadly, it makes for a viewing experience every bit as cold as the fanged one's Transylvanian heart. Van Helsing falls into that old Hollywood movie-making trap that of placing spectacle above all else in the hope that audiences won't notice the glaring lack of plot or characterisation.

Van Helsing is reportedly Universal's most expensive film ever, boasts some cracking special effects and a charismatic lead turn from X-Men's Hugh Jackman.

Yet with director, Stephen Sommers, who helmed the equally derivative Mummy Returns, you can count the seconds between action sequences, such is the movie's inability to pause for a moment.

Jackman plays the legendary Van Helsing, who is charged by a secret organisation to seek out and defeat evil all over the world. When dispatched to the shadowy world of Transylvania, he finds a community living in fear of the evil, seductive and undefeatable vampire, Count Dracula (Richard Roxburgh).

Jackman struggles manfully to inject some deadpan charisma into proceedings, but is frequently let down by a poor script and the performances of those around him, with Kate Beckinsale and Roxburgh both succumbing to hammy accents.

Sommers clearly intends that his movie should breathe new life into some of the classic Universal monsters, but, instead, threatens to place a very large nail in their coffin.

Popcorn rating: one out of five

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