Richard Roxburgh = Dracula

[winter]

Right. I saw Van Helsing today.

Overall? The plot could be used as a sieve, but the acting, visuals and music are worth it.


First shot of Van Helsing was a squee moment. Why? Because that neckerchief had the same pattern as the gloves Alucard wears in Hellsing :) Yes, gotta make that Van Helsing/Hellsing layout...

Intro? Brilliant. I don't have the words to describe how good a Dracula Richard Roxburgh makes: crazy, magnetic, powerful, old and youthful at the same time. Like, Oldman who? This is what Dracula should look like. I loved the whole old-horror-movie feel of the entire sequence.

The fight with Hyde was middling. Bad CGI, good banter. Hugh Jackman is mreeeow, but that's a given. I like his accent: kinda British, but not as snooty as in Kate and Leopold.

Rome was cheesy at times, but Faramir in disguise Friar Carl made up for it. I think they must have made David stoop and shuffle around on bent knees throughout the movie - he's really only two inches shorter than Hugh, and he looked a head shorter. Later on the undertaker pronounced his height as 5'8", when David's really 6'. The sun-bomb was way too obvious.

Then there was the tied-up boytoy. Caranthir-in-my-head immediately demanded a crossover for his own nefarious purposes, but I told him I'm already indulging his perverted borderline-rape tendencies in another story. Even if Will Kemp looked delectable, tied to the stake like that.

I didn't like the CGI vampires much. Too obvious, not batlike enough. The werewolves were better: actually handsome. Frankenstein's monster was also decent.

The plot? I'll be merciful and not comment. Suffice it to say, I can name a dozen plotholes off the top of my head. By the end, I was only watching for the pretty. (Which included Kate Beckinsale. If I could choose any woman to look like, it'd be a toss-up between her and Catherine Zeta-Jones.)

Oh, and David Wenham had an ultra-cool moment as he woke up after his "wild night" ^__^ For a moment he looked at the woman, and he had this kinda Faramir-like smirk. Altogether, I'm really amazed at his acting range.

Will this movie change my life? No.

Will I go to see the sequel? Hell yes.


Other news: Fingon's angsting, Maedhros' playing pachinko, Thranduil has a ko-gyaru girlfriend.

Comments

[danaeaphreal.livejournal.com]

I'm torn with this movie. Overall, it looks really fucking cool, and I should probably see it because my aunt used to be married to Kevin O'Connor (Igor) and he's a great guy, but...the fact that they called it Van Helsing really pisses me off. -.-;;; Just because it's going to be ingrained into our culture now that Van Helsing is this hot guy that goes around killing all the monsters, when the true Van Helsing from BS's Dracula seemed to just flirt with Mina while the other guys went off to kill him.

...But I'll still see it. >>;

[winter]

But it's not Abraham Van Helsing, it's Gabriel Van Helsing. Who's probably a distant ancestor, much cooler and REALLY HOT.

[danaeaphreal.livejournal.com]

Ohhhhhhhh. ...Okay, that might make this experience better.

...but it doesn't make sense to put Dracula in the movie then, since his distant ancestor already aided in killing him >>;;;

PLOT HOLES YAAAAY!

[winter]

...on second thought, bring your plothole-eliminating glasses. Because that's the least of them ^^;

[bandonbanshee.livejournal.com]

I'm trying not to look at the spoilers. I am. I just saw "Fingon" and "Maedhros" you see. Had to come look. ;)

[atheva]

Actually... After reading your review darling, I probably won't waste my money... I'll wait till I go back home for the summer and waste my parents' instead. I would only go to see it for David... And he looks frumpy at best as Carl from what I've seen...

And that comment about Gary Oldman wounds me *whimpers and hopples off*

[winter]

Yeah, it's not a must-see movie, just good, somewhat slimy fun. As for Oldman, it's not that I don't appreciate his looks or acting talent - it's just that he made a totally wet Dracula. I'm afraid that from now on, my inner Dracula will look like Roxburgh.

[spiteful-caddy.livejournal.com]

I have a theory about Hugh Jackman. I think he only stars in movies if his role makes him look cool and his castmates make him look even cooler. Lets take a look at the evidence:

X-Men - He's Wolverine, there's no way he couldn't come off as the coolest character in this movie. The kicker is his co-stars include Anna Paquin (who hasn't been cute since that movie with the geese) and James Marsden (who makes Anna Paquin look cool).

Kate & Leopold - He's a jack-of-all-trades noble, she's Meg Ryan.

Van Helsing - I haven't actually seen this movie but I *have* seen the 10 minute commercial where the director explains his monster creations. Scott Sommers with that kind of creative control = bad movie. There's no denying that Van Helsing is about as cool as a human can get without becoming Alucard, but he actually starts to surpass Alucard when surrounded with awful Romanian accents and ridiculous looking monsters.

On an entirely different note I hear Robbie Coltrane was Mr. Hyde, poor Hagrid.

[winter]

I have a theory about Hugh Jackman. I think he only stars in movies if his role makes him look cool and his castmates make him look even cooler.

I can cite Swordfish as a counterexample - he plays this slightly not-there hacker, and the movie gets stolen by a manic John Travolta. Then again, I think it's mostly type-casting - he's made, like, four movies after making it big in X-Men.

Scott Sommers with that kind of creative control = bad movie

Damn straight. The recent trend in letting directors have free reign is to blame for a lot of things, starting with Kill Bill vol. 1 and Blade II. The guy sees the latest thing CGI and cinematography have come up with, goes "shiny!" and there's no-one to tell him to make a decent movie first, then worry about effects.

On an entirely different note I hear Robbie Coltrane was Mr. Hyde, poor Hagrid.

Voice only, fortunately. And he made a decent job of it - very laid-back and evil at the same time.

[spiteful-caddy.livejournal.com]

I don't know if you can pin a lot of the blame on Tarantino, directors have been exploiting the gray area between their power and the power of the screen writers for decades now. x.X But yeah, it has grown a lot worse recently (it used to be this kind of muscle-flexing produced good movies). I blame the indie crossovers (guys like Robert Rodriguez and Guillermo del Toro) because when they're put on a dream project with a huge budget they just go completely fanboy, and fanboys are apparently awful writer/directors (exempting Tarantino, because he's a 70s fanboy and that somehow works).

Can you tell I like Tarantino yet? If Kill Bill was your first exposure to him you really should check out the rest of his library, Reservoir Dogs alone will make you adore him.

[winter]

Hey, I generally like Tarantino. I liked Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, haven't seen Jackie Brown, and positively adored Kill Bill Volume 2. It's just the overindulgent Kill Bill Vol. 1 that made me somewhat regret spending the money for the cinema ticket - IMHO it could have easily been cut to make one three-hour movie, not two two-hour ones.

[(Anonymous)]

Or perhaps the real theory is that he can make whatever role he takes look good? Anyway, the role that gave him his first taste of fame in Australia was Correli (sp?), where he played an absolutely horrible psycopath!

[astarise.livejournal.com]

I have a Van Helsing/Hellsing video, if You're interested. Only it's not a good one and it's to some Linkin Park song, which is a very very sad thing^^;

And I plan to see the movie myself because from what I've heard, Dracula is 'my type' kind of guy :3

[atheva]

Approximately how long will I have to wait to find clips online of this Dracula?

[(Anonymous)]

I saw Van Helsing on Friday, and totally agree with your comments. All the acting was good, but Richard Roxburgh was fantastic!

Anyone know if there are any good Dracula pics from the movie online, coz I can't find any decent ones!

With David Wenham as Carl, he said he pulled his head into his shoulders, so he looked like he had no neck, and made himself look shorter. He also put blu-tack behind his ears so they stuck out. That was his decision.