Van Helsing had so many elements which were right - as a movie of that nature should have I mean. A truly great cast. A re-imagining of those stories and the classic over-the-top horror movies. The campiness was fantastic. But when it was trying to be serious it failed greatly. Some of the effects were brilliant and others were not. And the ending? That was hokey with a capital H. Ack, it annoys me when they ruin a perfectly good camp action film to try an inject it with real feeling - it never works. Camp it up! Make it more ridiculous! There's no such thing as suspension of disbelief in a film like this - there's no belief at all - so go with it.
I was so proud of my lovely Ozzie actors, though. David Wenham is absolutely amazing. Everytime I see him he fills me with wonderment. And I've been watching him for that many years. It's kind of scary how he never seems to grow older. Richard Roxburgh is another one of those actors, he was fantastic as usual (plus I loved what they did with the character of Dracula - it was great). And Hugh Jackman did a pretty good job in a fairly limited role. He was good, but the scenes with Kate Beckinsale annoyed me greatly. It doesn't help that, despite loving her father's acting (and feeling sad he died so young), I'm not too fond of Kate. Plus there was Alun Armstrong and Sam West in the movie as well (though not enough)!
All in all - both were enjoyable movies. But Girl with a Pearl Earring was more of an artistic film, and worth more respect.
