herumesueni

This is the only HP movie to come out so far that I actually disliked. The biggest problem are the many unnecessary changes that Cuaron makes only becuase he wants to. If you don't know what I'm talking about, check out the Trivia section here at IMDB. There are two items listed as being "In honor of Alfonos Cuaron's Mexican Heritage" and not one but TWO director's cameos. More than anything that shows that Cuaron was more interested in himself than the work at hand.

There are major changes not only from the book but from the previous films. Many of the changes alter the overall "feel" of the movie. The sense of wonder that is maintained and fostered by the first two movies and all the books is replaced by one of foreboding and dread.

Overall, the film just falls flat because the director failed to understand the soul of the work.

This is arguably one of the worst films ever produced. Not that Roger Corman is known for great film...but this is bad even for him.

There's some fun to be had in watching Bernson hamming it up as the hijacker. And the very un-androidlike behavior of the one android is laughable...especially when compared with the others on the ship. And the science is so incredibly bad it's beyond imagining.

But where this movie truly becomes pathetic is when the score is taken into account. There's one scene where one of the characters is killed, and another is basiclally screaming and having a nervous breakdown while a jolly liltiing clarinet solo plays over the scene. In fact, the entire score seems to be made up of jolly lilting clarinet solos and drum solos.

If you like the great bad movies like Plan 9 From Outer Space and Battlefield Earth...Spacejacked is one you can't miss.

Okay, in all fairness, this film doesn't have quite the level of overall badness that made Plan 9 From Outerspace what it was. But it's definitely up there (down there?) with Battlefield Earth.

The special effects in Van Helsing are horribly lacking. The CGI (which is used way too heavily) is over used and LOOKS like CGI. Some of the CGI effects reminded me of Ray Harryhasuen's stop motion creatures from Jason and the Argonauts and the Sinbad movies. (by the way...the special effects in those old films were BETTER than in Van Helsing)

The action isn't really all that exciting. Part of the problem is that overuse of CGI...what's the fun in watching two animated characters doing battle with one another? Add to that just about every movement in the action scenes being telegraphed beforehand and you have a real lack of excitement(oh, look, wonder why those chains are there...gee, he's swinging from another on).

The script is extremely poorly written. When half the theater is laughing at what's obviously intended to be the most poignant scene in the film, it's not a good thing. Especially where they're groaning at all the (attempts at) humor. And what, exactly, killed one character? Heart attack? They even manage to make Dracula into the only really sympathetic character in the film...and I'm not sure Van Helsing isn't a serial killer.

On top of that, EVERY BIT of mythology about vampires and werewolves is completely thrown out the window.

This movie is just beyond bad. The only people who should see this are people who really love bad movies like Plan 9 and Battlefield Earth.