Van Helsing

Three and a half stars. Pretty good.

There's good rubbish, and there's bad rubbish. Van Helsing is good rubbish. Simple plot, simple dialogue, simple acting, but packed to the rafters with pure action. In a way it reminded me of Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle: there's no traditional three-act structure, or even a natural progression from introduction, through exploration, to resolution. It's just a two-hour sequence of five minute scenes, each with its own CGI-filled, action-fuelled set-piece. There's never time for your attention to wander into things like character motivation, or even simple common sense. By the time you start wondering why he doesn't just...oh look! Something shiny!