Z/Web

This film is receiving a critical bash and I can’t figure out why. it’s like film reviewers do not understand the concept of a movie as mere entertainment. To go into this movie expecting anything more than stylish action and spectacular special effects is just silly. While most critics are down on the slender storyline, I was actually impressed it was as full as it was! I’ve certainly seen movies with much less story than this one. But any story is almost beside the point. This is an action film and special effects vehicle. That’s it. Don’t go see it for any other reason. In that respect, the film delivers what it promises. The stars are cool and beautiful, the action is non-stop, the story has some unusual twists and nicely blends numerous classic horror elements like Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Wolfman, and there’s the requisite moments of humor. It’s fun. The digital special effects are everywhere and generally very impressive, though occasionally cheesy or just move too fast for reality. The latter’s actually a criticism: often the action’s just too fast to appreciate what happened. It takes away from any realism (assuming anything in this type of film is believable). There are some strange action events, too, like a scene where the female lead, who is human, is tossed against the side of a castle and bounces downward like a pinball and then gets up just fine. I didn’t really get that. Sure, she’s supposed to be tough, but she’s not supposed to possess superhuman capabilities like the monsters in the film. Rather weird. Of course logic should not be used in evaluating this kind of a movie. In general, the action’s interesting and pretty cool, though the climax goes on too long. Fun.