I get that you need to let us know character motivations, but giving 10 minute speeches isn’t exactly keeping me awake. There are pacing issues where it slows down to be melodramatic and rambles about nonsense philosophy. It’s like an attractive person without a personality.

But then Alucard whips out a power up, and I’m left saying “Oh.”įor a show with gorgeous animation and fantastic action it’s dull and forgettable. The only time I was excited about a fight was when the villains felt like they could pose a challenge. characters are supposed to be the one putting up a struggle, not the other way around. You’re actually left rooting for the villains. Because none of his enemies can even touch him all his fights are boring filler. Goddamn that is so fucking cool I’m hurting. Let’s not forget its “badass” hero Alucard-whose name is “Dracula” spelled backward, by the way. It has vampires, action, blood, swearing, violence, gore, sexuality, darkness-everything that’s just “cooool” and “matuuure.” It has all the flash and gimmicks to trick you into thinking it’s good. As the extended 'audition' builds momentum, Thomas moves from attraction to obsession until, with Vanda taking an ever more dominant role, the balance of power shifts completely.Fantastic vampire action and violence but dull characters, erratic pacing with too much melodrama and an overpowered main character. The likeness proves to be much more than skin-deep. Not only is Vanda a perfect fit (even sharing the character's name), but she apparently has researched the role exhaustively, learned her lines by heart and even bought her own props. When Thomas finally, reluctantly, agrees to let her try out for the part, he is stunned and captivated by her transformation. She is pushy, foul-mouthed, desperate and ill-prepared - or so it seems. At first she seems to embody everything Thomas has been lamenting. Thomas is about to leave the theater when actress Vanda (Emmanuelle Seigner bursts in, a whirlwind of erratic - and, it turns out, erotic - energy. Alone in a Paris theater after a long day of auditioning actresses for his new play, writer-director Thomas (Mathieu Amalric) complains that no actress he’s seen has what it takes to play the lead female character: a woman who enters into an agreement with her male counterpart to dominate him as her slave.

English film van helsing theme music