Universal for a very long time sought to capitalize once again on their famed monsters, using the similar formula from The Mummy [1999] which took inspiration from Indiana Jones, one thought just repeats the formula with this film but with a James Bond instead Dr. Jones. Hence it became a grandiose adventure with a bountiful smattering of gothic trappings to feature their iconic creatures; except it lacks the horror and the delightful, exciting fun that harkened back to their originality. This movie according to the IMDb is not a horror film, shockingly amazed at that, a film that has Helsing in the title, vampires, werewolves, monsters in the plot and on screen is not horror rather it is Action, Adventure, Fantasy, and Thriller film, which obviously and truly makes no sense at all. Stephen Sommers (Deep Rising [1998]), stepped into the director’s chair with his script with budget of $160-million, to have Van Helsing as tribute to previous classics, by using a tactic from the 1940s in which films included multiple monsters such as Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man [1943], House of Dracula [1945], and of course Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein [1948]. Therefore, Sommers worked to include Dracula, Frankenstein and his Monster, as well as the Wolf Man and even snippet of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde who all would battle against Van Helsing. The studio banked on a huge windfall at box-office released on May 7, 2004, in the hope to capture lightning twice as the date was five years since The Mummy and payout of $43.3-million (earned $413-million worldwide); this movie grossed $51.7-miilion but by then the market was flooded with negative critic reviews and comments as it sputtered to earn $300-million worldwide.
Kevin J. O’Connor
The film opens in black and white with Victor Frankenstein (Samuel West) weakly declaring his creation (Shuler Hensley) is “It’s Alive!” through the power serums and electricity, as the villagers storm the castle and Dracula (Richard Roxburgh) appears thanks from information from Igor (Kevin J. O’Connor (Flight of the Living Dead [2007])) ready to take the knowledge for himself and raise up the undead children from his brides. However, a battle ensues, with chaos and the Monster takes his limp father’s body to the famed Windmill with an angry mob in tow to destroy them both and their evils of science. The story transitions to one year later with Helsing (Hugh Jackman) as monster hunter fighting an Incredible Hulk meets Hunchback version of Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde (Robbie Coltrane (From Hell [2001])) on top of the Norte Dame cathedral with him permanently defeating the abomination. Van returns to Vatican, namely a secretive branch, headed by Cardinal Jinette (Alun Armstrong (Sleepy Hollow [1999])) location underground receiving new orders and Friar Carl (David Wenham), who is the equivalent of Q from the James Bond series as he showcases several new gadgets of, we all know too well, to be used in the upcoming mission. It’s here some viewers might make possible correlations to Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter [1974] and especially Jack Crow of Vampires [1988]. Anyhow his mission is to head to Transylvania to prevent the remaining members of the Valerious family from spending eternity in purgatory due to an ancient curse nine generations ago.
Kate Beckinsale, Hugh Jackman, and David Wenham
The last Valerious members battle against a werewolf, namely it’s a sister and brother Anna (Kate Beckinsale (Vacancy [2007])) and Velkan (Will Kemp (Mindhunters [2004])), who through a mishap had been cursed as another Wolfman. Once Helsing and Carl arrive at the village of importance they are treated as villainous individuals but soon battle with a swooping attack of Dracula’s three brides Verona, Marishka, and Aleera (respectively Silvia Colloca (Sting [2024]), Josie Maran, and Elena Anaya) with leather clad Anna defending her homeland and her ancestral roots. Van is deemed a great fighter and hero for defeating one of the vampires, using holy water and rapid-fire wood stake gatling cross-bow. It is from here the story really transforms into wackiness, basically Dracula made a deal with the devil and only a werewolf can kill him hence has a formula to cure lycanthropy. Helsing is bitten and Anna sacrifices everything to stop the wolf cycle while ending the vampiric offspring uprising, healing the damnation amongst all affected. The gothic scenes are something to witness.
Josie Maran
Sommer’s film too swiftly rises to incredible heights before dropping into bits of choppy dialogue that attempts to fill a large swath of the plot; thereby the character development suffers greatly as does the effectiveness for the actors. This seesaw effect keeps ramping up more and more CGI action sequences than a Spider-Man movie that gives away to ridiculous oversized monsters stampeding across the screen at furious speeds and the actors having daring falls that would have injured the average person easily. Our leads which included Hugh Jackman, is sadly underused in his role, which is not his fault rather the lack of material for his character which has had other film greats portray Helsing such as Peter Cushing and Anthony Hopkins; followed by the stunning attire for Kate Beckinsale, although her accent does faulter quite a bit. Finally, is Richard Roxburgh whose performance is based on a combination of his two favorite vampires first Klaus Kinski’s Nosferatu [1979] and Gary Oldman’s Dracula [1992] and aided by the costume design which enhances the ancient nobility and a tinge of the ‘old-country’ gypsy.
Dracula (Richard Roxburgh) snack time on Victor Frankenstein (Samuel West)
The cinematography from Allen Daviau combined with the fantastic production design by Allen Cameron generate incredible sights and delights with preposterous digital work, is matched with massive booming score by Alan Silvestri. There are two scenes that stood out for me, the first was the masquerade ball which had both musicians and other artists doing very cool feats and then the CGI work with Dracula dancing and he has no reflection in the mirror it reminded me of film Dracula: Dead and Loving It [1995]. The second is Victor Frankenstein’s laboratory, how each horror film recreates this room is always a fascinating marvel for the viewer and the set designers, for example, Young Frankenstein [1974] reused Ken Strickfaden electrical machinery from Frankenstein [1931]. Herein the sequence is done in a stylized black and white and displays elaborate flashing lightning rods and the monster’s heart as a pulsating green mechanized glob. Oh, one last item, there’s an interesting sequence that occurs at the in famous Windmill which of course references The Bride of Frankenstein [1935] and a quick silent nod to legendry character Minnie which was originally portrayed by the comical Una O’Connor.
Elena Anaya
Van Helsing contains a goofy storyline especially with the title character becoming a werewolf and Dracula’s brides with offspring all becomes silly in 130-minute extravaganzas which contained some hectic scenes of CGI manipulation display. The failure to establish any mood is part of what suffers under this storytelling and the other is the viewer needing to shift their position in a wild array of numerous action scenes. All the atmosphere of the classic monster movies is abandoned and the fanbase lost memories of this golden age of frights, because there is no care to unleash any scares.
TAGLINES:
- A Stephen Sommers film
- The One Name They All Fear
- Adventure lives forever.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338526/
IMDb Rating: 6.1/10
Baron’s Rating: 5.0/10
Follows:
Van Helsing: The London Assignment (Video 2004) Animated Prequel