Psycho's Movie Reviews #120: Van Helsing (2004)

Van Helsing is a 2004 action gothic horror film written and directed by Stephen Sommers. It stars Hugh Jackman as monster hunter Van Helsing, and Kate Beckinsale as Anna Valerious. The film is a homage and tribute to the Universal Horror Monster films from the 1930s and 1940s (also produced by Universal Studios which were in turn partially based on novels by Bram Stoker and Mary Shelley), of which Sommers is a fan.

The eponymous character was inspired by the Dutch vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing from Irish author Bram Stoker's novel Dracula. Distributed by Universal Pictures, the film includes a number of monsters such as Count Dracula (and other vampires), Frankenstein's monster, Duergar, Mr. Hyde and werewolves in a way similar to the multi-monster movies that Universal produced in the 1940s, such as Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula. The film received mostly negative reviews but has grossed $300 million worldwide.

The film's original soundtrack was composed by Alan Silvestri.

Plot

In 1887 Transylvania, Dr. Victor Frankenstein, aided by his assistant, Igor, and Count Dracula, creates a monster. Dracula kills Frankenstein, and as an angry, torch-bearing mob storms the Castle, the monster flees to a windmill with his dead creator cradled in his arms. The windmill burns down, apparently destroying the floor underneath the monster.

One year later, monster hunter Van Helsing kills Mr. Hyde after a brawl in Notre-Dame de Paris. Van Helsing pursues evil on behalf of the Holy Order, which has protected mankind “from time immemorial.” Van Helsing, who remembers nothing before he was found crawling up the steps of a church, hopes to earn pardon for his forgotten sins and thereby regain his memory.

At the Order's Vatican City headquarters, Cardinal Jinette gives Van Helsing a mission: Go to Transylvania, destroy Dracula and protect the two survivors of an ancient Romanian family, the Valerious. Their ancestor vowed that his descendants would kill Dracula, or spend eternity in Purgatory. He gives Van Helsing the corner of a Medieval painting that reads "In the name of God, open this door" and bears the same insignia as Van Helsing's ring.

In the Order's laboratory, men of every faith create devices to battle evil. Carl, an eccentric friar and inventor, equips Van Helsing and joins him. Meanwhile, In Transylvania, Anna and Velkan Valerious attempt to kill a werewolf controlled by Dracula, but it falls with Velkan into a deep river gorge.

A month later, Van Helsing and Carl arrive in the village and join Anna's fight with Dracula's brides – Verona, Marishka, and Aleera. Van Helsing slays Marishka. That night, Velkan, now a werewolf, visits Anna. When clouds cover the moon, he reveals that Dracula has a secret, but the moon emerges before he can finish. He flees to Castle Frankenstein, pursued by Anna and Van Helsing.

Dracula is duplicating Frankenstein's experiments to give life to his thousands of undead children, using Velkan as a conduit. He greets Van Helsing as an old acquaintance, "Gabriel".

Velkan succumbs to his curse. Dracula's children disintegrate. Van Helsing and Anna escape. In Anna's castle, Carl discovers a hidden painting of two knights fighting by moonlight. He reads the inscription aloud. It comes to life, and the knights transform into a vampire and a werewolf, at each other's throats.

Van Helsing and Anna find Frankenstein's monster in a cave. He is the key to Dracula's plans. En route to Rome, they are ambushed by the brides and Velkan, near Budapest. Verona and Velkan are killed, but Van Helsing is bitten. Aleera kidnaps Anna and offers to trade her for the monster at a masquerade ball. Van Helsing locks the monster in a crypt, but the undead retrieves him for Dracula. The masquerade ball is a vampires-only affair, but Van Helsing and Carl rescue Anna, destroying the vampires with Carl's light-emitting bomb.

At Anna's castle, Carl explains that Dracula is the son of Valerious the elder. When he was killed in 1462 by “the left hand of God”, Dracula made a covenant with the Devil and lived again. Valerious was told to kill Dracula and gain salvation for his entire family. Unable to kill his son, he imprisoned him in an icy fortress. The fragment the Cardinal gave Van Helsing reveals the way.

The captured monster tells them that Dracula possesses a cure for lycanthropy—because only a werewolf can kill him. Van Helsing, fighting the curse, sends Igor, Anna, and Carl to retrieve the cure, while he frees the monster. Unfortunately, the monster is struck by lightning, bringing Dracula's children to life. Dracula, spotting Van Helsing, transforms into a demonic form, fighting Van Helsing in werewolf form. Dracula tells Van Helsing “It was you that murdered me!”. Van Helsing rejects his offer to restore his memories and bites Dracula, destroying him and his children. Anna injects the cure as Van Helsing kills her, howling in grief as he reverts to human.

Van Helsing and Carl burn Anna's body on a cliff overlooking the sea. The monster departs by raft, and Van Helsing sees Anna's spirit reuniting with her family in Heaven. She smiles at him. Van Helsing and Carl ride off into the sunset.

Reception/Box Office

Van Helsing received mostly negative reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 24% of 226 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 4.28/10. The site's consensus calls the film a "hollow creature feature that suffers from CGI overload." Metacritic rated it 35/100 based on 38 reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale. James Berardinelli of ReelViews gave an extremely negative review, rating the film half a star out of four and calling it "the worst would-be summer blockbuster since Battlefield Earth". Furthermore, he wrote "There are quite a few unintentionally funny moments, although the overall experience was too intensely painful for me to be able to advocate it as being "so bad, it's good." ... Some, however, will doubtless view it as such. More power to them, since sitting through this movie requires something more than a strong constitution and a capacity for self-torture."

Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle greatly disliked the film, writing: "Writer-director Stephen Sommers throws together plot strains from various horror movies and stories and tries to muscle things along with flash and dazzle. But his film just lies there, weighted down by a complete lack of wit, artfulness and internal logic. What Sommers tries to do here is use action as the only means of involving an audience. So story is sacrificed. Character development is non-existent, and there are no attempts to incite emotion. Instead, Sommers tries to hold an audience for two hours with nothing up his sleeve but coloured ribbons, bright sparklers and a kazoo. What he proves is that this is no way to make movies." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times gave the film 3 stars out of 4 stating that "At the outset, we may fear Sommers is simply going for f/x overkill, but by the end, he has somehow succeeded in assembling all his monsters and plot threads into a high-voltage climax. Van Helsing is silly, spectacular and fun."

The film earned $51 million at #1 during the opening weekend of May 7–9, 2004. The film eventually grossed US$300,257,475 worldwide, of which US$120,177,084 was from the US.

Budget $160 million – $170 million

Box office $300.2 million

My Review

Yeah, I know this isn't a masterpiece of cinema and I can already tell half this nation's populace hates it despite a good run at the box office last summer. But still I went into this movie just looking for a good time (that and am a huge fan of old school monster films) and thats what I got. For the uptight and so called expert critics, let me spell it out for you: ITS A POPCORN MOVIE! OF COURSE EVERYTHING GOING TO BLOWN UP TO THE MAX AND GO OVER THE TOP! IF YOU CAN'T UNDERSTAND THIS, THEN DON'T CLAIM YOU DO AND BASH A FILM BECAUSE OF IT! *Ahem* alright on to my review.

Plot: Helsing and his assistant, a frair named Carl, are sent to Translvaynia to protect the last of a gypsy family from being stuck in purgatory due to a curse Dracula put on them. In the process however Helsing must also stop Drac's plan of engulfing the world in darkness all the while battling his minions. Throw in a plot device involving Frankenstein's monster and you have a pretty cool adventure brewing.

I'll admit for a movie that suppose to be about Helsing. They kinda dropped the ball on the story. There's way too much emphasis on the gypsy girl rather him and they don't flesh out his back story about his lost memory and his supposed history with Dracula. Also the movie has a few nonsense parts (the talk with the creepy undertaker) which kinda slows down the film a bit. But still the movie stays on a linear path and the set-ups up to confrontations are well done. Not to mention the confrontation themselves even if some are a little silly (ballroom scene (though a good homage to the Fearless Vampire Killers), the fight with the last bride, Igor and Dracula himself). Yes their CGI laden but I don't care, its a supernatural movie after all. So what better way to do them.

The actors seem very comfortable with their roles and looks to be having a great time. Extra props go out to the dude who played Frankenstien's monster, I was really feeling for him. Easily one of the best characters in the movie.

Add to that some excellent backdrops and clothes to which the film really draws you into its 19th century world. Yes the movie is full of flaws but it only for fun and only wants to entertain to which it success in spades. If you don't like it, well fine. But for all who love a good popcorn flick or a fan of old school monsters, you can look no further. Van Helsing is just the ticket for a simple good time. 8/10!