Scifinews.net Reviews Van Helsing (US Review)

Van Helsing is a stylish homage to the classic Universal Horror movie with more updated special effects. Like League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, we get to see several classic movie monsters in one movie. Unlike LXG, we have a bit more story to go with it.

Written and directed by Stephen Sommers of The Mummy movies, the film makes Professor Van Helsing, Bram Stoker's aging hero of his famous novel Dracula, a younger and very much feared monster hunter. Van Helsing works for a secret Vatican organization fighting evil. The added twist is that Van Helsing (played by Hugh Jackman) remembers nothing of his past, was found nearly dying crawling up the Vatican steps years before - and has vivid dreams of being in ancient battles 400 years and more before he should have been born.

The film opens with a very stylish black and white retelling of the Frankenstein story set in a castle in Romania, something that features later in the tale. After killing Mr. Hyde in a pretty spectacular fight in Paris, Van Helsing must go to Romania to protect Princess Anna, the last surviving member of her Gypsy family (Kate Beckinsale). If Anna dies before making good on the family's vow to rid the world of Dracula, none of them will ever be admitted to heaven - which both Van Helsing and the church wants to see happen.

The film spins a new legend for Van Helsing and slightly changes the legend of Dracula as well, though not in such a glaring way to make fans of the Dracula mythos unhappy. The Van Helsing backstory may upset a few, but it's played fairly low key making it a bit more palatible than it could have been. The film also gives us werewolves and Frankenstein's monster woven into a fairly interesting story with a few twists here and there. Roxburgh's Dracula is truly chilling - though again in a low key and believeable way - recalling for me the first time I read Stoker's novel making me nervous about being in my dark bedroom. There is little gore with the film following the classic horror movie formula of leaving more to the imagination.

The characters are well drawn out and interesting with able performances and Somers direction helping keep the movie a bit more realistic when it could easily have gone too tounge-in-cheek or corny. Overall, Van Helsing gives the impression of the classic horror films that inspired it - a refreshing change!

Technically, the CGI effects seem a bit rougher than in earlier Mummy films and some of the stunts during the climatic fight seem a bit too super-human, especially for Anna and the friar that accompanies Van Helsing from Rome. Speaking as a woman, it's nice to see a female heroine who can handle herself, though certain scenes such as at the bridge stretched her capabilities a little too much I felt.

With both a TV series (Transylvania) and expected sequels in the works, I'm sure we haven't seen the last of Van Helsing. With a little more work on the effects and some good writers, both could be extremely interesting.

I give it 3.5 out of 5.