Review #88: Van Helsing (2004)

Cast/Notable Credits:
Stephen Sommers (Director): The Mummy 1 (1999) & 2 (2001), G.I. Joe (2009)

Hugh Jackman (Van Helsing): X-men Trilogy, The Prestiage (2006)

Kate Beckinsale (Anna): Vacancy

Richard Roxbourgh (Count Dracula): Stealth (2005), Mission Impossible 2 (2000)

David Wenham (Carl): LOTRings 2, & 3, 300 (2006)

Kevin O'Connor (Igor): Flight of the Living Dead (2007), The Mummy, Lord of Illusions (1995)

Silvia Colloca (Verona): Lesbian Vampire Killers (2009)

Josie Maran (Marishka): The Gravedancers (2006) (pictured right)

Robbie Coltrane (Mr. Hyde): The Harry Potter Franchise

Stephen Fisher (Dr. Jeckyll): Hellboy (2004)

Trailer:


Plot:

The "Order" in Vatican City sends the famous monster slayer, Van Helsing to Transylvania to protect a family from the evil clutches of Count Dracula. Accompanying him is the "Order's" genius weapon creator, Carl. Velkan and Anna Velarious, brother and sister, are the last of the Velarious family. Once the last descendant of their family is dead, Count can rule the world. Velkan is killed by a werewolf sent by the Count shortly before Van Helsing arrives.

Van Helsing and Carl arrives at the village to an unwelcome reception. They meet Anna who refuses their help. Within minutes of meeting, Count's three vampire brides attack the village in an attempt to kill Anna. Van Helsing kills one of the brides, Marishka, and the other two Aleera and Verona retreat. Anna reluctantly accepts Van Helsing's services.

Later that night, Anna's dead brother, Velkan returns from the dead as a werewolf and under the power of Dracula. Velkan appears before Anna as a human and then transforms into the beast in an attempt to kill her. Van Helsing steps in and battles her werewolf brother. Anna stops Van Helsing before he is about to kill Velkan. She tells him that there might be a way to save him. They have three days to find the cure that Dracula holds before Velkan is turned into a werewolf forever.

Van and Anna travel to the Dracula's castle and discover thousands of eggs which they assume are Dracula's offspring. Using Frankenstein's formula for reanimation, Dracula brings his offspring to life. The gremlin looking vampire offspring attack the village in order to feed and become stronger. Unfortunately there's a missing piece to the formula as the gremlin bats die unexpectedly. Also in the castle, Dracula and Van confronts each other and the Count drops a "I know your history bomb" onto Van, who apparently doesn't know his secret past.

Van and Anna escape and flee to a destroyed wind mill, fall through some old, burnt wooden boards and find Frankenstein hiding in the dark. Frankenstein tells them that he holds the key to the formula's success. Over hearing the conversation is Dracula's werewolf spy, and he flees before Van can kill him. Disturbed by the sudden turn of events, Van promises Frankie protection from Dracula in Rome in order to keep the secret hidden and protected. Frankie agrees and the three of them venture back (and pick up Carl on the way) to Rome.

On the way, they get ambushed by Velkan the Werewolf and Dracula's remaining bitches (brides). The convoy crashes, Van gets bit by the werewolf and Anna gets captured by the vampire bride, Verona or Aleera. One of the hot ones. Actually it's Aleera, Verona dies in the incident. How dare they kill her?! (Silvia Colloca: Verona; pictured left) Once in Rome, Aleera offers Van an exchange, Anna for Frankie. Van agrees, only if it's done in public. Of course Count sets up a trap, eventually getting his hands on Frankie.

Now Van must confront Dracula to free Frankie, and possibly obtain the secret werewolf cure Dracula holds. Because only a werewolf can beat Dracula. So as a backup plan, Count always has a vial of werewolf cure just in case things get a little hairy. Eventually Van turns to a wolf and dukes it out with Count while Anna battles Aleera, and Carl battles Igor.

It's great seeing all the favorite legendary monster on the big screen with each other. For some reason, history always suggests that Frankie is a good guy out of the bunch. Turn him evil! That would be much funner. Dracula portrays the ultimate bad guy, and wolf man is just a pawn bitch. Dr. Jeckyll/Mr. Hyde was a little bit over the top fake CGI-ish. It kinda rubbed me the wrong way.

The end of the movie was a little disappointing. It became a little too CGI heavy with the final battle between Count and Van. The battle was like watching a video game in the movie theater. There was just a "real life" element missing to the end. Too much CGI!

Hugh Jackman playing Van Helsing...yeah, I couldn't see it. Maybe it's because I only see him as Wolverine now. I'm sorry, I've "type-casted" him. He's now the Luke Skywalker of the X-men series. Sorry Hugh! The best character in the movie happened to be Carl, Van's side kick. He was played by David Wenham, better known as Faramir from Lord of the Rings. He was a pretty like able, funny character. He was a monk...I mean Fryer, as he would put it, that was the "Order's" weapon genius. I got away with a lot of un-monk-ish things by being a Fryer, like scoring with a village hot chick. Chastity...overrated.

As for the lead female character, Kate Beckinsale you must think, "Wow. Two Beckinsale flick reviews within a week. You must really like her." No. She's hot, but Vacancy kind of just happened to be on, and this one was in the works anyway. Kate portrays a tough chick...werewolf hunter...right...I didn't buy it either. She looked hot in her tight fitted wardrobe, tighten those waist strings a little tighter, and maybe her twins will pop out. But in the end, she seemed to always be the a tag-a-long damsel in distress which Van had to save. She barely did anything tough or heroic in the film except for battle with the vampire chick bride, Aleera. Chick fight! Yeah. It was good fight, but it still was overshadowed by her poor performance. And her European accent was just down right horrible. *** SPOILER ***Highlight to read. I was glad to see her die in the end. It was actually a nice twist on the film. *** END SPOILER ***

Kate Beckinsale wasn't even the hottest female in the film. All three of Count Dracula's brides are hotter in my opinion. Elean Anaya (Aleera...and pictured right twice!) is probably the hottest of the bunch. How could a girl like this become a girl like that? If you have trouble identifying her, compare the traits on her chest.

Overall, it's a good monster flick to watch...a.k.a. good popcorn flick. Outside of the over use of CGI in the film, it was enjoyable to watch. It happened to be one of the better movies that featured Dracula in recent history. Most of Count's movies have sucked. And I'm a vampire fan, so this film was pleasing for me.

Misc. Movie Trivia:
-Film opened on May 7, 2004 and made $120 million at the Box Office ($51.7 million opening weekend)
-Made $65 million the first week of DVD sales
-Originally planned as a sequel to 1992's Bram Stoker's Dracula with Anthony Hopkins reprising the role of Abraham Van Helsing
-Van Helsing's name changed from Abraham to Gabriel
-Distributed to theaters as "The Vatican Detective"
-There are many parallels/tributes to Universal's Wolfman (1941), Frankenstein (1931) and Dracula (1931)
-There are no opening credits, nor an actual title card