Van Helsing (2004)
★★½ — Van Helsing (2004)
Universal effectively handed Stephen Sommers the keys to its classic monster vault on the back of his two profitable Mummy films (1999 and 2001), and Van Helsing arrived as the studio's most expensive attempt yet to revive those golden age horror icons as a modern action franchise. Shot largely in Prague, standing in convincingly for turn-of-the-century Transylvania, the production carried a budget of around $160 million, making it one of the pricier blockbusters of its era. Sommers conceived the film as a kind of monster crossover, folding Dracula, Frankenstein's creature, and the Wolf Man into a single mythology. Hugh Jackman, still riding the wave of his X-Men visibility, took the lead role, with Kate Beckinsale reuniting with Sommers having appeared in his earlier work.
Van Helsing (2004) is a spectacle-driven, gothic popcorn flick that wants to be The Mummy meets Blade with a dash of Frankenstein, but ends up feeling more like a video game cutscene stretched into two hours. Hugh Jackman brings his usual charm and muscle as the legendary monster hunter, and the film barrels through Dracula’s castle, Werewolves, Mr. Hyde, and enough CGI carnage to drown Transylvania in digital fog. The premise is fun (monster hunter for the Vatican, blessed bullets, acrobatic fights) but the execution is pure camp. The CGI, unfortunately, has not aged well. Whole scenes look weightless, fake, and overblown, robbing the action of any real impact. The tone veers wildly from dark horror to slapstick one-liners, and Kate Beckinsale as Anna Valerious tries her best with a script that gives her swords but no depth. It’s all style, no soul, more interested in explosions and slow-mo leaps than atmosphere or scares. It’s undeniably corny, yes, but there’s a certain guilty-pleasure energy to its ridiculousness. You can’t hate it if you’re in the mood for dumb fun. Silly, flashy, and forgettable, but occasionally entertaining in a “turn your brain off” kind of way. A relic of early-2000s blockbuster excess. Not good… but not boring either.
Rating: ★★½ | Year: 2004 | Watched: 2025-09-29
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