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A monster hunter with memory loss, Gabriel Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman) hunts down and eliminates evil on behalf of the longstanding Knights of the Holy Order, reporting to Cardinal Jinette (Alun Armstrong) at the Order's Vatican City headquarters. Van Helsing also relies on a friar named Carl (David Wenham), who specialises in inventing weapons to kill various supernatural monsters. With a new threat looming, Van Helsing and Carl travel to Transylvania to kill Count Dracula (Richard Roxburgh), the vampiric son of Satan. Upon arriving at a Transylvanian town, the pair meet Anna Valerious (Kate Beckinsale), the last descendant of an ancient Romanian family who has vowed to kill Dracula or spend eternity in Purgatory. Complicating the mission is the presence of Dracula's three vampiric brides (Elena Anaya, Silvia Colloca, and Josie Maran) and a werewolf under the vampire's control. Dracula intends to duplicate Dr. Frankenstein's (Samuel West) experiments to give life to his thousands of undead spawn, but he needs Frankenstein's Monster (Shuler Hensley) to carry out his plan successfully.
Whereas Sommers drew heavy inspiration from Indiana Jones for his Mummy movies, Van Helsing feels more like a James Bond adventure, with the titular monster hunter accepting missions from a secret organisation, and relying on special gadgets and weaponry from the Q-esque Carl. Sommers even retains the typical structure of a Bond film, introducing Van Helsing as he carries out an assignment in Paris, establishing his expertise and quick thinking in combat. A fun, tongue-in-cheek sensibility runs throughout the film, with Jackman and Wenham enthusiastically delivering the comical dialogue. (After a werewolf encounter, Carl enters the room and asks, "Why does it smell like wet dog in here?".) Meanwhile, Roxburgh relishes the chance to play Count Dracula, embracing the script's inherent cheesiness. Sommers even recruits The Mummy and Deep Rising alumni Kevin J. O'Connor to play Igor (a role specifically written for the actor), and he brings ample goofy energy to the role, invigorating an otherwise shallow character. Indeed, Van Helsing's characters receive minimal development, making it difficult to care about them beyond their superficial traits - i.e. Van Helsing looks cool, Anna is attractive, Carl's goofiness is endearing, and so on. The romantic angle between Van Helsing and Anna is half-hearted at best, feeling shoehorned in for the sake of it. The climax tries to add some emotion, but it mostly falls flat.
Working with an enormous $170 million budget (nearly eclipsing the combined cost of his two Mummy adventures), Van Helsing is a fast-moving visual extravaganza that satisfies as pure eye candy. Sommers employs digital effects to bring several of the monsters to life, but other aspects of the production remain vehemently old-fashioned. Instead of solely relying on studio work and green-screening, filming occurred in various picturesque locations in Prague, Italy and France, while superb miniatures convincingly enhance the movie's sense of scope. Cinematography by the Oscar-nominated Allen Daviau (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial) gorgeously captures the gothic production design, creating mood and atmosphere through shadows and precise lighting. It's also easy to follow the action, as Daviau relies on smooth long shots and even a little bit of slow motion, never resorting to shaky-cam or turning the carnage into a headache-inducing blur. This ended up being the late Daviau's final feature film.
Instead of slow-moving but cunning old-fashioned monsters, Van Helsing features agile, dynamic computer-generated beasties that swiftly fly, run and leap around, though characters like Frankenstein's Monster and Igor were still achieved through extensive prosthetics and make-up. Weta Digital contributed to the special effects, and they mostly hold up two decades later. Even though the digital creatures are not always entirely convincing, they are perfectly sufficient and do not stand out as distractingly phoney. Plus, the effects here easily surpass the awful CGI from the climax of The Mummy Returns. Moreover, the fact that the monsters mostly appear in practical environments helps to sell the illusion. Sommers is a dab hand at orchestrating rousing, fast-moving action set pieces, and Van Helsing contains numerous standout sequences, from the black and white opening that reinterprets the ending of Frankenstein, to an exciting early showdown with Mr. Hyde (Robbie Coltrane), a thrilling cart chase, and more. Without much character work or drama, Sommers dedicates most of Van Helsing to bombastic, overblown action, but it still comes together in an entertaining enough manner despite the lack of heart or emotion. Further assisting Sommers is composer Alan Silvestri (Back to the Future, Forrest Gump), whose original score bursts with flavour and mood, making the action scenes even more exciting.
Despite Universal's enthusiasm for sequels, and despite the movie leaving room wide open for further adventures, the box office results were underwhelming, prompting the studio to abandon their plans and let the IP rest...until their failed Dark Universe bid over a decade later. Van Helsing is undeniably silly, but it's also spectacular and entertaining, with Sommers again demonstrating his expertise in crafting fun cinematic junk food. Especially in 2024, there are far worse ways to spend two hours and there are far worse blockbusters in existence.
6.7/10
