Hello everyone I'm XboxClown89, the last major time I talked about the movie Van Helsing. It was me ranking alternate Dracula movies a few years ago. Now I felt since I seen Van Helsing a lot since then. I should finally review it for Halloween. I got some interesting views on the movie itself. Sadly, I didn't see the animated connected Van Helsing movie so that's excluded here.
Van Helsing (2004)
I want to kick things off by saying this is an Universal monster film. Although, the main character is a famous hunter named Van Helsing. There's some notable changes to several creature's lore like Frankenstein's Monster & Dracula respectively. The movie has some notable stars as well. Such as Hugh Jackman whose best known for playing Wolverine in a couple X-Men movies.
Kate Beckinsale is best known for playing Selene in Underworld series, a better role for her in my opinion. David Wenham also in two The Lord of the Rings movies as well as 300 series. The movie centers on Van Helsing hunting Dracula, it may seem simple but for a few reasons it's not. Helsing can't remember certain things with only Dracula knowing exactly what those memories were.
I should point out in most things the character is named Dr. Abraham Van Helsing. But here he's named Gabriel Van Helsing instead. Other creatures like werewolves as well as Mr. Hyde. Sadly, Mr. Hyde's voice came from the recently passed away Robbie Coltrane. Whose remembered for such roles as Valentin in two James Bond movies as well as Rubeus Hagrid in Harry Potter series.
Hughman previously played Wolverine makes more sense due to a major twist later in the movie. Beckinsale also faces vampires & werewolves here. The movie is about Dracula seeks a way to give life to numerous children of his. Which involves Frankenstein's Monster as part of the process. Of course, they also have Igor whose betrayed Dr. Frankenstein for Dracula.
Igor is played by Kevin J. O'Connor who played Benji in The Mummy with Brendan Fraser. In both films, O'Connor played a greedy man who ends up getting a horrible fate. He also serves a powerful undead being that eventually gets killed by the main character. Personally, The Mummy is the better movie here. Van Helsing gets bitten by a werewolf later revealed to be Anna's brother.
We get an unexpected final show between Dracula and an werewolf. But unlike other werewolves, Dracula doesn't control Van Helsing. Which led to his demise, some of the movie's worst CGI effects I say. I do like some of the twists but it felt parts of those were either forced or didn't fit in properly. I'm not saying the movie has a notable pacing problem either.
Van Helsing also has three brides for Dracula. I actually loved Frankenstein's Monster in this movie. I would even say he stands out above everyone else. He's greatly misunderstood by people but surprisingly a pleasant person. I will be brutally honest, I hated this take on Dracula though. Parts of the actor's performances as well as the big twist kinda ruined the character for me.
I still think it's a good movie but it has some notable flaws. I know no movie is without some form of it's flaws. I just felt most actors I knew were simply in better, similar movies. Not to mention, this movie has a mixed ending. Clearly, Universal does have better horror movies within it's long library of horror movies.
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