Van Helsing: Reviewed

When this movie came out in the theater, I had no desire to see it. I heard all the hype about how it was going to be great because it had hot vampire bitches, werewolves, Dr. Jekel / Mr. Hyde, Dracula, and Frankenstein’s Creation. For the same reasons, I decided that cramming all that into one movie could turn into a major suck-fest.

A bit of background information first. The character known as Val Helsing has been in around 160 movies, mainly hunting Dracula. In this movie, he is a vigilante for the Knights of the Holy Order (soldiers of God). So, he tracks down abominations of God and either brings them back to the Knight’s HQ so they can deal with them, or he kills them.

Maybe it was because of my low expectations for the movie, but I was very pleasantly surprised. Within the first half hour or so, I was hooked and I never lost interest. And I’m not saying the first half hour was boring, it just took a while for the actual plot to get going. Any good movie takes around a half hour to introduce the characters and general tone of the movie.

Speaking of the plot, it was a bit confusing at times, taking leaps instead of slowly developing the story. One thing I found great about the movie is that the fight scenes didn’t seem to interfere with the story development; unlike in some other movies where there are fight scenes just to take up time.

Hugh Jackman is amazing as Van Helsing. He has starred in “X-Men”, “X2”, “Swordfish”, and is currently working on “X-Men 3”. Acting opposite Jackman is Kate Beckinsale, also a Dracula hunter. She starred in “Underworld” and “Pearl Harbor” and is currently working on the sequel to “Underworld”. She’s also insanely hot.



Van Helsing and his cowardly sidekick, a friar (junior monk) from the Knights, are sent to hunt down Dracula. This proves to be no easy task, and Val Helsing finds that there is much more to this assignment than he or the Knights could have ever guessed.

A prequel to the movie is a short thirty minute cartoon called “Val Helsing: The London Assignment”. Val Helsing is sent to London to apprehend Dr. Jekel / Mr. Hyde. Nothing much really happens, but it is decent and a good introduction to the Van Helsing character.

There are a couple plot holes in Van Helsing, but suspension of disbelief reigns over them. If you have a few hours to spare, definitely check out this movie. Effects, acting, cinematography, all are superb.

3.75 / 5 Stars!