Evil without reflection

Rating: Null/10 (12 May 2004)

We all know that Dracula, or any vampire, cannot be seen in a mirror. "Van Helsing" is the same. It is evil without reflection. At least Dracula has the excuse of being undead. "Van Helsing" is far worse. It is brain-dead.
The film never pretends to be anything other than park-your-mind-at-the-door entertainment, in the tradition of fast-paced, car-chase-filled, action-adventure flicks. Given its subject matter, "Van Helsing" could and should have tried to be something more. Its failure to rise above the abysmal is an abdication of moral responsibility.
The film offers the semblance of evil without examining its nature or reality. It trots out all the classic ghouls - vampires, werewolves, Jekyll and Hyde, Dr. Frankenstein and his monster - without stopping to consider what makes them such powerful archetypes, or why they are deemed the embodiment of evil.
Even a cursory examination would have revealed the answer. All of them are unnatural exaggerations of an aspect of human nature. Both Dracula and Dr. Frankenstein represent people's wish to "be as gods" - to quote Genesis - to be immortal or to unlock the secret to life. (Van Helsing himself seems to live forever. He remembers fighting Romans at Masada in 73 AD.) Hyde and the werewolf, on the other hand, show us at our worst, when we allow ourselves to be dominated by our animal instincts.
Frankenstein's monster holds out a ray of hope as the one creature that is non-human yet not inhuman. Van Helsing says he cannot kill Frankenstein's monster because, although it may be the fruit of evil, it is not ruled by evil.
Apart from this one bright spot, however, the film's moral vision (if you can call it that) is chilling indeed. Ultimately, "Van Helsing" suggests that evil must be defeated and destroyed by evil itself. The film offers no choice between good and evil. It allows us only to choose the lesser of two evils.
The film uses the props of Christian theology without its underpinnings. Churches become mere architectural splendors, not holy but hollow. No divine worship takes place beneath their vaults. God and the devil are mentioned in passing, but neither has any real presence. (I use the term deliberately.) Reference is made to sin and salvation - but they are merely meaningless buzzwords. Holy water and the crucifix no longer vanquish evil.
At no time in the proceedings does "Van Helsing" ever manage to be scary. The only truly frightening thing about the film is that, as the saying goes, it "sees no evil". If this is any indication of how far our society has lost its moral compass, then we must indeed "be afraid - be very afraid".