Great Monster Action Escapist Fun!

Rating: Null/10 (29 June 2004)

"Van Helsing" is turning out to be the most under-rated film of the summer. I can only suppose that viewers are kind of burnt out on Hollywood's reliance on CGI in its action blockbusters. This, combined with an apparent shortage of fans of the original Universal monsters, has really undermined the success of an actually fun, enjoyable movie.
First of all, having Dracula, Frankenstein and the Wolf Man in the same film, in this day and age... God, how long has it been? And with the great leaps in visual effects over the years, this had to be worth watching, and it is. The filmmakers simply took the essence of these classic characters and amped them up to what they logically would look and act like in a glossy, high-budget feature in 2004.
The first clever choice was in constructing a plot that connects these 3 icons who come from different stories. Sure, it's been done before, but as a joke (Abbott & Costello, various cartoons...). In this film, a world has been created that successfully integrates the mythologies of vampires and werewolves, and also manages to fit in a mad scientist and his electrically-resurrected creature without feeling forced or unnatural. To accommodate all of this, a few slight liberties are taken with certain well-known "facts" about these characters; I won't say more than that, other than to rave about the novel, and clever ways these monsters are "re-imagined" for this particular story.
The other clever decision was in having the story truly revolve around the hero, Van Helsing. In past movies about Dracula, the good and noble Van Helsing was a stuffy old scholar (based upon the character in the original novel); here, he is a fully-accessorized action hero, with a haunted soul and a mean crossbow. Furthermore, in virtually every other monster movie ever made, the alleged heroes are flat, generic do-gooders with no personality, allowing the monsters to chew scenery and wreak much havoc; here, though the monsters are the reason you came, and are fun to watch in all their malevolence, it is Van Helsing we're rooting for, and who gets our applause when he goes to work and raises cain all over Transylvania.
Is it a perfect movie? Hardly. There are times when it threatens to collapse under the weight of its multiple plot elements. But for the "haters" who seemed to be expecting a "David Fincher meets Tim Burton" kind of production (and really, with the exception of "Sleepy Hollow", Burton can hardly be accused of making films that are "fun"), well, you all came to the wrong party.
In short, "Van Helsing" takes a dashing James Bond/Indiana Jones action-hero sensibility, successfully resurrects the ghoulish Gothic icons of Universal's golden age, and combines the two elements for an over-the-top, no-holds-barred fun ride. This is what "going to the movies" is supposed to feel like.