- Van Helsing - Wikipedia
Gabriel Van Helsing is based upon the character Abraham Van Helsing, who appeared in Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula. The film also includes characters from other works including The Wolf Man and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The film was written, produced and directed by the master of over-the-top CGI, Stephen Sommers.
Evil Has One Name to Fear
In Transylvania in 1887 Doctor Frankenstein (Samuel West) brings his Monster (Shuler Hensley) to life and is praised by the man who financed his work, Count Dracula (Richard Roxburgh). At the same time his castle is attacked by a mob from the local village. Dracula reveals why he wanted the Monster created but Doctor Frankenstein is horrified and refuses to allow his creation to be used for such evil. Dracula murders the doctor and as the mob draws in the Monster is seemingly destroyed.
A year later amnesiac Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman) is hunting Mr Hyde (or more accurately a huge computer generated version of Mr Hyde – voiced by Robbie Coltrane). After dispatching him Van Helsing returns to Vatican City where the Knights of the Holy Order (fighters of evil, defenders innocents, etc) give him the task of eliminating Dracula so that the family that has spent generations fighting him can enter Heaven.
Van Helsing is joined by a friar named Carl (David Wenham) who has a knack for creating technologically advanced weaponry including a gas powered crossbow. Carl also equips Van Helsing with crosses, holy water and various other tools for fighting vampires.
Once in Transylvania Van Helsing joins with Anna (Kate Beckinsale) the last surviving member of the Valerious family, and together they battle the Count and his brides as Van Helsing’s past slowly begins to resurface.
A CGI Fest
Stephen Sommers (the man behind The Mummy and The Mummy Returns) is not someone who has a problem with computer generated effects. Whilst other directors seem to adopt the less-is-more approach and use CGI sparingly, Sommers clearly believes in a more-is-more approach. Van Helsing is certainly an example of virtually every monster being the work of CGI with the exception of Frankenstein’s Monster who is a guy in a make-up.
Computer effects can blow the audience’s mind (take the recent film Avatar in which the joins between CGI and live action are seamless), and can make cinema goers really believe that what they are seeing is real. Unfortunately Sommers doesn’t seem to be concerned with making his audience believe that his creatures are really there. From Mr Hyde to Dracula’s monster form, to the locations and castles, almost everything in Van Helsing is obviously a creation of computer effects.
The excessive use of CGI almost seems to be laziness on the part of the special effects department or due to a director who was in a hurry. Some over-the-top movie monster is created and either the special effects people are not allowed to make it appear more real by whoever, or they simply cannot be bothered to make it look more lifelike. There are any number of examples of films (especially courtesy of Underworld) in which computer generated werewolves look very scary and seem easily capable of ripping someone’s throat out. The werewolves in Van Helsing just don’t look lifelike enough for the audience to be even a little afraid of them.
The CGI aside Van Helsing does have some things going for it. Hugh Jackman clearly enjoys playing the role of the amnesic vampire hunter, and the lovely Kate Beckinsale is his feisty love interest. However, it is Roxburgh who steals the show with his portrayal of Count Dracula. He is brilliantly funny and a joy to watch. It is clear that Roxburgh is just having some fun with the character and creates a camp Count that moves like lightening and has no regard for anyone aside from himself.
There are the diehard Dracula fans who will remember when the Count was truly terrifying (mainly when he was played by Christopher Lee in the Hammer Horror Series) who will be outraged by Roxburgh’s portrayal of the character. They may also not be happy with the fact that Sommers has changed Van Helsing's first name from Abraham to Gabriel because apparently Abraham is a name that makes someone sound old.
The excessive amount of dodgy CGI might also be enough to put off potential viewers, however, despite its flaws Van Helsing is still a good fun film with a kick-ass vampire hunter, a feisty leading lady, and a geeky sidekick fighting it out against a camp Count Dracula and his three gorgeous brides.
3/5
There is a lotof CGI in Van Helsing but if the audience can look past that then Hugh Jackman and Richard Roxburgh performances make this worth a watch
Christopher Sharman - In 2009 I self-published my first novel entitled The Darkness Saga: The Light (currently available at amazon.co.uk) which has been ...
