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Stars:
Hugh Jackman, Kate Beckinsale, Richard Roxburgh, David Wenham, Will Kemp, Kevin
J. O’Connor, and Schuler Hensley
Writer:
Stephen Sommers
Director:
Stephen Sommers
Feature
length: 132 minutes
Extras:
Feature Length Audio Commentary With Director Stephen Sommers and Producer Bob
Ducsay, Feature Length Audio Commentary With Actors Richard Roxburgh, Schuler
Hensley, and Will Kemp, Explore Dracula’s Castle Guided Tour, Bringing The
Monsters To Life Featurette, The Legend Of Van Helsing Featurette, You Are In
The Movie Feature, Outtakes, Trailer, Super Bowl TV Spot, Preview Trailers,
Playable Van Helsing X-Box Game Demo
Languages:
English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and French and Spanish Language Dolby
Surround Sound
Subtitles:
English Captions and French and Spanish Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Amaray Keep Case Within Glossy Cardboard Slip
Chapter
Stops: 28
Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Surround Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 2004/DVD Release: 2004
Theatrical
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Home
Video Distributor: Universal Studios Home Video
MPAA
Rating: PG-13
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
Writer
and Director Stephen Sommers’ “Van Helsing” kicked off the summer popcorn
flick season with a mix of swashbuckling action and adventure featuring the
classic Universal monster icons reinterpreted for the twenty-first century.
Despite the fact that this film pays homage to those Universal monster picture
classics of the 1930s and 1940s, this is not a horror film anymore than Sommers’
previous efforts “The Mummy” and “The Mummy Returns,” but it still does
try to call to mind those early films while creating something that is a bit
more like a superhero type of adventure. Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman) is a ward of
the Vatican. He hunts down and destroys evil creatures like a bounty hunter, but
his allegiance is with the multi-denominational secret organization within Rome
offers him a chance to perform penance for acts he does not entirely remember.
It is possible that Van Helsing may be some sort of supernatural force himself.
He has been alive for over a thousand years, but has no clear recollection of
how he obtained immortality and why. So like any comic book hero, Van Helsing
seeks his answers from within while going after the monsters that pose a threat
to humanity. Dracula (Richard Roxburgh) is trying to create a race of offspring
vampires through the life force the late Professor Frankenstein discovered while
creating his monster. Van Helsing is to assist the descendants of a family who
have sworn an oath to destroy Dracula. The last two remaining members are a sexy
gypsy princess (Kate Beckinsale) and her tormented werewolf brother.
The
idea of bringing these characters together for a twenty-first century monster
bash sounds exciting and in terms of action and effects, “Van Helsing”
delivers, but the screenplay is weak and while the film offers plenty of eye
candy, there’s little sustenance to hold on to. As a DVD, “Van Helsing:
Widescreen” is a perfect demo film with both an outstanding anamorphic
widescreen (1.85:1) aspect ratio presentation and an excellent English Dolby
Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack mix. French and Spanish Language Dolby Surround
Soundtracks have been added also along with English Captions for the hearing
impaired and French and Spanish Language Subtitles encoded onto the dual layered
DVD as options. Feature length audio commentaries with Director Stephen Sommers
and Producer Bob Ducsay and Actors Richard Roxburgh, Schuler Hensley, and Will
Kemp are also encoded for viewers to listen to as options. It is clear that
everyone involved enjoyed making the picture very much and Sommers truly has an
appreciation for the characters he has been granted the opportunity to reinvent,
but Sommers is also heavily inspired by so many other sources that one almost
feels that he needs to focus more on the task at hand and not throw in so many
nods to other genre films because while they may create some amusing and or
exciting action, they dilute the overall impact of the story he is trying to
tell. Somehow “Van Helsing” just seems off balance, but if he can
concentrate on a more focused storyline, I’d like to see him make a sequel
that will examine more of Van Helsing’s backstory as well as the secret
Vatican organization he works for.
There
is a branching feature that enables viewers to see behind-the-scenes video from
the production as if they were on the set, including a brief featurette (4:30)
that introduces the concept among the extra features, but I am not a big fan of
those kinds of features. I prefer to have the option to view the behind the
scenes material collectively rather than have to watch the entire movie again
and interrupt the action for these clips. Other featurettes include a look at
how the creatures were developed for the film by ILM (8:02) and a look at what
inspired Stephen Sommers to make Van Helsing into the heroic character he has
developed for the film (10:09). There ‘s a nice filmed guided tour of the set
narrated by the Prince Of Darkness himself along with his brides that
collectively runs about 3 minutes and 31 seconds and a reel of behind-the-scenes
bloopers from the set (5:39).
The theatrical trailer (2:30) as well as the Super Bowl TV spot (1:04)
are also included along with Universal previews for “Shaun Of The Dead,”
“Seed Of Chucky” and the trilogy of “Mummy” related films Sommers has
produced that are also available on DVD and include “The Scorpion King,”
“The Mummy,” and “The Mummy Returns.” A DVD trailer for “Shrek 2”
(1:03) wraps up the DVD-Video features on this disc. If you have a Microsoft
X-Box Video Game System, you will also have access to a playable demo of the
“Van Helsing” video game with a chance to explore inside Frankenstein’s
castle first hand and the opportunity to relive the Forest Path chase scene from
the film. The game play is pretty simple, but the constant text interruptions
detailing what button does what at times took me out of the game, slowed it
down, and simply got annoying.
Windows
based DVD-ROM users will have access to InterActual® enhanced features for
their PC too. The menus feature animated transitions to standard interactive
still frame menus and are easy to navigate. “Van Helsing: Widescreen” will
be available on DVD-Video at retailers on and offline courtesy of Universal
Studios Home Video on Tuesday, October 19, 2004.
Click On The Photo Icon Above To View The Trailer.
©
Copyright 2004 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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