I’ve known about Van Helsing for about fourteen years now, but I had always ignored it for the most part. I always like Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in the X-Men films, but it wasn’t enough to push me to watch the movies. Then I finally took notice and realized Kate Beckinsale was in it. I’ve been a fan of hers since watching Undeworld which is ironically a movie about her being a vampire. Both Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsale play characters who want to kill Count Dracula himself.

The film starts with monster hunter for the Catholic Church, Gabriel Van Helsing doing his usual thing. His job is to kill creatures that offend God and are naturally evil in nature. His reputation for slaughter causes many on his side and not to have some contempt for him. Gabriel is missing memories of his childhood and fights often to one day survive to learn who he truly is in the world. The Catholic Church tells him of his most dangerous mission yet.

He travels to Transylvania to meet the last living child of King Boris Valerious of the gypsy people. Her name is Princess Anna Valerious and she is quite the warrior herself. Her ancestors have had a terrible war with Count Dracula and he has murdered pretty much her whole family. She isn’t exactly warm to Van Helsing as he tries to lead the situation.

But the two should unite soon as Count Dracula is currently working on a plan to create “children” for the world. Up until recently, any attempt left monstrous offspring who would perish before the next day arrived. Using Dr. Frankenstein’s work, the vampire lord comes up with an idea to make sure his children stay forever. If he succeeds, then it will be difficult for the whole word to survive once they become unstoppable.

Overall Van Helsing was about what critics were saying, it’s not a horrible Razzie-inducing film but it was never meant to be a film that would be considered a classic in any way shape or form. It often takes things too silly, and the action often becomes mindless, unrealistic, and foes would perish very conveniently. Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsale hold their weight compared to the rest, but not enough to save the film. I wouldn’t say his acting was bad, but Richard Roxburgh’s take on Count Dracula is one of the lamest ones I’ve ever seen. The film was a big hit at the box office, but there’s a good reason why you never saw a sequel emerge.