One of the biggest blockbusters starring Hugh Jackman is on TV tonight – and no, it’s not an X-Men adventure. Instead, we are immersed in a dark fantasy world
Hugh Jackman is best known for his role as Logan aka Wolverine in the X-Men films. This is unlikely to change any time soon. Last but not least, he will be returning to the Marvel universe next year in Deadpool 3. However, Jackman has also shot other blockbusters in recent years.
He played one of his best roles in this field in the often ridiculed Van Helsing from 2004. When the fantasy horror thriller from The Mummy director Stephen Sommers was released in cinemas, it failed most critics. Tonight you can give it a second chance on TV. It’s worth it!
All roads lead to Rome … and from Rome to the castle of Dracula (Richard Roxburgh). Jackman does not take on the icon of horror literature alone. He is joined by Kate Beckinsale as the intrepid Anna Valerious, while David Wenham slips into the role of his faithful companion, the monk Cal.
Sommers has already liberated The Mummy from the dusty treasure chest of the Universal monster trove and transformed it into a modern fantasy-adventure-action blockbuster with horror elements. With Van Helsing, he leans a little further out of the window and stages a completely unleashed monster spectacle.
Van Helsing was ahead of its time – and yet could only exist in the 2000s
Long before the failed Dark Universe, which was supposed to bring together all the Universal monsters along the lines of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Sommers united every movie monster from the 1930s and 1940s that he could get his hands on in a wild rollercoaster ride through adventurous and gruesome settings.
(Van Helsing)
Van Helsing doesn’t just mess with vampires. Werewolves are also knocking on his door, while Frankenstein’s monster is unleashed in a black and white homage to its cinematic role models. Sommers lays a thick layer of unabashed CGI effects over the film heritage of the past, sometimes successful, sometimes completely off the mark.
This is precisely what makes Van Helsing so appealing: we are dealing with a pulsating blockbuster that could only have been made in the 2000s. In love with the possibilities of the new effects cinema, Sommer’s film can never decide whether it wants to explode with exuberance or whether it wants to go for a dark and serious tone.
One minute Jackman is looking grimly into the camera, anticipating the looks of Christian Bale’s Batman, who conquered the big screen a year later. Shortly afterwards, he grabs a crossbow with an arrow magazine and rapid-fire function and shoots his way through Dracula’s brides. Too bad it never became a movie series.
Stream now: Van Helsing with Hugh Jackman on WOW with a streaming subscription
