At the time of The Mummy, Stephen Sommers looked to be a reasonable low brow imitation Steven Spielberg, who could produce decent popcorn entertainment of the kind the bearded one made to such great acclaim earlier in his career. However, with The Mummy Returns and now Van Helsing, Sommers has gone all George Lucas and become too enamoured of the technical possibilities to produce visually orgasmic, but otherwise unengaging light and sound shows. It's not that Van Helsing has any specific bad points - the acting is solid enough, the plot almost makes sense, but for all that, I just couldn't care less about anything that was going on or what happened to anyone. I just could find nothing to really engage with, aside from the occasional fairly reasonable scare and the artistry of the digital creatures and some superbly exaggerated landscapes. However, the actors largely seem just be going through the motions and therefore spent half the time wishing I was somewhere quieter and the other half thanking the movie gods that Peter Jackson got to Lord of the Rings first.

In the blazing sound mix, Alan Silvestri's robust score actually fares quite well. Yes, the action sequences suppress it to another layer of background noise, but for the travelling sequences, it takes pride of place adding another layer of mock gothic gravitas. In truth, Van Helsing strikes me as the kind of film that the 1990 version of Danny Elfman, or perhaps the Howard Shore of Ed Wood, was born to score and while Silvestri does some grandiose tub thumping, it doesn't quite summon up the spirit of Franz Waxman in a way that might have given Sommer's film a little less self importance. True, his Mummy Returns score didn't tap into that feeling either, but the Jarre-esque landscape melodies and rousing action melodies all coalesced into a sonic orgy, but Van Helsing has fewer hooks and so bits feel like they could be replaceable with parts of The Mummy Returns or Judge Dredd, just Silvestri blazing with the brass, but not driving things along with any dramatic purpose.

That the main theme isn't up to much is rather a surprise. Trevor Jones' main theme for the similarly styled League of Extraordinary Gentleman may not be the most memorable on record, but at least it has a darkly satisfying hue; Silvestri's melody for Hugh Jackman's Van Helsing isn't much more than a variant on minor Mummy Returns motifs, rousing and semi-heroic though it is. Its only saving grace is when accompanied by a bouncing guitar motif which lifts it briefly from being a trifle mundane into something a little more engaging. The action sequences are filled with Silvestri's modern bombastic melodrama, complete with choir, swathes of brass and percussion, but the incidental pleasure are generally more gratifying, notably the All Hallow's Eve Ball waltz (which I'm convinced is shorter than the cue in the film itself) which prances about with a delightful malevolence. Like the film itself, Silvestri's Van Helsing is largely superficial enjoyment, well wrought and exciting, but without the depth and melodic delights of his best epics.

Rating ~

1. Transylvania (1:26)
2. Burn It Down (4:46)
3. Werewolf Trap (1:53)
4. Journey to Transylvania (1:33)
5. Attacking Brides (5:02)
6. Dracula's Nursery (5:46)
7. Useless Crucifix (2:35)
8. Transylvanian Horses (3:55)
9. All Hallow's Eve Ball (3:01)
10. Who Are They To Judge? (2:00)
11. Final Battle (6:28)
12. Reunited (4:23)

Total Time ~ 42:48