Van Helsing 2: The Lycan Hunter is a thunderous, gloriously stylized reinvention that does not merely sequelize its predecessor but elegantly evolves its mythos into a darker, more dynamic, and visually spectacular gothic opera. Director James Mangold, with a masterful eye for kineticism and character, returns to a Victorian London that is a breathtaking character in itself—a grimy, steam-belching labyrinth of shadows where cobblestones are slick with rain and blood. At its heart is Hugh Jackman’s Gabriel Van Helsing, a performance of magnificent, weary gravitas. He is no longer the swashbuckling adventurer, but a relic, a man whose knowledge is vast but whose body is failing against a new, evolutionary terror. His frustration and haunted resolve are palpable, making him the perfect anchor for a story about obsolescence and the bitter acceptance of a new era.

That new era is personified in Cristiano Ronaldo’s Dante, a creation of terrifying elegance and profound inner conflict. Ronaldo delivers a performance of startling intensity, portraying the Vatican’s engineered weapon as a being torn between divine purpose and monstrous hunger. His speed is not just a power; it’s a curse and a miracle, rendered with a balletic, predatory grace that makes every movement feel both beautiful and lethal. The dynamic between the grizzled, tactical hunter and the volatile, living weapon is the film’s electric core. It is less a partnership and more a tense, master-apprentice relationship in reverse, where the old master must design tools for a protege whose abilities he can scarcely comprehend.

The action is where Mangold’s vision becomes truly iconic. The steampunk aesthetic is weaponized, with Van Helsing’s workshop birthing ingenious, silver-based contraptions. The pinnacle of this is the creation of the spinning silver-bladed boots—a perfect fusion of Victorian engineering and supernatural necessity. The climactic ascent of Big Ben is an all-timer, a sequence of pure, dizzying cinematic bravura. As Dante sprints vertically up the clock tower, defying gravity and logic, the film achieves a mythic quality. The final, decapitating spin-kick, timed to the tolling of midnight, is a moment of such perfect, brutal poetry that it etches itself permanently into memory. It’s not just a kill; it’s a coronation, a passing of the torch executed with the sharpened silver of a new legend.

Van Helsing 2: The Lycan Hunter is a 9.4/10 gothic action masterpiece. It masterfully blends Jackman’s grounded, emotional legacy with Ronaldo’s explosive, otherworldly dynamism, creating a compelling duet of old and new. The world-building is rich, the stakes are visceral, and the action sequences are benchmarks of the genre. It’s a film that understands that the best sequels don’t just repeat—they evolve, and here, the evolution is faster, sharper, and breathtakingly stylish.

Watch trailer: