More to it than you think.... SPOILERS ...

Rating: 7/10 (7 May 2004)

Let me say up front that I loved this movie. I haven't had as much fun at a movie theatre in years. This movie is pure story telling spectacle at its finest. Total entertainment. This, to me, is the purpose of a movie: go get lost for two hours and forget about everything else, forget about the world and get lost in a fantasy. Van Helsing did that for me. There were tons of CG but it fit the story and never detracted from it. However, I believe there's more to this movie, an added layer, that will pass over most viewers' heads.
SPOILERS AHEAD.... although they'll make you want to go back and watch the movie again...
There has been complaints/criticisms/mutterings about Van Helsing's identity. Given the clues in the movie it's very clever what Stephen Sommers has done.
The reason Van Helsing cannot remember his family and the reason he was found on the steps of the Vatican is because Van Helsing is an angel cast down from Heaven.
I kid you not.
Gabriel is one of the highest-ranking angels in Christian, Judaism and Mohammedan religious lore. He is the angel of vengeance, death, and resurrection. Gabriel is said to sit on the left-hand side of God (remember in the movie the Left Hand of God killed Dracula during the first go-round). Now here is the important part: Gabriel is also identified as a man-God-angel and in Babylonian legend he fell into disgrace for not obeying a command exactly as given, and for that was cast down from heaven.

I think what Sommers was getting at is that the last command Gabriel disobeyed was one relating to his battle with Dracula. For that he was cast out of heaven with no memories of who (or what) he is.
Dracula recognized him as the man whom almost killed him, yet, if Gabriel was that man, he would be dead from old age. So my theories make sense. Gabriel can't age; he's not human-at least not entirely. I have to wonder if that explains his werewolf at the climatic scene, how he was bigger, more powerful then the others and able to resist Dracula's commands. A battle of Titans! The devil vs. heaven. Although Van Helsing may be mostly mortal at this point, he still retains a spark of what he once was: The Angel of Death and Vengeance. He is doing what he was created to do and is perhaps more effective on Earth than in Heaven.
If you see the movie with this knowledge, it gives the movie an added layer above the spectacle and FX. Watch for the clues, such as Dracula mentioning how human heartbeats increase when he is close and how Van Helsing's does not. Listen carefully to the message of the picture behind the wood panel. Note that Van Helsing can see Anna Valerious ascend to heaven, and that Carl (the monk played by David Wenham) can not. Very cool. Maybe there are more clues that I missed.
I'm going to see it again and get as many people rounded up as possible to see it with me.
-Allykat