Brittany 3The Prophecy (1995)
July 2nd 2008 04:11
An angel turned bad
I have not watched one really good movie about the idea that heaven is having a war, either with hell or within itself, and The Prophecy (1995) is no exception.
The problem with movies that deal with angels is that they tend to aim for grandiose and dramatic- after all, the subject matter is about God and the forces of good and evil. However, when these movies about good and evil aim for grandiose and dramatic, they tend to fall short and you end up with something drawn out and lacking in depth.
Thomas Daggett (Elias Koteas) is a former priest turned cop investigating the death of what appears to be an angel. Soon, he is mixed up in a civil war between heaven’s angels. Daggett must try and stop leader of the rebelling angels, Gabrielle (Christopher Walken) from finding a dark soul that Gabrielle wants to use to help win the spiritual war.
Walken is great as Gabriel, a malevolent pale-faced angel who bitterly refers to humans as ‘talking monkeys’. Eric Stoltz does a good laid-back job of playing Simon, who is fighting for the good side of the angel civil war.
I noticed that there are three actors from Pulp Fiction (1994) in this movie- Christopher Walken, Eric Stoltz and Amanda Plummer (Honey Bunny). Perhaps this was a deliberate choice to make this film more gritty? I’m not sure. As far as I could find out, there’s no real reason for this casting except coincidence.
One thing that The Prophecy has going for it, is its characters are interesting. I couldn’t quite follow the reason as to why Gabrielle wanted to find a dark soul so badly, but watching characters try to find it is gripping. Viggo Mortensen’s portrayal of the devil is adequately chilling.
What we have here is a crime thriller…with angels. It works to some degree. I like the idea that angels are God’s dirty errand boys (or in this case hermaphrodites). I like the idea that Christopher Walken plays an angel that has been around since the dawn of time, yet he speaks with a thick Boston accent and looks like a hit man.
However, the movie is too long. It doesn’t manage to hold on to the curious intrigue of the initial set up of the film. It de-evolves into a basic survival film.
2 out of 5
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