Fallen

Rating:
Summary: Effective and atmospheric thriller
Review: John Hobbes (Denzel Washington) believes that he's conquered his demons; the man convicted of a series of brutal murders that he hunted and caught has been put to death. Or has he? Suddenly, murders with a very similar MO begin happening. Hobbes gets phone calls from someone he comes to believe is the man he saw put to death? But how could that be? With the help of a sharp linguist (the astonishingly beautiful and talented Embeth Davison) Hobbes discovers that evil doesn't truly die but constantly gets "reborn".

An effective thriller director by Gregory Hoblit ("Primal Fear"), "Fallen" does occasionally stretch credibility but, on the whole, it's a gripping and powerful thriller along the lines of "Angel Heart". Mixing elements of "The Exorcist" and ""The Silence of the Lambs", "Fallen" features a sharp performance by Denzel Washington and a strong supporting cast including John Goodman as Hobbes disbelieving partner. Hoblit's direction manages to gloss over some of the cracks in Nicholas Kazan's imaginative screenplay. The incredible craft of the film makes you realize how inept recent thrillers have been.

The video quality is very solid although some of the darker sequences do suffer a bit in this DVD transfer. Overall, the image quality is stellar. The audio has very nice presence with the dialogue coming through with clarity and crispness. It's evident that this hasn't been remastered for its re-release. It looks very consistent with the previous edition released to DVD.

Although it doesn't any extras, there's a very good commentary track. Featuring director Hoblit, writer Kazan and producer Charles Roven focuses more on the performances, how he tried to bring credibility to the more incredible elements of the screenplay and what was changed along the way from conception to production.

If you're looking for a solid, creepy movie to watch this Halloween (though this one isn't appropriate for the kids. It deserves its "R" rating although not quite as much as the much gloomier, darker "Se7vn" another terrific thriller), you may fall for this creepy, effective and atmospheric thriller. Take a walk on the dark side this Halloween and visit those who have "Fallen".



Rating:
Summary: Denzel does it again
Review: This is such a gripping movie. You never know when or in whom the killer will appear next. What a thriller. Another wonderful performance by Denzel. Bouncing back and forth from the viewpoint of the killer to the mind of the detective, you will not want to miss a beat of this hold-your-breath-and-grit-your-teeth movie. Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Fallen
Review: Fallen is a must have for my dvd collection. Denzel Washington should have won many awards for this performance. This movie is so good that I felt the need to upgrade my copy from the old vhs to the long lasting dvd format.

Rating:
Summary: Fallen - A classic in the psychological thriller genre!
Review: Simply put, "Fallen" is a pure classic in the psychological thriller genre! Very few films in this genre that attempt such status actually ever achieve as successfully as this film does. From the very beginning of this film to the end it is an intense, script and character driven silver screen masterpiece. One of the most interesting aspects of this film is that it can be watched over and over again, given time in between viewings, and one can pick up different things every time, making it that much better.

Performance wise, Denzel Washington delivers one of his most powerful and memorable performances in this fine film. Of course, over the years he's proven himself to be one of Hollywood's finest in that very few films of his are less than spectacular. This particular role for him almost engenders the aura that it was specifically written with him in mind as the lead. John Goodman's performance is right on par with his usual style of acting, making the film that much better. Donald Sutherland's performances over the years have been, to me, somewhat spotty with his performance in this film being one of his better ones. The only other film that I've watched in which Embeth Davidtz, and incredibly beautiful actress, has starred in was "Schindler's List." Her performance in "Fallen" is extremely memorable, leaving one to the conclusion that they should check out her other films. Of special note is seeing a pre "Sopranos" performance by James Gandolfini.

It's official, I'm a fan of Director Gregory Hoblit's films as he's not only deftly directed this fine film but other enjoyable films such as "Frequency" and "Hart's War." Granted, he benefited greatly from the superior script of "Fallen," it's the style in which he portrayed this film that makes it such a powerful, edge of your seat film.

The Premise:

Denzel Washington plays homicide detective John Hobbes. Shortly after watching the execution of Edgar Reese (Elias Koteas), many of the same things that were happening to Detective Hobbes prior to capturing Reese start happening again but wait a minute, it was Reese that was doing these things before but that's impossible because he was executed.

What follows from there is one of the most intense and powerful psychological thriller to ever grace the silver screen as detective Hobbes starts to learn just exactly who or what he's dealing with...

The only true surprise in this film is that it didn't really gain overwhelming critical support when it was in the theaters. I highly recommend this film to any and all who are fans of films in this genre as it can only be described as tops in the genre. {ssintrepid}

Special Features:

-Feature Length Audio Commentary by Director Gregory Hoblit, Screenwriter Nicholas Kazan and Producer Charles Roven
-Production Notes
-Cast & Crew bios
-Theatrical Trailer