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The Prophecy

The Prophecy

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Christopher Walken is amazing!
Review: If you are into films, that make you want to run back to your room and read your bible just to see how close the story line is, than this film is for you. From Angels to "Monkeys"?, this is a killer start to the trilogy.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: AWSOME FILM!!!!!!!
Review: Walken is incredible in the movie but what really makes this movie great is the storey and Characters. The Angels and demons are just so convincing. It's amaing. The Devil is played by Viggo Mortensen and there is also Eric Stoltz in one of his finest Roles. In fact every actor in this film is perhaps in at there best in this movie.

I cannot fully explain how COMPLETELY AWSOME THIS MOVIE IS!!!!!!!!

SO JUST BUY IT OR RENT IT, BUT SEE THIS MOVIE!!!!!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of the best Walken Performances Ever
Review: I collect Walken films (there are over 200), and this is the movie that started it all for me. The prophecy brings together all the elements that Christopher Walken is famous for: lizard looks from space, the original rambling frightening dialogue replete with facial twitches and gestures frequently displayed by the criminally psychotic, and fluid performances that are spellbinding in intensity.

Walken's memorable character is Gabriel, the sometimes brutal angel portrayed as the heavy for some of the bloodier scenes from the old testament. As a result of some his nastier accomplishments (slaughtering all the first born male babies in Egypt for example) Gabriel has gone a bit daft in trying to contemplate the reason for it all. He draws the conclusion that it all is because God is fascinated with man, and does not like him anymore. He states that the ultimate evidence of this is that God no longer talks to him, and has not for ages. So, to regain God's attention, Gabriel declares war on man in a fit of jealousy that dwarfs all his prior acts by far, because it is All Man's Fault.

Gabriel gathers together his "mob" of recalcitrant angels and wreaks havoc on earth. He refuses to allow the souls of men to go to heaven, or hell, which draws the attention of Satan, who really thought the whole war was silly to begin with, but wants his due. Added to this apocalyptic mix is an opposing faction of angels who are convinced that Gabriel must be stopped because God's will, regardless of whether anyone agrees with it or not, must be obeyed.

Caught in the midst of Gabriel's war are men, who are helpless in the face of his divine fury and the victims of Gabriel's acid sense of humor and malevolent plots to destroy mankind. Walken shines as the preening, murderous, insane Gabriel who refers to people as "monkeys" and "filthy bags of flesh" that must be the result of God's affections gone horribly wrong.

This is the second time the actor was cast as a supernatural being. The first time Walken appeared on screen as an "angel" or spirit was in Madonna's "Bad Girl" video in 1992 (this is currently available on DVD as part of the Madonna - Video Collection 1993-99 ) . The Prophecy dates from 1995, and has thus far spawned three surprisingly good sequels depicting the evolution of the war, Gabriel's angelic fate, and man's participation in the ultimate fulfillment of the Prophecy.

According to the actor, Gabriel to date, is his favorite all-time role. No small statement considering the impressive catalog of movies Walken has appeared in.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Quirky and deliciously mean
Review: I was predisposed to like "The Prophecy" thanks to a kink for angels which I developed some years ago. The current obsession with sugar-spun angels makes me gag and I'd just about given up on them as messengers of the worst God has to offer mankind - in the context of the bible, at least, the appearance of an angel is, about 99% of the time, reason to hide under the bed until the screaming stops - until I saw this film. My faith has been renewed. In this film, they're horrible creatures but gloriously arrogant and beautiful. Even the ones who are on God's side don't like us very much

Christopher Walken, looking as pared-down as I've ever seen him look, gives a quirky performance as usual, as Gabriel, the angel of death who "smashes in the heads of babies while their mamas watch." This isn't a guy you want perching on your hospital bed or talking to your kids, because no matter what the message, it's not going to make you happy. And yet, Walken conveys a lot of humor in Gabriel who is seen letting school children try to blow his trumpet. One child succeeds in coaxing a note out of it and the windows of the school explode in a very funny reference to Gabriel's horn sounding the notes that herald the Apocalypse. By the end of the film, when Thomas (nice touch, that name, linking this failed priest to Thomas the Doubter.) says to Gabriel "Why didn't you just ASK God?" and Gabriel replies, "He doesn't talk to me any more." I wanted to weep for him.

Stoltz...well he's never been a favorite of mine, but he was good here; not nearly as low-key and passive as usual. His turn as the angel Simon (I thought I heard him called "Samael" once, a name which makes more sense in context.) was done with just the right amount of off-hand humor to make him a good foil for Walken. Despite his position as upholder of God's will, Simon is not a nice guy, and you get the feeling that if there had been no reason to care about humans, Simon would have disposed of them as cheerfully as Gabriel does.

Elias Koteas as Thomas and Virginia Madsen as Katherine, do well as always, but seem hampered by dialogue which occasionally thuds. The angels have all the best lines, the angels and the little girl, Mary, who does a good job with a thankless role. Amanda Plummer is given almost nothing to do as a dying...well, to be honest, a dead woman who is hijacked along the way to drive Gabriel around the Southwest in search of the soul he needs. Ms. Plummer is usually so cheerfully over-the-top that this role seemed like a sad waste of her peculiar talents. I can't help but wonder if there isn't a lot more of this film lying around someplace.

The real star turn, though, is by Viggo Mortensen as Satan - an angel both blindingly unpleasant and ravishingly seductive - once beloved above all else in Heaven. Boy, does it show. His Satan is a spoiled brat: vindictive, jealous and rude. He has no compunctions about invading personal space and wrapping himself, snakelike, around whoever he's talking to. He's unrelenting in his search for souls, and even at the end, he's not content simply to take his victory and go home.

The plot is a little thin; I have a hard time believing that the soul they were searching for was the most evil soul on earth, though there is some indication that the intention was to present the man as an incarnation of a Sin-Eater. In effect, Heywood has absorbed all the evil of his victims who in their turn absorbed all the evil of their victims and so forth.

The writing is often cumbersome and fairly shouts "B MOVIE, B MOVIE!" in spots. But I rather liked the effects; they were quirky and surprisingly low-key. There isn't much gore, yet you remember the violence because it strikes at some internal chord. The audience isn't dazzled by great light and magic shows, but it is treated to some fairly memorable images such as Satan dissolving into a flock of ravens, or a cave wall covered with angelic script which, when touched, produces something like a video of the war in heaven. Complete with a field littered with dead and dying angels and some impaled on spikes it is an echo of Heywood's war crimes in Korea. In fact, the effects are generally more painterly than cinematic, and the vast, strange landscapes are often right out of paintings by Gustave Doré, or reminiscent of Goya's works.

This is what I call a "face movie." It presents us with a lot of strange and wonderful faces, not just the usual in bland, Hollywood prettiness. They're part of the landscape, too, they give the film richness and depth that it might not have had with more conventional casting. Flawed but interesting. Worth your time.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A grand idea wasted
Review: The basic premise of this movie is an extremely interesting one. Everyone who knows at least the essentials about God and the Devil in the Christian tradition will remember that a war arose in Heaven, precipitated by Lucifer's haughtiness and pride, and that it ended with the Son of Dawn being ousted from Heaven along with his legions of rebel Angels. This marred the state of the universe somewhat considering that as a result there henceforth was the Devil, Hell with its dark princes, and legions of demons to beset mankind in its existence, but at least it left believers with the hope of a Heaven unified in God's grace. While these events are not directly featured in the movie, it proposes the notion that if there could be strife among God's Angels once, it might well have happened again, and that the implications of the renewed--or continued--war in Heaven are of the gravest possible nature for mortal man. This is indeed a grandiose and immensely fascinating yarn, and I think you don't have to be a Christian (devout or otherwise) to appreciate the idea of such high metaphysical drama. Alas, it is all wasted. I don't wish to give away too much more of the plot for the benefit of those who would like to see for themselves what this movie is all about, but suffice it to say that the ambitious idea is squandered in petty--albeit quite graphically violent--skirmishes over a rather bizarre pursuit (which, as it is, refuses to entirely make sense to me) on the part of the celestial players. The story works well with the (to the extent of my knowledge very biblical) notion that an Angel might very well be a truly terrifying creature to encounter, but that's about it for the inspiration of holy awe. The final confrontation between the human protagonist and the heavenly antagonist (yes, indeed) is essentially a ridiculous brawl.

Two things, however, are truly delightful about this movie: the performances of Eric Stoltz, who plays his angelical part with a cool, subdued elegance that at the same time conveys immense warmth (how does he do it?), and that of Christopher Walken, who is given a dreamboat of a character for him to fully play out his capacity for the delectably perverse. If you like any or both of these actors for their particular strengths, the weaknesses of the plot will probably be outweighed for you by their performances--at least for one or two viewings. Two of the stars I think this movie deserves go to them.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Walken Makes A Good Angel
Review: With Christopher Walken in this film, I had to see it. I was pleasantly surprised by it too. Walken plays the Angel Gabriel bent on eradicating the human race. Eric Stoltz portrays the Angel Simon and Elias Koteas plays a seminary student turned cop, both out to stop Gabriel. Gabriel's plan is to acquire the soul of the most evil man on earth, and use it to eradicate the human race, allowing God to love angels above all others. The devil drops in for fun at one point too. The Prophecy is written and directed by the gent that wrote The Highlander, so you know that the story will keep you interested. All in all this is a good film, not the best, but Walken fans won't be disappointed. He acts in his typical fashion, and delights his fans in doing so.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Positively Angelic
Review: Of course, the movie turns the conventional wisdom on its head, since Angels are God's goon squad.

Need a few babies killed to make a point? Send in the Angels. Need a pair of cities razed, and a wife turned into a pillar of salt? The Angels can take care of that.

Not people you'd ever really like to meet, are they. Sure, there is the occasional nice angel, who still follows the will of God. Of course, he drops the soul of one of the most evil men around in a 10 year old to hide it. But he's nice. Honest.

Then there's Gabriel (Christopher Walken). He's on the naughty list.

Recovering souls for a war against God, that's angel work. But he always has to keep a trained monkey around for monkey work. Driving, digging up graves, that sort of thing.

And, somehow, God loves the monkeys more. It's enough to make you rebel.

While it's certainly not conventional theology, it does raise some interesting questions about the sorts of things you really don't think about.

I admit, some of it is fairly chilling. Gabriel bringing people back from Death, preventing them from meeting their Maker because he won't drive. That's cold.

But Horror? I wasn't that horrified. I just watched it and said, "Hmm."

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: the horror
Review: I should've known from the first unintelligible voice-over and the quick cutaway to some feathered figure that this was to be a mind-numbing waste of time, but no, no , I had to keep watching since Walken was in it. Look, buy it your even rent it at your own peril: there are episodes of Gomer Pyle, USMC with more coherent editing, narrative integrity, horror, and theological depth. What the hell was Walken thinking?

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A great contemporary fantasy
Review: From the creator and director of the original Highlander movie comes the start to what has become a well-formed trilogy of films. A war of angels, apocryphal texts and a menacing Christopher Walken make this worth a look.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A fairly amusing horror movie!
Review: Walkens twist on being an Angel is so much better then Travolta in Michael. This angel is fun and mischevous. In fact..I found my myself routing for the bad guys..ehhh...the arch angels. The role of satan is a bit corny and to dress satan in black was a bit to obvious. Sometimes, the plot is a bit confusing and Walken does not get enough screen time.


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