The Prophecy (1995)

Why so much hype?

So much average

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

I enjoyed this. While it is about Heaven, Hell, angels and souls, this really doesn't push the viewer to choose a theological position about the subject. However, I am a Christian, therefore I am going to give my opinion from that standing.I loved the idea that angels could be jealous of how much God loves us. The idea that this jealousy could cause friction between the souls of mankind and angels really does have the potential to be scary. We know God loves us and that the angels are the Lord's servants but Lucifer became so jealous of God that he, God's most beloved angel, ended up being cast out of Heaven. We know that angels have the ability to harbor that sort of emotion so, what if those feeling were directed towards us. It really is a great concept. This is a movie that I would suggest to a friend. If you don't have a position about faith, don't let that stop you from checking this out. You can simply watch it for what it is and still find that it is a good movie.

Wow, well, you really know a Widen movie when you see one. He's one of those writers that come up with something unique each time he brings a script to the screen...he's also one of those writers that you just have to assume is on powerful hallucinogenic drugs.Walken, of course, gets top billing, and he did do a very good job, who doesn't love it when he's a villein? He is always delightfully creepy and, in The Prophecy he balances that creepiness with a healthy does of humor. It makes him a lovable character, but then he does have a great sense of humor and one of the best deadpan deliveries in modern Hollywood.Still...Elias Koteas. I don't think he means to do it, but he always takes center stage in whatever he does and The Prophecy is no different. The man just brings his A-game to every movie, every bit part he has ever played. And like his turn in Fallen, the one thing that lingers in your memory when the movie is over, is the Koteas performance. As usual he wields raw acting power with ease.Stolz, as always, plays Eric Stoltz, but in this movie it works perfectly. He is the angel just following orders, and one that positively stinks of 90s era cool. You know from the first time you see him on screen that he was the perfect casting choice for Simon.What makes it better is Adam Goldberg, the man that is always cast in the same sort of roles. That is the slightly dorky Jew. He's really the same character he was in Saving Private Ryan, only far more pathetic. But he also provides the comic relief as a walking, decaying, reanimated corpse forced back to life to be Walken's unwilling and lippy servant. The movie needed elements of relief to keep it grounded enough to appeal to the none Biblically inclined and Goldberg, well, he does his job and makes you laugh.What you have here is a small film with a small budget and a great cast and it works. It works better than anyone can imagine, partially because the surreal quality of the script needed a small budget to keep it believable, and partially because the production quality forced everyone to relay on a very well written story and weigh it all on a cast that could turn it into something memorable.The result is a film that is endlessly watchable

The Prophecy is the epitome of the dimension films 90's craze of wicked horror fantasy crossovers. The pure spooky atmosphere and delicious lead performance on display here is enough to forgive the film it's setbacks, of which it has a few. It doesn't fully explain or flesh out its mythology, and gets a bit hazy. But it compensates with a vividly drawn tale of the heavens and the underworld at war on earth, in an ambient style punctuated by eccentric character beats and an overall tone of a well spun campfire tale. Christopher Walken is scary intense as the Angel Gabriel, tossed out of heaven and deposited on earth like a castaway, forced to dwell among us monkeys and meat suits. He has a vague plan (like I said, the writing could have harnessed the plot together a bit more) to find the most evil soul in human history, implant it in the body of a specific child, and incite another unholy war between angels and demons to rock the universe to its foundations. A big city cop (Elias Koteas) catches wind of the otherworldy plot and pursues. He's led to a backwater New Mexico town that Gabriel has turned his attention too. It's a muddy, convoluted yarn, but don't get me wrong, I freakin love it. Walken seems to Emory the weirdness and wild, 'scream at the stars' anger of the jaded cherub perfectly, giving him a heart of evil obsidian glass and a mind to carry out his plan no matter how many races he has to decimate to do so. Virginia Madsen fills the female lead nicely, and there's supporting work from Amanda Plummer, Glenn Danzyg, Eric Stoltz, and a brief but wickedly memorable turn from Viggo Mortensen, playing Lucifer. He owns his cameo with repulsive, terrifying gusto. It's not a perfect film, but in the long run of similar outings (Legion, Constantine etc.) it's one of the best. The alluring air of mystery and fantastical elements always get me. As for the sequels, the first two are cool because they still have Walken... but avoid the last two, they're awful.

The angel Gabriel (Christopher Walken) comes to Earth to collect a soul which will end the stalemated war in Heaven, and only a former priest and a little girl can stop him.It can be challenging to make a good religious horror film. Especially when you are trying to create a new mythology without destroying the classic or traditional views. This film is among the best in the genre, and it is no surprise it received multiple sequels. The idea of an ongoing angel war, backed up by a holy book? Clever.Of course, you also get some good actors involved and that helps. Walken is among the best (or at least he was), and Elias Koteas is vastly underrated. He is not a household name but should be.