Rise of the Gargoyles (2009)

The Age of Commercialism

Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Stuck with writer's block, an American architect in Paris falls victim to a series of incidents around the city that is eventually realized to be a loosened gargoyle resurrected and running loose in the city forcing him and a reporter to find a way of stopping the creature's rampage.This one was quite an enjoyable and entertaining creature feature. One of the strongest parts here is the fact that there's a lot of fun to be had with the creatures' history-based backstory which is quite well-detailed. Taking full advantage of the strong connections possible with the city's deep connection to these creatures as well as the information given out during the visits to these locations there's some nice work here of this one utilizing the strong history of gargoyles in French culture. Likewise, there's a great connection with the creature here and the absolutely chilling locations found here as the main church where the action takes place is just as good with the crazy architecture coming along to give this a fine Gothic features that are highly chilling alongside the statues and depictions of other historical events that are placed around the catacombs later on which all gives this one a lot to like. That also leads into the strong action scenes which are quite fun and manage to include the usual standard Sci-Fi Channel series of attacks that range from the short, quick attacks as in the opening down in the basement, the different attacks on the lone individuals out on the city streets and the great encounter at the hotel where the chilling run-ins with the stone gargoyles before leading into the actual encounter here all being quite nice examples. In conjunction with the other rather fun longer attacks featured as a part of this as the opening attacks in the church basement, his colleagues encounter with the creature in her apartment where the creature chases her onto the rooftop for a great sequence as well as the great sequence at the TV station where they come face-to-face with it for the first time is quite the overall fun time here. As well, the finale in the catacombs makes for a gloriously fun sequence where they do battle against the creature leading to the numerous situations in the underground as well as up in the main section of the church for a blazing, high-action finale. Along with the great design and some bloody kills, there's a lot to really like here. It does have a few minor flaws here, namely in the fact that there's no real need for the film to go for the doubting authority to the degree it is in here, which really stretches disbelief in the way he sticks to the guilty reasoning despite the evidence about the claw showing that something inhuman is in the city limits which makes the insistence a little questionable so late into the film. As well, there's the traditional flaw present in these films with some really lousy effects for the title creature, for its design is cool but shoddily rendered in the usual Sci-Fi Channel style of flaws. These here are all that's really wrong here.Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Language.

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Delving back into the Sci-fi Channel's man eater series I found RISE OF THE GARGOYLES, an okay monster movie featuring above average acting and a reasonable storyline, my standards were considerably low because this film was directed by Bill Corcoran who also directed another man eater film called VIPERS and believe me if you've seen VIPERS, I won't blame you if you're hesitant about seeing this film.Fortunatly, this film is a whole lot better than VIPERS, its also not something I would tell the world about but at least its nowhere near as bad as VIPERS, the acting in this film is actually pretty good considering the material and the storyline is done well enough for the film to be entertaining.The CG effects are tough to judge because during the film the monster is barely seen and when it is seen, you never get a close up look at the monster its always shown from a distance, the one thing you can tell when you eventually see it, is that it is done with CGI.Overall, RISE OF THE GARGOYLES isn't something I would go out of my way to recommend but if there's nothing else to watch, then I recommend it

Cool CGI with this film since it's shot on video. The gargoyle grows a stone skin during daylight as camouflage and is affected by UV or simulated sunlight lamps. This makes it freeze in place but only if sunlight hits it. Otherwise, it reverts back in darkness. This turning to stone motif is exactly like Disney's Gargoyles cartoon (except Disney's stayed stone all day). This creature actually flies and bullets just nick the skin! Also Eric Balfour reminds me of David Naughton in "An American Werewolf in London". A pretty decent film shot entirely in Paris. This beast is vicious and shows no mercy with moves like a flyby decapitation. I like the underground tunnels and rooms of the egg nest (it's a female) and that they are ..."older than Rome".