The Prophecy 3: The Ascent (2000)

Wonderful Movie

Overrated

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The Prophecy rocked, the second was unexpectedly good.So what's wrong with The Prophecy 3: The Ascent? Well nothing really, but there is so little new stuff that it comes across as a pale facsimile of the first two films. At least the filmmakers seemed to realise this and didn't try to stretch it our unnecessarily by putting in pointless subplots and scenes, this is a pretty merciful 80 minutes.Get in. Tell story. Get out.At the close of the second film Valerie was "Knocked up by an Angel", which sounds like the logical follow up to the old "Touched by an Angel" TV show, but apparently is unrelated.She is toasted – literally – in the first scene here, but apparently her young child named Danyael survived, although the second scene throws that on thought its ear as he is gunned down in cold blood while attempting a backroom "sermon" of sorts denouncing God as a deadbeat dad.As always the plot has Character A needing to get to Point B while Character C, Gabriel in the first two films, and "evil" angel named Zophael here tries to stop him, usually by a technique known as death. It worked for the first two but seems a little tired here.Walken is back as Gabriel once more, along with the morgue attendant as the only familiar faces, though now Gabriel is human and homeless. He can drive but he can't get a job apparently, he spends the bulk of the week saving for hookers so he can find momentary release. Gabriel pops up from now and then to give unsolicited advice, but in reality he is only here because Walken agreed to show up once more, the same film could be made without him and you wouldn't notice.Once Zophael shows to take Danyael's heart the movie kicks into the same old formula. Danyael "rises" from the dead, stronger and better than ever, with a new sixth sense style warning system that seems to twig when he is in imminent danger. Now that he is reborn he is basically ½ Angel, and apparently is therefore the only guy that can stop something quite dramatic from happening due to the continuing Angelic War.So off they go to stop Pyriel from basically supplanting God and creating Hell on Earth… Apparently.Zophael takes Danyael's girlfriend Maggie as both chauffeur and aide, Danyael heads off to a distant spot apparently being lead by some sort of internal holy GPS, and Mary from the first film returns for a (very brief ~ 30 second) cameo.There is some pompous sounding talk from those currently or once Angelic, some disbelieving from the humans despite what they continually witness and some serious sounding theological discussion that makes these films either more or less watchable, depending on your viewpoint. Put another way, if you like the first and second films you'll think this a 7.5 / 10.I've seen all 3 (+2 more still to come) and if I separate me from my love of the first film and respect for the 2nd, I can impartially say this is a 6.5 / 10 when viewed in isolation. OK, but merely OK.Final Rating – 6.5 / 10. It still holds true to the tone that made the first film a minor classic, it just has nothing new to say.

I am very excited about the accuracy of prophecies. How human nature brings about the logic of man and his kingdom. In today's world the motives of men to establish a just and good society can not be overlooked with actions of terrorist who would call themselves patriots or the angels of their societies.The mirror images of the Twin Towers and the Brazilian government make for a testament to what man can build and destroy. To harness Gods force of nature and direct it must be awesome. As this film projects even the worst of mans fears invites heavens guardians to help guide them.Christopher Walken plays this role very well, although I appreciated him more in the original prophecy. I think the passion that he used in the movie The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is what most might expect of a dark angel. But as Robert DeNiro portrayed in Johnny Angel the power of wisdom by Gods hand is the moving force. Thus, I am equally satisfied with how Walken plays this dark guardian of heavens gate.

The Third film in 'The Prophecy' series sees Danyael Rossales as a grown up adolescent, seemingly unaware of his origin as a human-angel hybrid. This film has several great things about, but it also isn't without the inevitable flaws. One of them being bad acting on the part of of the character Maggie, played by Kayren Butler. I can see the reason for the character existing, someone for Danyael to play off, an ally and friend to our main character, but it just seems that the majority (if not all) of the bad lines that bring the movie down come from her, she fails to make the movie believable from the point of her character. But the good points far outweigh the above criticism, the best thing being the return of the now former angel Gabriel, played in his new humble and friendly human form to absolute magnificence by Christopher Walken. Him taking human form seems to have given him an appreciation for our kind, which he so hated in the previous two films, he finally gets what being an angel is about. "Any angel, however powerful, can ever be anything but the messenger", his re finding of faith and understanding is a full circle of his character, as is the entire film. The Film 'full circles' the entire trilogy, having the final climax back to the familiar surroundings of the first film. Vincent Spano plays the rebel angel Zophael quite well, and has great presence and a powerful character throughout. Scott Cleverdon is convincingly evil in an arrogant way, as Pyriel the angel of genocide, and provides the final confrontation in which this movie, and indeed the trilogy needed.

The Prophecy series is one of few movies that I truly enjoy watching. Usually movies that have clever or unforgettable dialogues always sticks with me. However, if you have an actor that is Walken, who can deliver those dialogues that can range from a shriek to a menacing whisper, you have a movie thats memorable and always sends a shiver of anticipation down your spine. Anyhoo, anybody know the title of the music that was playing on the radio when Gabriel (Walken) decided to accompany it with his trumpet? One of the high points of Prophecy 3, imho.