Prophecy
This 1995 release certainly tackles an interesting subject for us theologians: What if the angels in Heaven waged war on God due to jealousy over being passed over in favor of humans for the lionâs share of His love? Certainly writer / director Gregory Widen (of Highlander fame) takes off on this religious fiction in a much more respectful way than the utter blasphemy that was The Da Vinci Code, and brings much of it together with an obvious passion that shows in the storytelling, execution, and acting. Christopher Walken stars as the Archangel Gabriel, leader of this rebellion, who has figured out the only possible way to win, which is to find the soul of the most evil human being in the world, which happens to be an American Colonel known for his ruthless methods and atrocities including cannibalism, and bring him to Heaven to lead the fight to open things up and ultimately destroy the human race. Walken, he of the otherworldly acting style, would seem to be the perfect choice for the part, and he is, outside from his occasional penchant for the dry humor which can be known to mar (or enhance) many of his performances, especially when compared to the disciplined, perfectly nuanced turns by the other two stars playing angels, Eric Stoltz as Simon and Viggo Mortensen as the one and only Lucifer. Both of them play their roles to the hilt, and more importantly play them SERIOUSLY, and Viggo in particular brings tremendous charisma and presence to the part, so much so that he makes a pretty great impact with limited screen time. Walkenâs humor is most evident in the scenes with his âliving deadâ servants played by Adam Goldberg and (all too briefly) Amanda Plummer, humans who were on the verge of death but whom he keeps alive to do his bidding. Regardless, the mannerisms, the gestures are all spot on, and Walken as always keeps the viewer watching. Also doing well are Elias Koteas as the former priest turned cop who gets caught up in the mess and Virginia Madsen as the schoolteacher in the small town where the angels converge for their big showdown, plus there is young actress Moriah Shining Dove Snyder as the little girl targeted by Walken because Stoltz has placed the evil military manâs soul inside her, and she does a good job as well, especially when she starts to talk about the joys of killing the enemy and strategic locations to indicate that she has a dead soldier inside her. Widen succeeds in setting a tone for his story from the beginning, never turning it boring or campy in terms of the music and cinematography, and should only be called out for a couple of plot holes in the narrative, namely the way Walken has the power to simply go âShh!â and render someone unconscious (as he does to some minor characters), but seems to forget that he has this power during the climax with the heroes which would have saved him a LOT of trouble. Speaking of that climax, it does feature some rather brilliant irony in and of itself, as Viggoâs devil is forced to be the hero against Walkenâs Gabriel, and in doing so tries to convince the heroes that his way is THE way (and fails), so this allows the story to wrap up with quite a bit of a powerful impact. Overall, a worthy religious horror movie with a top-notch cast that never descends into being offensive for anyone with Christian beliefs themselvesâŚ
8/10