God's Army - Die letzte Schlacht

Filmmaker Gregory Widen learned a little, I think, from his previous outing with Highlander: it's not enough to get Sean Connery and have ridiculous immortals and beheadings. You need some fresh ideas that can live past their shelf life of the 1980s without going into complete repetitive mode. With the Prophecy he has a sturdy script chronicling the lapse of faith with an ex-priest played by Elias Koetas and how he comes into the investigation of a series of crimes involving burnt up dead people and lots of signs pointing to a prophecy of thins involving the word "dark".

On the side of themes, things are fine. But he knew that his script needed some uplift and, as with Highlander, needed a star to carry it over past the genre fans. Christopher Walken was his key, and it's one of his true-blue "Walken-iest" performances. He's playing a supernatural creature of the underworld in the guise of himself, so he knows it's time to go to town, and he does. I can imagine Widen smiling to himself as he wrote such lines as "Study your Math, kids", wherein Walken could sink his teeth in and make it an awesome nutbar of a performance. He still brings the creepiness when he needs (in this case all he needs to do as Gabriel is to stare), but it's the superfluous sense of humor, a timing that might be deadpan if it weren't for the evil angle, and it works wonderfully.

The rest of the film is good, I should still say. This is one of those underrated 90s movies that has people who like it or don't, which is the way it goes sometimes (at the least, I would imagine, the first film has a better rep than the sequels, filling up a trilogy which is slightly inexplicable given the ending of this film). Actors like Virginia Madsen, Eric Stoltz, Adam Goldberg and Amanda Plummer take up very good space for what they need to do, but it's Viggo Mortensen who comes out on top as the most inspired casting after Walken. His scenes as Lucifer are tense but calm, if that makes sense, and he has that quality that one may have seen in De Niro in Angel Heart. He's so convincing as him that he makes his own a character that's been repeated countless times - and not just because of the "Mother's feces" line. He notches up the rank of a solid genre piece like the Prophecy into something of a kind of minor must-see - at least for those of us that will dig Mortensen in almost anything.

Strangely enough being an atheist I am fascinated by supernatural thrillers, especially of the apocalyptic or eschatological variety. 'The Prophecy' is one of the smartest and most effective of this small genre, helped by a first rate cast. Thomas Daggett, a priest turned cop (Elias Koteas - 'Crash', 'Exotica'), stumbles across the corpse of an angel and a Bible with an extra chapter to the Book of Revelation, which mentions a war in heaven. Soon enough he becomes involved in a fight between the angels Gabriel (Christopher Walken in one of his best roles) and Simon (an impressive Eric Stoltz) over an evil man's soul.

A fascinating, atmospheric movie packed with interesting ideas, scenes and performances. Writer/Director Gregory Widen (only previous work of note: 'The Highlander'!) really comes up with the goods in this one, which nods to both Milton and Garth Ennis while adding several original touches. Also co-stars Virginia Madsen ('Dune', 'The Hot Spot'), Amanda Plummer ('Butterfly Kiss', and Walken and Stoltz' co-star in 'Pulp Fiction'), and a small but memorable appearance by Viggo Mortensen ('The Indian Runner', 'American Yakuza') as Lucifer!

Good movie in a forgettable sort of way. Give an actor a role as a vampire, angel, or Satan and you will see what they are made of. The writing ranges from so-so to pretty good, the visuals are dark and amazingly compelling, but the acting from Christopher Walken alone is worth the watch. Eric Stoltz, Viggo Mortenson, Amanda Plummer, and Adam Goldberg also turned in great performances.

The highlight of the movie is a brief monologue from Walken, the king of monologues, about what it means being an angel.

This movie feels like a competent mashup of Supernatural and a procedural cop drama. This is the first time I recall seeing angels portrayed in such a way, human yet somewhat avian, detached, and not always very pleasant to deal with.

Invest the time, less than 90 minutes, and you'll enjoy be glad you did.

Movies based on religious themes often tend to bore me quite severely. But this movie somehow did the trick. I guess it was the fact that it picked the "right" pieces from religious context and added the rest as it saw fit.

There is a war in heaven between the angels. A stalemate has lasted for a long time and angels now come to earth to search for the soul that can end the stalemate and bring peace to heaven once again. Since the war began no souls have been let into either heaven or hell, so when the war ends these souls may finally find peace.

The story here is quite insane really. Christopher Walken and Eric Stoltz are both angels who come to earth to look for a soul. Gabriel hates the humans because they are now gods favorites, not the angels. And Christopher Walken is quite magnificent as the dissatisfied angel. And the big reason that this movie works is the acting which is good throughout. Something that is not exactly a given thing in a movie like this.

I guess this would by many people be called a b-movie. But i think the original plot and the acting lifts this quite a few notches. So watch this for something quite unique, but please stay away from the sequels that are not worth your trouble. I rate this 6/10.

.......and there rose a second war in heaven.

Gabriel is a rogue angel intent on capturing the black soul of a recently deceased war criminal general. Standing in his way is the good angel Simon, who hides the soul in a child, a couple of honest citizens, and Lucifer himself, who has his own vested interest in proceedings.

Largely ignored on release, and badly marketed as a horror film, The Prophecy, in this day and age of torture porn and slasher overkill, is crying out to be seen more by a jaded horror audience. For it be a film that has an interesting theological heart, that matches its daring and deeply provocative ideas. Here is a film that adds another chapter to the bible, the result being a battle for a soul on Earth that will have major repercussions for both heaven and hell. Gabriel (Christopher Walken) is even (poignantly some might say) using would-be-suicides as his unwilling helpers, their paths to peace blocked by Gabriel in his cunningly crafted intentions-yes this is pretty tight stuff indeed.

Flecked with the odd bit of humour (zip code wise cracks for heaven and hell), Gregory Widen's film perhaps is guilty of not fully realising end of the world promise. But this is a minor itch come the finale, because really the picture should be judged as one complete and intelligent whole. Cast wise you will search in vain for a weak link, because there simply isn't one. Walken is suitably gargoyle like, slick black hair and pasty faced, he induces fear whilst simultaneously charming the beejesus out of the humans, re: talking monkeys. Elias Koteas (a candidate for most undervalued actor of his generation), Virginia Madsen, Adam Goldberg (suicide Jerry), Amanda Plummer (suicide Rachael), Eric Stoltz (Simon) and Viggo Mortensen (Lucifer), all deliver top line performances to ensure the piece lives up to its billing as one of the best acted cult films from the 90s.

It had enough support to warrant a direct to video franchise, with mixed results following each subsequent sequel. But it's here where it matters, a fine film that deserves far better than the bad reputation it gets from those who expected a straight out horror film. I urge anyone who hasn't seen it to give it a go, open your mind and hope Gabriel doesn't come a wandering in. 8/10