The Prophecy

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.

Did you friends tell you how great this movie is? And you wondered what they'd been smoking? Well, give it a chance and watch it for yourself--it's brilliant.

The casting is what really *makes* this movie. Christopher Walken is just the correct amount "over the top" to make Gabriel larger-than-life, as he must be, and not just a human villain. Eric Stoltz is tragic as his counterpart Simon, who has remained loyal to his god through the two wars in heaven, and now has only his duty to sustain him. Elias Koteas brings real feeling to a role that could have been cookie-cutter--the once-almost-priest who now must save the world from evil. And Viggo Mortensen, in his brief on-screen time as Lucifer, is absolutely electrifying in showing that the dark angel is indeed the most beautiful of all.

THE PROPHECY is great schlock, elevated by a wonderful Christopher Walken as the archangel Gabriel. Elias Koteas (who I mainly know as Casey Jones in the firts and third Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies, so THAT was weird) plays a detective with a religious background who gets mixed up in a second war in heaven. To be honest, the storytelling is a bit messy, but the whole thing is so gloriously entertaining that I cannot help but recommend it, mainly for Walken. His archangel villain is crazy powerful and shrewd, but he also cannot drive a car or find good help from the lost souls he recruits as minions.

I just watched the Harbinger, which has its own unique mythological storytelling in its own right, and was discussing how I've never seen a native American element employed in a Devil movie before. And they said watch the prophecy.

Both movies are great, but this one obviously has a much higher budget. I love Christopher Walken and Viggo Mortensen.

I thought the concept of the war between the Angels and trying to gain a soul was interesting. I can see in both movies how if you don't have the great acting the overall concept could go south real quick.

With guys like Walken and Mortensen the acting definitely brings the entire movie up. Fun watch!

Religion has always been a clouded issue to me. There is absolutely no evidence that there is a God or an afterlife. But that hasn't stopped me ( and billions of people ) from believing in something. And I have always been taught that if there is good, then there is also the bad. If there is a heaven, there has to be a hell. The Prophecy tells us that there is, but it is not necessarily that cut and dried. The ruler of hell in this film is more like a character in a Martin Scorsese film. He is evil ( he has to be, he is Lucifer ) but he is not necessarily here to make God's life miserable. He is not necessarily good, but he is in a self serving kind of way.

The Prophecy is a very confusing and convoluted but brilliant film. The story ( bear with me here, it's been a while since I've seen this film ) is about a war between angels. Some angels became jealous when God decided he loved humans more than them. They become bitter and decide to start a war in heaven with the angels that are loyal to God. Their theory is that if the angels that oppose them are gone, they can take over certain things and hopefully get God's love back. To do this, they must steal the soul of the most heinous person that ever lived. We meet Gabriel, the lead angel in this crusade, and played by Christopher Walken, he is one of the most entertaining characters I have ever seen in the history of film. He has a sense of humour, he is vicious and he uses humans as slaves to do his dirty work. He catches them just before they are about to die and uses them with the promise that he will kill them once their job is finished. Here we meet Jerry, as his human monkey,and the only reason I mention this is because it is one of Adam Goldberg's early roles. He was Upham in Saving Private Ryan and watching this you could tell he had talent and that he would go places. He is fantastic in this film.

Elias Koteas plays Thomas, the only one who may have an insight into what is going on. He was a former priest who understands how religion is playing a part in all of this.

Eric Stoltz plays Simon, one of the good angels that is trying to save the world from Gabriel and he is very affective here as well.

But the star of this film is absolutely Walken. He is perfect as Gabriel. He has a sense of humour and he is evil at the same time. And in some ways you are rooting for him to win. That is until the very end when Satan shows up, because he steals every scene he is in as well.

Satan is played with wicked slickness by Viggo Mortensen. When he speaks he almost slithers and creeps his words onto the screen. He makes a dark scene darker and he keeps you glued to the screen. And his role in this film is one that epitomizes convolution. He is awesome.

This film is one that should not be missed. If you don't understand everything about it the first time, watch it again and again. You'll learn something new every time. And you'll enjoy it more and more. This is one hell of a film!!