Gabriel

Aussie self-consciousness, whether it figures in support of this film or against it, ain't relevant. Gabriel is a great existential-goth-action piece about archangels and their nemeses warring in human form and grappling with their newfound human frailties. For budgetary reasons the film favours the goth and the existential elements over the action one, and it's definitely all the better for it, because what it ultimately develops which is sorely lacking from a lot of films whose stylings it's adopted (the Underworlds, the Crows, etc.) is a ton of genuine involvement. The unknown actors give universally fine performances, and in the case of bad guy Sammael (Dwaine Stevenson) a deeply charismatic and disturbing one.

I was a bit worried by the wordlessness and flat grey look of the earliest scenes, but as soon as we hit the first dialogue two-hander, I got pulled into the characters' situation. Also, the film never looks as grey again as it does right at the start, even if the digital video footage doesn't give much depth of field in this dark world.

The fights are spaced out, but they're very cool. The choreography is of The Matrix almost ESP-martial arts kind, yet filmed in nice clear wide shots with minimal editing (or editing that's well-disguised by passing obstacles) so you can see what's going on. Sometimes it's guns, sometimes hand-to-hand, sometimes both, with bullet time, slow-mo, folks zipping around bullets, all the nifty stuff that's been developed in this genre. There's also an exciting shootout in strobing darkness that reminded me of Equilibrium's gun cabal scenes.

The film Gabriel reminds me of most strongly, however, isn't something super recent. It's Blade Runner. In that film, replicant robots unsure of their identity and nascent emotions variously went into hiding, went insane or fought for their survival in a world that wasn't really theirs when push came to shove. Replace 'robots' with 'angels' and you've got the basic premise of Gabriel. The angels are sent to purgatory to get in amongst the humans and steer them in the right direction, or in the case of bad guys The Fallen, keep them corrupt. But to adopt the mortal form is to become vulnerable to human weakness, and that's what Gabriel has to struggle with as he tries to rally his angel pals who've failed before him for one last battle.

Freakin' good film!

I was quite afraid of quality of the movie before watching it. But, it is definitely not another B class horror/Gothic/cheesy movie.It has a decent story, interesting characters, just enough tweaks to keep everything in place. I should also add the action scenes are quite well done; couple of them are quite remarkable, and no overkill.

You'll find some resemblances with Dark City, Donnie Darko and Blade Runner.

Yes, the scenario is about the history old war between pure good and total bad. But, that war would never loose its popularity and this movie is a good addition to the list.

I had my doubts about this film when I first saw the trailer - to me it looked like a ripoff of the Nightwatch premise. However, when I saw it I learned that the story itself was very different. Oh sure, it has a Jesus-like story arc much like the Matrix and a good vs bad that pretty much every fantasy film has.

What I liked about this one was that the story didn't follow the usual formulaic storyline that you can almost time down to the minute. At first I wasn't sure where the story was headed, but as it unfolded I became drawn into it. I enjoyed the story, and it's exploration of the concept of freedom. I found it to be a story of great substance, and bears watching a second time in order to fully appreciate it, much like films such as Donnie Darko.

I liked that the cast was filled with people I didn't know, it gave it a freshness and allowed one to view it without the context of the actors cluttering the story. I liked the gritty visuals and sound - it pulled this off without the need to provide motion-sick tablets with your ticket, unlike movies like the Bourne Ultimatum which took wobbly camera shots a bit too far. It is a look typical of many Australian films, such as Wolf Creek, but the comic-book look of the film gives it a sense of fantasy which suits the story perfectly.

One thing I particularly liked was the way the fight scenes were realised - a fresh approach to supernatural battles which, I think, works well.

I found the effects a little over-done at times, and some of the visuals could have used a bit more polish, but considering the film's budget (or lack thereof), I think it's very impressive.

Sure, it's no Hollywood blockbuster, but that's kind of the point.

First of, don't expect a blockbuster like UNDERWORLD. This movie was shot with a budget of Au$ 200,000, that's Australian, by a guy who never wrote or made a movie before. Consider all these when you watch the movie and you might forgive its short comings.

Sure a lot of idiots complain that there are better movies with lower budget, yes, well ask how many of them are effects driven action movies with such a large scope like GABRIEL. Clerks !?... um no.

Frankly, Gabriel is a the indie action film. These being said, the movie moves at a pretty typical style and pace until the ending when it really pays off. The fights are quite cleverly choreographed and the editing is pretty tight. Its the dialogs that needed improvement and the story needed to explain itself a more. Half the time you'll be left wondering the rules of the world.

In the end, watch it for yourself and discover. As an independent effects driven action film with a style of SIN CITY, it is definitely the 1st.

It's hard to make up my mind about this film. I didn't particularly like the writing or most of the acting, but I really like the look of the film (reminiscent of Sin City in a lot of ways) and some of the camera work was great. It's not a film I really enjoyed to watch, though. I can't put my finger on it, something just didn't make me want to keep watching, so I spent half the film thinking "Should I turn it off now? Now?" And when it hit the love scene I just felt sick. "They *didn't* do that, did they? Oh God, they did." However in spite of myself, I watched to the end. There were some good performances, some really bad ones, and more than a few mediocre. I really think Noble belongs in Home and Away. She had a real "Tammin" vibe and (at the risk of sounding really harsh), it just irritated me every time I saw her. I feel like if this film had gotten better funding and some better actors, it would have been amazing. As it stands, I think the art department and overall look of the film saved it from being plain bad. I'm sorry because I can tell what the film *could* have been, but it missed the mark. Maybe I can hope the sequel is better?