Anjos Rebeldes

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!

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.

I have watched this film several times and have enjoyed it every time. Christopher Walken is excellent as Gabriel, as he has a presence on screen that just cannot be beaten. The theological side of the story is much more interesting than angels being fluffy creatures most people believe in, and are closer to the angels described in older scripts and texts. You can enjoy this film without being pulled in by beliefs and religion so don't be frightened of it, enjoy the film and another sterling performance by Walken.

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!!