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Came across this film in a video store sale bin at a giveaway price and bought it on the strength of the cast, Denzil Washington, John Goodman, Donald Sutherland and Embeth Davidtz. Found it to be surprisingly good. Not a horror film as such, no gore or unconvincing CGI effects but a gripping story with supernatural elements. There are subtle shivers, particularly the 'touching' scenes and the sense of something evil hidden behind the everyday. The setting is bleakly autumnal and it is finishes with a nice twist. If you watch the film again knowing the ending it makes more sense.

Of the acting, Goodman and Sutherland don't have much to play with but it is always good to see them in a film. Washington is very good as his normal cop character grapples with the mystery and Davidtz is excellent as the academic, scared and solitary and fallible. The scenes between Washington and Davidtz are well played. Tan Dun's music adds to the atmosphere. Well directed and well written. Well done.

This was actually a pretty clever supernatural thriller. When released it failed at the box office, but has deveolped a following since. It's quite fascinating, hardly ever boring, has a nice cast, and is pretty creepy. It probubly failed due to poor marketing, because if a piece of crapp like "Hollow Man"(2000) can be a hit, this film should definately have been a hit. If you like supernatural thrillers, this will be right up your alley. *** out of ****.

Just caught this film for the first time on TV, drawn to it by the cast. The suspense builds with good acting by Denzel Washington, Donald Sutherland, John Goodman and James Gandolfini (just before the Sopranos). Proving that you don't need too much blood and guts to create a good thriller. Definitely worth a look.

The Good:

• Denzel Washington and John Goodman are as excellent as ever and create a believable on-screen friendship.
• I really enjoyed the neo-noir style voiceovers that happened throughout the film as well as the noir themed soundtrack.
• The creepy POV shots helped to elevate the horror aspect of the film.
• Throughout the movie, the plot was intriguing and had some great tense moments.
• I loved the idea of possession throughout the film. This created some really interesting dynamics and moral choices for the characters.
• The final act is absolutely exciting, tense, and thrilling and definitely made this film a lot better.

The Bad:

• The first 10 minutes of the film felt very convoluted and confusing to me. It hardly explained itself and left a lot for the viewer to decipher.
• There were a few awkward character interactions within the first hour of the film that kinda took me out of the film.
• Although the premise of the film was very intriguing, it didn't really engage me fully until the last 45 minutes.

Overall Fallen is a very well-made and entertaining 90s thriller with a unique premise and enthralling acting. The only thing that lets it down is its slightly slow pacing and lack of fully engaging scenes in the first half...

7/10

Fallen (1998)

Half detective, half supernatural thriller, this movie really moves. It's clever but not preposterous, and Denzel Washington anchors the whole things with his smiling believability. This is a good one. And the rest of the cast is fabulous, from John Goodman to Donald Sutherland. The one woman is the convincing Embeth Davidtz, and there is a small role even for the late James Gandolfini.

The plot seems straight up at first, as Denzel's character, Hobbes, looks for a murderer who seems to become a serial murderer. This morphs slowly into a a supernatural evil force inhabiting people and making them bad. This grows without a sense of shock so that there is a logic gradually built up.

And the target of this evilness seems to be Hobbes, though we never quite know why. (He catches bad guys and one of them is executed at the start, but the spirit shouldn't have been bothered by this.) Hobbes of course feels that the crimes don't make sense, and his encounter with Davidtz's character, who studies angels and spirits, is a turning point.

There are of course hundreds of horror films with similar kinds of plots, and what makes this one rise above most of them is how well made it is. Credit here goes beyond Washington, though he's clearly key. The cinematographer, Newton Thomas Sigel, is excellent (he also shot "Three Kings" and "Drive") and the coherence of the complex movie is partly because of a consistent visual flow.

Director Gregory Hoblit is mostly a TV guy, but around the time of this movie he made a few others with similar success, including "Fracture" which is quite good in the same solid way and "Primal Fear" which has a terrific performance by Edward Norton.

"Fallen" does come out of a familiar mold, and that is one reason why it is satisfying (many of us know we like this kind of film) and also limited ultimately (it isn't completely fresh, after all). I suspect nearly everyone will like aspects of this, even if the most demanding viewer will groan at some of the clichés. The acting alone rises up in so many cases, the rest is easy to really like.