The Prophecy II

In the 90's, Christopher Walken's career (like many actors) had slipped into the b-movie realm. It was during this time he appeared in the first three Prophecy films. The first carried a pretty serious religious tone in the battle of good vs evil. This second entry is lighter fare, but still provides a game Walken who's a lot of fun to watch and some faces in the supporting cast help.

Mild mannered & religious nurse Valerie (Jennifer Beals) appears to hit Danyael (Russell Wong) with her car. She's apologetic naturally, but also feels a bond and warmth with him. Not knowing that he's an angel, Danyeal impregnates her. Soon she realizes that her unborn child is the key to the ongoing battle over heaven as Lucifer unleashes fallen angel Gabriel (Walken) back onto Earth from the depths of hell. Who'll do anything he can to stop this baby from happening.

Quite a few people think that Walken is hamming it up here. I disagree. It's a more fun & lively go at it than before. With a brisk 80 minute runtime, 'Prophecy II' isn't the serious epic that the original film was trying to be. That however doesn't stop it from being decent. There's a good mix of funny moments, dark territory and doses of violence.

You get an early role for Brittany Murphy as another one of Gabriel's "monkey" lackeys. Steve Hytner (Bania from Seinfeld) continues as the medical examiner. Beals & Wong do their jobs while Eric Roberts doesn't make much of an impact in a quick role as a good angel. B-movie buffs can catch Bruce Abbott (Re-Animator) taking over the role of Thomas Daggett from Elias Koteas too.

As you'll see here (and in the next sequel), this series never let actors not reprising their roles stop characters from reappearing. I enjoyed 'Prophecy II' quite a bit on a popcorn level. It's not heavy handed, deep with the religious tones. Doesn't take itself too seriously and Walken continues tapping into a great character here.

This is one of those films I could rip up unmercifully because the Biblical theology is so brutal - no incorrect, so preposterous, outrageous, stupid, etc. - that it an insult to anyone with any knowledge of The Book. For those viewers of this film who don't, who knows what they'll believe. Hopefully, none of the stuff in here. It also makes evil look cool and the worst "angel" - Gabriel (Christopher Walken) is not only evil and cool, but has a great a sense of humor. Gosh, ya gotta love the guy! Well, no surprise Hollywood would do that.

Having said that, though, and for strictly entertainment value and nothing else, the movie isn't half bad! Walken, regardless of his role, is always fun to watch, the story moves fast and it's only 80 minutes long. You could do worse.

Prophecy 2 continues the story of the angel Gabriel(Christopher Walken)and his jealousness of humans.

Number one is better....BUT number two dives into more of the story. It's the same as Star Wars to an extent. It's part of a bigger story. Number two progresses the story And raises some new questions to dive into. I would like to recommend you watch Prophecy 1 before you watch number Prophecy two. Just so you can understand the story better.

I watched the Prophecy and Prophecy II on the same night, both for the first time, so the comparisons were really obvious. Though PII is not a complete waste of time, it was hardly as interesting and exciting as the first. It did have some good points, however, and I would recommend it to anyone who loved the story of the Prophecy idea. The climactic scene at the end was excellent. Very creepy. DOS and PC lovers will like the humor as Gabriel tries to work a computer. :) The special effects sequences of angels flying above in the clouds was awesome. Even so, it lacked something that the first had. I'd give it a 6/10, and the first a 9/10. Let's hope Prophecy III will be better.

Actually, although a lot of what was in the Prophecy II isn't in the canonical bible, the angelology of it was in fact right on. I've done mounds and mounds of research on the subject of angels. And what was written in the Book of Enoch as well as in much of the medieval angel speculation is accurate. And it is a film, let's remember.

It's an interesting twist on the perception of heaven. I don't know if I'd call is laughable on second guesses when you actually look at the derivations of the research instead of relying solely on the Bible. If you're really interested, you can look at the non-canonical scripture that was accepted in the times of early Christianity on reluctant-messenger.com I don't know, sometimes I get frustrated thinking that people who think the Bible, although the primary text is the ONLY text of the religion.

Just a thought.