Fallen (1998)

An unsung masterpiece.

I can't believe this movie eluded me for so long. I've seen all sorts of horror movies... slasher, goth, psychological, and zombie flicks. However, Fallen is easily one of the best I've ever seen. Seriously, I'd put it up there with The Exorcist,The Silence of the Lambs, and Se7en. Even though it clearly has religious themes in it, religion is not an important factor in order to enjoy the movie. Denzel Washington does an excellent job at portraying Detective Hobbes, who is bent on trying to find a copycat of the serial killer Reese. But we soon find out that Hobbes is not hunting a copycat serial killer, but a demon called Azazel, who can jump from person to person simply by touching them, which he uses to taunt and toy with Hobbes. Through discovering a person who Azazel possessed in order to kill people, he found a cop who sent out to kill him, but ultimately failed. He meets his daughter, an angelologist. Together, they try to find a way to kill Azazel. There's more to it than that, but that's all I'll get in to so as to not spoil it.

The last 15 or so minutes of the film are some of the most powerful I've seen in any film. The action, the dialogue, and the unveilment of Hobbes' plan. There's even a twist near the end which is very unexpected, yet still fits within the story. There is a theme here, which I believe is that there is evil in everyone, no matter how good or innocent we may consider them to be. Overall, this was an incredible film and I recommend it to anyone looking for an ingenious thriller. July 14, 2008

If demons can jump from person to person, I wonder if God can...

Fantastic movie on such a difficult subject. I mean, I never believed in demons much before I saw this movie, but after seeing it, now I'm not so sure, especially after some things I've seen in real life that are eerily similar. But on the positive side, I suppose if a demon can jump from person to person at the touch of a hand, I'm confident the Almighty can do the same, if He so chooses. June 27, 2008

INTERESTING PREMISE, BUT SLOW MOVING AND TOO LONG!

I liked this film somewhat and thought the premise was very interesting. The cast is excellent, but the pacing is slow and everyone involved seems to be too calm considering what's going on. The film suffers from being too long and a good 20 minutes trimmed off would have helped a great deal. Denzel Washington holds it all together in this ultimately predictable thriller, but I doubt I would sit through it a second time. I rate it 2 1/2 stars for a good premise and cast. May 31, 2008

Demon quality

Denzil Washington stars in this high class chiller in which he plays a cop trying to deal with an opponent who could literally be anybody at any time. A good cast including John Goodman and Donald Sutherland provide excellent support. Combine this with a surprisingly clever script and decent direction and you'll find a film that thrills and surprises in equal measures. No more so than the ending which has a lovely twist which I certainly didn't see coming.

Fortunately for us there is no basis in reality for this story. If there was you'd look at people a little bit differently in future. Its also worth mentioning that I shall never hear a certain Rolling Stones song in the same way again after watching this film.

This is a much better film than its fairly obscure status would tend to indicate.
May 23, 2008

Good Movie, But......

The movie itself was pretty good, but sometime after watching it I thought of one major plot flaw. This spirit is supposed to be able to go from person to person by a mere brush against them right? Yet the opening scene they are talking to the serial killer in jail. And when they took him to the gas chamber he walked back to say goodby to the others on death row as though he got to know them from sitting on death row. So if he had this ability to move through people so easily then why would he spend many months sitting in jail in the body of the guy he turned into a serial killer?

Other than that flaw I thought it was a good entertaining movie. May 14, 2008

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