qmtv The best part of the movie is the end. Unfortunately, it looks like there were 4 sequels. I got this movie in a pack of 8 films for 7.36 + tax. So, it cost a $1 and time. Here's the first problem. It is in super wide shot. On my TV 1/3 on top, and 1/3 on bottom is black. The center of the screen, 1/3 is the movie. This sucks.From then on, I noticed the audio is crap. Hard to understand the dialogue. The music, sound effects and dialogue had a serious mix problem. OK. Now, the story. Basic idea, some of god's angels are not satisfied and want to turn Heaven into another Hell. I guess that right. Now, the simple idea is fine. The details of the story and the execution sucks. We have a fallen priest that becomes a cop. This guy sucks as an actor. Plain and simple. Then we get Eric Stoltz as Simon as a good angel. He is a decent actor, but his dialogue and character sucks. We get the bad angel Christopher Walken as Gabriel. This guy is probably one of the best actors around. However, his character is one of the worst around. So, he's another fallen angel, via Brooklyn Mob circles. What the hell is up with that Brooklyn tough guy accent? Give me a freaking break. Then we have some school teacher and a little girl. All crappy actors. Satin shows up, because he doesn't want another Hell to compete with his. One more thing. The fx suck too. This thing sucked. It's a sad joke. Christopher Walken fans should not see this. Please don't. No one should see this.Complete failure. F. 1 star. Garbage.

gavin6942 The angel Gabriel (Christopher Walken) comes to Earth to collect a soul which will end the stalemated war in Heaven, and only a former priest and a little girl can stop him.It can be challenging to make a good religious horror film. Especially when you are trying to create a new mythology without destroying the classic or traditional views. This film is among the best in the genre, and it is no surprise it received multiple sequels. The idea of an ongoing angel war, backed up by a holy book? Clever.Of course, you also get some good actors involved and that helps. Walken is among the best (or at least he was), and Elias Koteas is vastly underrated. He is not a household name but should be.

OJT Are you saying we have a dead angel on ice?Saw this without any knowledge, but saw the cast, Christopher Walken, Viggo Mortensen and Eric Stolz, which I all admire for their work, and was immediately quite amazed by the tone and excitement. This is dark, compelling, chilling and quite shocking. I would say that most things work. It's so damned we'll played by all, not only the above mentioned. Maybe this is both Walken and Stolz best roles ever! Walken is simply astonishing chilling in his role as arch angel. An absolute must-see!We meet a cop, which formerly tried to become a priest, but fail at the final blessing. After giving up religion, and becoming a detective, he has an encounter with might be an angel. And then what also seems to be an angel, according to ancient scripts, also is an angel, dead after a violent fight. Are we seeing a war of angels?Based on old biblical writings this is way more exciting than any of Dan Brown's stuff. Don't let this mislead you into thinking this is something rubbish. It's scary and worst of all quite believable. Kept in a realistic everyday style, it still gives chill after chill in meeting with the angels, among them the great arch angel Gabriel.I also love the make up effects made for this film. Nasty, well done stuff. Filming is great. Just like some of the best films I saw back in the 70'ies, 80'ies and 90'ies. The feel I get the same good movie feeling I had a long time ago, and reminds me of the classics like "The Exorcist", "Rosemary's baby", "Name of the rose", which all are themed similarly or the dark filming work of "Deliverance", "Whatever happened to Baby-Jane", "Duel" and "The Marathon man". Yeah, it's really that good, and that well done, but even darker! If you liked the chills in those, you'll like this. It's good story telling, which makes this a hidden classic.Maybe the end is too abrupt and positive. The weakest part is the final minutes, but then again this is a story that needs such an ending.The music score is out of this world. Not only this. The dialog is exquisite and the quotes you can get from this are epic. Do yourself a favor, if you haven't seen this! Get hold of it! I just discovered a hidden gem!

ShootingShark Thomas Dagget is an LA detective with a deeply Catholic background who is brought in to investigate when a dead John Doe turns up with an ancient Bible in his pocket. Things get stranger when a mysterious figure called Gabriel appears, and the trail leads to a little girl called Mary living in rural Arizona. What in Heaven's name is going on ?This is a great little scary movie, a production from the always interesting Dimension Films company, brilliantly written and directed by Widen with wit, originality and loads of good ideas. Okay, it may be more than a little crazy, but who cares - it's so interesting, great fun and an almost perfect balance of religious parable, goofy comedy and action mystery. The depiction of the angels in particular is spectacular; their bird-like perching, olfactory capabilities and curious limitations (they can't drive) are both intriguing and funny. Walken takes these ideas and runs with them, turning in an amazing, unforgettable performance, but the whole cast really get into it, and Koteas as the Doubting Thomas investigator somehow manages to make sense of the increasingly bizarre events. The film has some low budget limitations - the effects are imaginative but struggle to convey the scale of the story - but it has so much going for it it doesn't matter. If you think about it, angels almost always make for good cinema, whether it's A Matter Of Life And Death, It's A Wonderful Life, Wings Of Desire, The Crow, Dogma, even Michael or City Of Angels - I can't think of a boring movie about angels. Theological ideas often come over well in films, whether it's because of special effects or character contrast I'm not sure, but they are endlessly fascinating figures and this film particularly paints them in a wholly unique light. Just to be complicated, this movie has spawned four direct sequels (the first two of which also feature Walken) and should not be confused with the (bad, but fun) 1979 John Frankenheimer movie Prophecy. Unfortunately, this is Widen's only directorial effort; a shame given how much talent he obviously has - he also wrote Highlander (great story) and Backdraft (rubbish story). We live in a religiously dynamic and diverse world, yet the concepts rarely find their way into mainstream cinema. Horror movies on the other hand have a long, rich and continuous thirst for matters Divine, and this is one of the best and most enjoyable such pictures. A great film from Widen, shot in evocative desert locations in Gila County, Arizona. And remember kids - study your maths !